Page 64 of Better Late Than Never

The sweet cooing noises Hope made in response showed that she agreed, and my heart melted once again as I looked at the photos with her.

“Aw, Paisley, he is adorable. Named after both Jackson’s dad and Bailey’s dad, right?” Hope asked, her Southern accent lilting gently.

“Yep, that’s right.”

“How did Jackson handled the whole thing? Bailey goin’ into labor, I mean.”

I grinned. “I didn’t see him much, but Bailey said he was great. Nothin’ like Everett.”

We both laughed at that. In fact, the whole town had a field day after the rumors came out about how big, burly Everett Wilson had handled his wife going into labor. He’d been a total wreck. And personally, I’d loved seeing my best friend’s husband go from grumpy to weepy, and I knew Laney loved seeing that sensitive side of him, too.

“We had such a good time in Bailey’s room after the brothers snagged Jackson for a celebratory cigar out front,” I said, leaning back in my chair. “We were laughin’ and chattin’ away, passin’ babies around for hours. I swear I still don’t know which was the best part: holdin’ Cole when it wasn’t my turn with Carter, holdin’ Carter myself, or watchin’Phoebehold Carter. She’s gonna be the best big sis.”

“Takes one to know one,” she said softly, giving me a meaningful look.

I’d spent the beginning of our shift telling Hope about my brother’s arrival and about my concerns regarding Candy. She’d been supportive, but it wasn’t the same as telling Laney and the girls about it. I wanted to, but last night wasn’t the best time for that kinda talk. Besides, it wouldn’t be as simple as it was with Hope. She didn’t know me as well as the others did, and if I’d kept my worries to what Tyler would do for a job or if he’d made the wrong choice marrying Candy, they’d dig and dig until they got to the heart of the matter.

And if they did that, we’d eventually land on talking about Adam.

“Not that I don’t think it’s adorable that y’all hung out in Bailey’s room with the babies for hours, but don’t you think the girl could’ve used the rest? I would’ve kicked everyone out if it were me.”

“Laney did the same thing, and I don’t blame either of you for wantin’ that. I wondered if we were overstayin’ our welcome more than a few times last night. But… I don’t know. Bailey justkept sayin’ she was fine and she wanted us to stay. I have a feelin’ it had more to do with watchin’ how happy Phoebe was to be there with all of us. She’d do anythin’ for that girl.”

“You know, my niece is in Phoebe’s dance class, and sometimes I do drop-off or pick-up. I can’t wait to see little Carter there. Keep showin’ me more pictures in the meantime, will ya?”

“Sure thing,” I promised with a smile. Then, I hesitated for a moment, remembering how down Hope had been the other day. “Hey, Hope, what was troublin’ you the other day? You seemed so sad, and we kept gettin’ interrupted by calls whenever I asked about it, but that doesn’t mean I forgot.”

“Aw, Pais... It’s nothin,’ really,” she said, looking down. But thankfully, no calls interrupted us this time, and after a few seconds, she sighed and admitted, “You know, no matter how long you’ve been doin’ this job, some calls just get to you.”

“Of course,” I replied gently. “Is that what happened?”

“Yeah. Last week, I took a call that hit me harder than most. A woman had gone to the grocery store for her elderly dad. When she returned, he’d passed away. I... I had to take a sick day afterward to recover,” Hope confessed, her voice shaky.

“Hope, I’m so sorry. That sounds like a rough one,” I said, placing my hand on her arm in comfort.

“We all have our moments, here, and it’s hard to know which call will be the one to break through our defenses,” she advised, her training voice back on. “You might think it’ll be the obvious ones, like if someone drowns at the lake or a shootin’, but the ones that remind us of personal stuff? Those’ll get ya.”

“Did that call remind you of somethin’?”

She nodded and wiped a tear from her eye. “Yeah, it was so similar to what happened with my grandpa that it just triggered me.”

I gave her hand a squeeze, my mind wandering back to a call I’d had a while ago. A teen girl had called because her older brother was hanging out with the wrong crowd, and she thought she’d heard them talking about going on a beer run that night.

I’d gotten really invested in that one. Even though the circumstances weren’t the same as with Tyler and me, I still knew what it was like to worry about a sibling in that way. Running the brother’s name through the system had been difficult for me, too, because I’d seen several police calls he’d been involved in and it just hit home.

“I’m always here for you if you need me,” I promised. “And I’ll make sure to watch out for that myself.”

“Thanks, Paisley. You’re a great friend. And yes, we should definitley support each other through that stuff. I’m sorry I didn’t just tell you about it the other day. It’s not like we were on the phone the whole twelve hours.”

I pulled my lips to the side. “Why didn’t you?”

“Everyone always talks about you, ya know,” she started, giving me a pointed look.

Wincing, I crossed my arms. I did know, and I had a feeling whatever she was about to say wouldn’t be fun to hear.

She must’ve seen something on my face because she leaned forward and patted my knee. “Good things. They say good things. Always talkin’ about how smart you are, and how you’re good at everythin’ you do. How much you like to help people and when anyone has a problem, you’re the first one there with a solution.”

I blinked. “Uh, come again?”

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