Page 48 of Nanny for the Firefighter

“Fair enough. Well,” he hoists himself up from the table, “I told Meredith that she could sleep while I go get Juniper, so I’m going to finish this and then change. What are you up to today?”

“Just helping Mom,” I reply, giving Hudson a smile as he struggles to sip his coffee through what looks like an impressive hangover.

“Mmm,” is all I get back from him, and as promised to Meredith, Hudson finishes his coffee and then goes to get dressed and pick up his son.

I stay down at the table, bringing up some tea to Mom after a bit, but sitting at the small table alone with my thoughts is all I can manage beyond that.

About fifteen minutes later, Meredith comes down.

“Please tell me there’s still coffee.”

I give her a smile and nod. “I made an entire pot. Seemed like a coffee-heavy kind of day.”

“You are the best sister-in-law I could ever ask for.”

Meredith pours herself a cup, and I notice she takes it black like Hudson. As she takes a seat across from me, I remind myself that I need to play it cool.

No one knows that last night was anything special, and I want to keep it that way.

“You two definitely hit it hard, huh? Do you want some Tylenol? There’s some in the cupboard.”

Peeking up at me, Meredith shakes her head. “Oh, no. I’ll be fine once this is in me. And yeah. I think it had been too long since Hudson and I had a night out without Juniper. Of course, we love the kid, but it’s nice to just be an adult for a while.”

“Sure. That makes sense. That’s probably how Mason and Easton are feeling, too.”

Meredith chuckles lightly, drinking her coffee with impressive speed. “Hey, that reminds me.”

When she looks up at me, I’m immediately hit by the fact that she looks a lot less hungover now and is waggling her eyebrows at me.

“What?” I respond, my pulse quickening.

“Oh, come on. I saw the way Mason looked at you. What’s going on there?”

Panic rocks through me in a hard burst, and I nearly spit out my tea.

“No, no, no. Nothing. I’m just watching Mia. Nothing is going on between Mason and me. No, no, no.”

Raising her brows at me, Meredith smirks and leans on one elbow as she regards me.

“That was too many nos, wasn’t it?”

She nods. “Way too many.”

I sigh, which immediately turns into a low grumble about how I’ve always been a terrible liar.

Still, I don’t plan on saying anything until I look up into Meredith’s cool stare, and she just waits.

I’m cooking in my juices just like she wants me to, and dammit, I have to hand it to her. The tactic works.

“Ugh! Fine!” I flop my face into my hands, speaking through my fingers. “Mason kissed me.”

“I’m sorry. What was that?”

I can’t hide behind my hands forever, so I lean back in the chair, staring at the ceiling.

“Mason kissed me. But,” I tack on, “he was clearly drunk, and I don’t think it meant anything.”

“Bridget,” Meredith starts, “people don’t just kiss people for no reason. Drunk or not. And don’t you two have a history?”

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