Page 18 of Defensive Zone

“Yeah. Sorry. Okay, Max is going to put those two to bed and you are going to your room.”

“You’re not the boss of me,” Ava said with a tiny smile.

“I swear you Bastians love to drive me nuts,” Gabi muttered, good-naturedly.

“It’s a gift,” Ava said, echoing Max’s words from earlier.

Siblings.

“Here, I’ll go put her down,” Ava said, reaching for Elise.

“Nope. I’ve got her. You go to bed and I’ll snuggle her until she’s ready to nurse again,” Gabi said. She loved holding Elise. She hadn’t been able to spend that much quality time with the twins when they were this age because she had been finishing school and starting her first nanny position.

Yes, the circumstances leading up to being able to do this were awful for her best friend, but Gabi was selfishly enjoying this time. She still felt weird taking money from Max for this, but it was her job.

“Okay, fine. You two are the best.” Ava turned and padded out of the room.

“See, I’m the best,” Max said.

She turned to glare at him. “We both are. Now, you sure you can put them in bed?”

“Go. Go,” he said, waving his hand to shoo her away.

She softly shook her head before she walked out of the room with Elise tucked against her. She probably should stay to make sure Max knew what he was doing, but part of her also hoped that the kids would wake up and give him hell.

Yes. That was mean-spirited. Especially after he’d been so adorable with his story.

No. Max was not adorable. He would never be classified as adorable with his out-of-control beard, messy hair, and occasionally missing teeth. He was burly and loud and—

Dammit.

—adorable.

What the hell was wrong with her tonight?

It was the story that had done it.

She lightly rocked Elise in her arms as she made her way into the living room and sank onto the couch. Elise stirred for a second before settling down again. She would keep Elise with her for as long as possible. Ava needed the break. While her friend had had her life turned upside down, Gabi was beginning to think there was more going on than what Ava had said.

She wasn’t an expert on grief or believed that grief ever followed the same path for everyone, but there were moments where Gabi thought she was missing something. Ava’s anger felt like it stemmed from more than just her husband’s early death. She wanted to ask, to get Ava to confide in her as they’d always done, but this wasn’t like anything they’d ever faced before. Ava comforting Gabi when Gabi’s dad bailed on her when she was a kid was nowhere near the same as Gabi trying to comfort Ava after losing a spouse.

So she’d give Ava time. All the time she needed. Gabi had no plans to look for another position until Ava didn’t need her help anymore.

“What are we watching?” Max said, plopping down on the couch next to her and making her gasp with shock.

“Shit, Gabster, don’t wake the baby.” He winked.

“Ugh. Just when I thought you were getting better,” she said, shifting away from him.

“Are you saying I’m growing on you?”

“Like a wart maybe,” she fired back.

“Well, then your icy glare ought to kill me off,” he returned.

“Why do you have to keep pushing my buttons?”

“Because you have a lot of them,” he said. “Here. Give me that baby and have some water.”

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