Page 88 of An Adventure For Aster

He tapped her on the nose. “I’d never hurt you. I moved my weight to my other arm easily enough. You could have just thought I was getting frisky. You like it other times when I’m a little aggressive.”

She felt the heat fill her face as she moved out of his arms. “Now you’re trying to embarrass me.”

“Is it working to get your mind off of what just happened?”

She walked over to the big window off their living room and looked out at the view of the Atlantic Ocean in the distance. “It is. Wow, look at this. It’s amazing.”

“It sure is,” he said. “I know this is the first year you’re not home for a holiday. Are you okay with missing Easter dinner with your family tomorrow?”

She’d never missed any holiday ever in her entire life. She lived close enough in college to go home on the weekends if she wanted, but she rarely did since she was with Colton and they were having fun on campus.

But holidays were always with her family and Colton sometimes joined them.

Colton’s parents were divorced. He lived with his mother and stepfather who didn’t do any big holiday celebrations. Or if they did, they went away for them and she was never asked to join. Or Colton had to go with his father who was a few hours away.

She looked back and thought maybe that was selfish on her part to never do much with his family but then reminded herself she’d never been asked. Her parents always thought that was odd, but what was she going to say? It wasn’t her choice.

“I’m fine with it,” she said. “My mother was cooking for River and Emma and the baby. Ivy and Brooks are going to Jasmine’s. She wants to play with the babies and I don’t blame her.”

Jasmine’s son, Gabriel, was two and a half months old. Dahlia’s son, Grayson, was six weeks old. Then there was Jasmine’s daughter, Cori, who would be two in May. Ivy had told her that Wesley was excited about the egg hunt and she wanted Brooks to see how much fun kids and babies could be.

With her brother’s wedding just a month away, she wondered how long it’d be before Ivy was pregnant. Ivy had baby fever and even Raine’s mother had noticed it.

Thankfully her older brother didn’t seem to mind and always joked about how much fun it was to try.

“Poppy has had a busy month,” he said.

“I know. Ivy told me, but I’m sure you know from Daphne. Is she excited?”

“She is,” he said.

Daphne was hired to be Poppy’s nanny and would be moving east in the next few weeks. Aster was going to take a few days off and fly to Texas, help his sister pack up and then drive the twenty-five hours back with her stuff in a moving truck.

She knew Daphne was thrilled but also worried about the big changes going on. Even though she wouldn’t be working full time right away.

Poppy’s other nanny, Julie, was happy to just be caring for Rose’s son and future daughter.

“I keep telling her to relax about not being there all day every day. She has to ease into it. Poppy and Reese are giving her a salary and starting it right away and she’s embarrassed about that and living on the property without doing much work.”

“Do you blame her?” she asked. “I wouldn’t feel right either. It’d be like a charity job to me.”

Aster sighed. “I know she feels that way, but I’ve told her repeatedly not to feel like that. I think she finally understood after I told her to research the McGills and their fortune. She knows Reese was a professional poker player and that he even keeps his hands in a few tournaments once or twice a year in Vegas for fun.”

“She told me she looked into them more. Did you know that she feels out of place more than anything?”

“Yes,” he said. “She told me. And I reminded her where Poppy and her sisters came from. They’ve worked their way to where they are.”

“That’s what I said too. Not to look at their money but rather them as a person.”

“Exactly,” he said. “Money is just something we need to live, but how much each person needs or wants is an individual choice.”

She laughed. “Good point. Okay, what should we do first? I know I’m hungry. It’s past lunch but too early for dinner.”

“Why don’t we go walk the beach and maybe get a snack to hold us over? Then you can plan all the activities for the week.”

“I get to plan them out?” she asked. “How come you’re not? It’s your vacation too.”

She didn’t want to be the one doing everything. Just another thing she’d been told before. That she planned too much and never went with the flow.

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