Page 48 of Mad Love

While Weston’s finishing up with them, I call my boss Kim. She answers on the second ring.

“How are you, girl?”

“I’m feeling a little more human these days,” I say.

“How’s that baby doing?”

“He’s growing like crazy. He’s doing better too. We’re both adjusting, but it’s taking a while.”

“Aw, sweet boy. I miss him…I miss both of you. Sasha too,” she says softly. “I think about you guys every single time I drive past your apartment…so all the time. I’m glad to hear you’re both adjusting,” she says. “It’ll take time.”

“I’m sorry it’s taken so long for me to call you back. I’m really sorry. You’ve been amazing about all of this and I’ve let you down.”

“No, you haven’t. I can’t imagine how hard this has been. And we’ve done okay here. Esther and Carla wanted more shifts anyway. I always gave you first dibs because you’re the best and I love you, but they’re getting the job done.” She laughs. “The job is here when you want it, but…we’ll be okay, Sadie. You’ve got a little boy to think about now.” She clears her throat. “Well, that’s nothing new—you’ve been thinking about him nonstop since he was born and working your ass off to take care of him. You put the rest of us to shame as a big sister.”

I lower my head and wipe the tears from my face. “Thank you, Kim. I love you too. You’ve been the best boss I’ve ever had, and an even better friend. You took me under your wing when I really needed it, and I’ll always be grateful for that. I…” I take a deep breath and forge ahead. “I have an opportunity to take careof Caleb full-time, and I think that would be good for us, at least for a while.”

“Are you kidding? You’ve been the best employee I’ve ever had. You saved my ass when I became manager. And this sounds like an opportunity you can’t pass up. You have a job with me anytime, so I think you’re set for job security.” She laughs. “I’ll miss you though.”

“I’ll miss you too. I’ll have to come see you sometime when things get a little more normal around here. I’m staying in Silver Hills right now, but I miss everyone.”

“I’d love that. Bring the baby. It’s been too long since I’ve seen him.”

“I will.”

I hang up feeling like a load has lifted off of me. Caleb goes down for a nap, and when Weston comes back in, he stretches his arms over his head. I look a little too attentively at the muscles in his shoulders and biceps, the little strip of skin showing under his shirt, and I force myself to look away.

“We got that stuff out of here just in time,” he says. “Caleb’s furniture is here. I’m just going to let them in the front.”

He jogs to the front door when the doorbell rings and I wonder, not for the first time, where he gets all that energy. I’m not sure when he’s sleeping.

The guys come in with the furniture, out of their minds with excitement when they realize this is Weston Shaw’s place. There’s just one problem: no crib. When they’ve checked the order and we’ve checked it on our end too, we realize we bought a changing table, a chest of drawers, and bookshelves, but we didn’t actually buy the crib we’d picked out.

“Damn. Guess we’ll have to go shopping,” Weston says, making a goofy face at me.

After they’ve set up the rest of the furniture, going the extra mile to put it all together, they ask for his autograph. He’s good-natured about the whole thing, making them feel relaxed and yet still keeping it professional. When he’s ready for them to go, he thanks them again for all their help and leads them to the door.

“Wow, you are really smooth with that. I like how you got them out of here in a hurry without making them feel dumb.”

He wrinkles his nose. “Was I that obvious?”

“No! I don’t think they had a clue. You’re just a lot more laid-back when it’s us here or your friends and family.”

“Free once had a fan show up at his house. It was right after he signed with the Mustangs, before he had a good security system, and when he got home, the girl had taken all of his family pictures off of the wall and had them surrounding her in the living room.”

“No,” I gasp.

“She started taking pictures with him…she wanted to fill all the frames with the two of them.”

“Wow.” I make a face.

He nods. “Yeah. I think we all learned to keep a healthy distance from then on.”

“Except for with the women…”

He flinches slightly and I regret saying it.

“Yeah,” he says eventually. “I haven’t always made the best decisions when it comes to women.”

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