Page 10 of Cabin Fever With My First Flame

“Hey! It was my best friend who told me the truth. Why would he lie to me?” I ask, annoyed that Micah is right.

He rolls his eyes. “Geeze, I don’t know, Finn. Why would your best friend cheat with your girlfriend in the first place? He sounds like a stellar guy and a trustworthy individual to me. I can totally see why you would take him at his word instead of talking to the person who presumably loved you.”

“Your sarcasm is duly noted, Micah. What’s done is done, and there’s no changing the past. Besides, Bailey married Daniel, so there must have been some truth in it.” I start cleaning up the gym, wiping down the equipment, and throwing the towels in the hamper.

Micah shakes his head. “You should really talk to Bailey, Finn, even if it hurts in the long run.”

“I know you mean well, Micah, but Bailey made her choice, and it wasn’t me. A second chance isn’t in the cards for either one of us,” I tell him as I begin trudging up the stairs.

Micah grins mischievously as he follows behind and I would bet my paycheck that I hear him mutter, “But I know how to stack the deck.”

When I get upstairs, I’m greeted by the scent of fresh blueberry muffins baking in the oven and by the sight of Bailey swaying to music I can’t hear. Bailey doesn’t notice us and starts rummaging through the refrigerator. The top of her body disappears, but her bum continues bouncing to the beat.

Micah pats me on the shoulder on his way to grab clean clothes and a shower, laughing and emitting more sarcasm from his mouth. “And to think, you want to pass up on the opportunity to see that view every day. It’s horrific!”

I scowl and push him along. “Shut it, Micah. Go get dressed and then wake up the boys.”

“What about the girls?” he asks.

“That’s up to Bailey. She’s their mom and knows their schedule.”

Bailey is still rummaging around in the fridge when I walk up behind her and tap her on her back.

There’s a loudoomphas Bailey smacks her head on the middle shelf, followed by a crash as a jar of pickles falls to the floor and shatters around her bare feet. Without a second thought, I scoop Bailey into my arms and set her down on a barstool, well out of the danger zone.

She holds up a stick of butter like a trophy as she rubs her head with her free hand. Bailey yells, “Why are you Hollister men always sneaking up on me!”

I pluck the earbuds from her ears and wave them in her face, the muted sound of Christmas music filtering out. “If you weren’t jamming to Nat King Cole, you might have heard us. We weren’t exactly being quiet.”

She holds out her hand, palm flat, silently asking for the earbuds back. “It wasn’t Nat King Cole. It was Lauren Daigle singing ‘Light of the World,’ thank you very much. I was wearing the headphones so that I wouldn’t wake everyone up.”

I return the earbuds and drop down to one knee to inspect her feet for any cuts. Bailey mock gasps and clutches her heart, “Oh, Finn. It’s too soon!”

“Are you getting married?” Isaac asks, shuffling into the kitchen area quietly and wiping away the sleep from his eyes.

“No!” Bailey and I shout in unison. When Isaac’s eyes become as wide as dinner plates from the rebuke, I calm my tone and add, “Sorry, Buddy. We didn’t mean to yell. I’m just checking Bailey’s feet for any cuts, not proposing. There’s a broken jar of pickles by the fridge, and your feet are also bare, so I need you to stay out of the kitchen until I clean up.”

Bailey smiles at Isaac. “Can you do me a huge favor, Isaac? Can you be the leader and keep everyone else from entering the kitchen? It will be up to you to keep everyone safe and prevent further injuries.”

Isaac puffs out his chest. “You can count on me, Mrs. Bailey!”

I lift Bailey’s foot and turn it to inspect it for injury, finding a small cut near her heel. “Don’t move. I’m going to grab the first aid kit and clean that up for you.”

Bailey pulls her foot from my grasp. “I’m fine, Finn. I’m more than capable of applying a bandage to a boo-boo. I’ve been taking care of myself for a long time, as well as three girls who rough-house and are prone to injury.”

I scowl at the idea of Bailey doing everything on her own, even though Daniel was with her. “You shouldn’t have had to, Bailey,and right now you don’t. You have a sliver of glass that is going to require tweezers to remove. So, unless you are a contortionist or a Master of Yoga, you’re going to need my help to get it out.”

“Well, what are you waiting for? Let’s see you put those EMT skills to use. I’ve got buns in the oven…” Bailey starts to say when there’s a loud shriek, and Ella makes her presence known.

“Mom, are you pregnant?”

Chapter seven

Bailey

Finn gets up tograb the first aid kit, not willing to touch this situation with a ten-foot pole. I can’t say that I blame him. If it weren’t for the cut on my foot, I’d be hightailing it out of here as well.

“I’m not pregnant, Ella. The ‘buns in the oven’ are merely a reference to a tray of muffins that are currently baking to perfection. You have to be having…um…uh…”

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