Page 38 of Marrying the Nanny

“It’s a circle of jerks,” she corrected, trying to figure out if she was hurt, insulted, or embarrassed. All of the above and more. “All three of you signed this binding contract? When we could have used the same shift schedule and I could rotate through the bunch of you?”

“I suggested that.”

“Oh my God.” She threw up her hands. “I’m going to walk over to Sophie’s. Maybe Art wants to sleep with me, seeing as I’m out of options here.”

“Emma.”

As she passed the bottom of the stairs, she saw Trystan standing there, a wince frozen on his face. He looked at Logan. “You’re an idiot.”

“Enjoy your day with Storm.” She flipped them the bird on her way out.

*

“You told her that?” Reid asked with incredulity.

“I didn’t say fucks. I said sleeps with.” Logan’s voice strained and he glared as he realized Reid was letting him take the weight of the induction range as they wrestled it up the stairs.

“Can you girls handle that or do you need me?” Trystan asked from the top.

“Pretty sure I’m doing it all myself,” Logan muttered even as Reid picked up his end again.

Reid had arrived in time to grab one side. As they set it down in the kitchen, he removed his jacket and glanced around. “Did she take the baby?”

“No. She started to cry—The baby started to cry,” Logan corrected as Reid snapped him a look. “So I changed her and fed her. She fell asleep. She’s in her crib.”

“Hmph.” Reid looked at the work they’d done. The walls were painted and the flooring in, the cabinets hung, but waiting for doors. Progress here wouldn’t make up for damage elsewhere, though. “Why would you tell her?”

“I don’t know. Why did Trystan feel the need to tell you?”

“He asked where she was.” Trystan’s response of She ran away from home had led to further questions.

“I need to ask her if her paycheck auto-deposited.” Reid skimmed a hand over his hair, tired as hell and miles to go before he slept. “We didn’t have enough crap to deal with so I ordered a side of banking issues that I can’t resolve until Monday morning.”

“That’s brilliant, because the marina is running a batch of payables on Monday. We’ll let those bounce, then?” Logan asked.

“Awesome,” Reid muttered. “You don’t know where she is?”

“She said she was going to Sophie’s.”

“Why don’t you go see her? Apologize,” Reid suggested.

“To who?” Trystan asked around a couple of screws jutting from the side of his mouth. “Sounds like a two-fer deal if he goes over there.”

“I’m respecting my shift,” Logan said with a point at the ceiling and a filthy glower at Trystan.

His brothers were stuck into it pretty good here, making headway. Reid picked up his jacket and shrugged back into it. “I’ll go.”

“See if Mom has something we can throw into the oven for dinner.”

Reid snorted. “I was going to ask Emma to cook for us. Put some icing on that shit cake you baked her.”

A squawking noise drifted from the top of the stairs and a tinny version came through the monitor on the dining room table.

“Speaking of shit cakes,” Logan muttered.

“You’re not allowed to call her that.”

“Who died and made you b—” Logan cut himself off.

---