Page 74 of Wishing for Love

Phoenix was looking a lot more relieved than when she left. She hoped that was a good sign. “Laken was groaning over your cookies and asked if a grandmother made them. I told her she’d find out when you got here.”

“Sorry,” she said. “I’m a long way from being a grandmother. I’ve got another box of food. I’ll be back.”

“We’ll help you,” Phoenix said. “West is in my office on the phone. These are my cousins, Laken and Braylon. Crystal Winston, my nanny.”

She had set the one box of food down and moved over to shake their hands. She wished she’d had something better onthan jeans and a fleece jacket. But she hadn’t thought they’d see her. She thought they’d be in Phoenix’s office in the front of the house. That she could come in and set the food down and run upstairs until they were gone.

“It’s nice to meet you both,” she said.

“Phoenix and I can get the rest and Laken can get the food out. I’m starving,” Braylon said.

Crystal knew West was a billionaire and she was assuming these two siblings' worth was higher than most could dream of too, yet they seemed down to earth.

She shouldn’t look at them any differently than they were Phoenix’s cousins.

Last night when she’d gone to bed alone, she’d looked up on the internet more about West and his siblings. They were pretty much spread out from what she could see other than the two in Manhattan. Actually there wasn’t much on some of them. One brother had a brewery in North Carolina and another did something with surfboards in California. The rest she didn’t know what they did or where they were from her quick search other than their names from the engagement pictures.

She did see Abby Sherman as West’s fiancée. She wanted to ask Taylor if she knew her, but if she did that, she’d have to explain why she was asking and Phoenix didn’t want anyone to know.

When the three of them brought in the rest of the food and her groceries in one trip, she started to put the food away while Laken got the lunch ready.

West walked in. There was an air to him that had him just commanding the room.

But he had a smile on his face. “I heard the laughter from Braylon and assume you’re the nanny?”

“I’m Crystal,” she said, putting her hand out. “Nice to meet you all. I’ll get out of your way.”

“No,” Laken said. “Stay. I mean it. You can tell us what it’s like working for Phoenix. I should know these things when we are setting staff up to find the best match.”

Crystal didn’t know what was going on. She didn’t want to ask either. It wasn’t her business and she was positive none of it would make sense to her.

“They are being funny,” Phoenix said. “I’ll explain more later.”

She saw the smirk on the three cousins’ faces over that comment but didn’t know what it was about.

“Let me get the plates down,” she said.

She moved over to the cabinet and Phoenix was right behind her, taking them out of her hands and putting them on the island, so she got the silverware.

They all started to eat. “Hope you can make it for the wedding,” West said. “It’s going to be Friday before Easter. Might not be a good time for everyone, but I’m going to fly most in on the jet from North Carolina if you want to get there first.”

“I’d like to,” Phoenix said. “I’ll have to see what is going on with Elsie’s break with school then and figure things out.”

“Bring her,” West said. “I know you won’t want to leave her even though you’ve got someone here.”

Crystal glanced up from the lunch she was eating. It would suck if Phoenix was gone for the holiday, but she could try to go home and visit if she wanted.

No, she wouldn’t. She’d assume she could stay here. It was technically her home too.

“I’ll let you know,” he said, then turned to look at her. She smiled and went back to her lunch.

After thirty minutes, they started to clean up and she knew they were going to drive by the plant and look at a few things. Laken and Braylon would go in without West from what she’d heard. “I’ll clean up,” she said. “Go. It was nice to meet you all.”

“You too,” Laken said. “I’ll be seeing you soon, I’m sure.”

She frowned, again not knowing what that was about, but then started to clean the kitchen and put the leftovers away. There was enough there and a variety, so they might as well have it for dinner too and it’d save her from cooking.

Once the kitchen was back in order, she went upstairs to her living room and called her sister.

---