Page 4 of Bossy Baby

“Hi, Avery,” Hayley greeted his friend.

“Hi, Hayley. I brought you a chai latte. Is it okay if I hang out until Jace comes picks me up?”

Hayley threw his arms around Avery’s neck and hugged him.

Avery hugged him back. It was a wonderful hug.

“Of course, it’s okay! I love when you come hang out,” Hayley assured him. “And thank you for the latte. I’ve been craving one.”

Avery bounced a bit. Hayley could see hislittleside close to the surface. “I made it myself just for you. I even put extra flavoring in so it would be super good.”

“Thank you, Avery.” He took a big sip of his latte. “Oh, this is so yummy.”

Avery hopped around. “Cool!”

Hayley drank some more of his latte before setting it on the counter. “So what plans do you and your Daddy have for the weekend? Hey! It’s Saturday—you aren’t supposed to be working.”

“I know.” Avery shrugged. “It’s my last shift for a while, though. I start my new volunteer position next week. Daddy said we could have a fulllittleweekend once we both get done with work today.”

Hayley pushed down his jealousy. “That’s awesome!”

“Daddy even got me a surprise. I don’t know what it is, though. That’s why I have to wait for him. Grant went with him, so it must be heavy.”

Hayley grinned as he leaned against the counter. “What do you think it is?”

“I don’t know,” Avery leaned toward him. “Daddy is so good to me. It could be anything.”

Avery deserved all the treats and surprises he could get. Once he’d stopped being so shy and opened up to Hayley, Hayley just fell in love with him. Not love-love. More like Avery was his little brother love. Not that Hayley had a little brother. He was the youngest of six boys. But Avery would be the perfect little brother. Little in younger andlittleas inlittle. Ha, that was funny.

“Maybe it’s a new binkie?” Hayley offered. Avery already had like twenty binkies. He was obsessed with them.

Avery pressed his lips together. “But why would he need Grant to go with him to pick me out a new binkie? He normally just orders them online.”

“Oh yeah.” Hayley had forgotten about that. “So something big and heavy?”

“I think so,” Avery agreed.

Hayley started guessing the most outlandish things he could come up with. By the time the bell rang, announcing someone entering, he and Avery were laughing so hard they had to hold each other up.

“I love the sound of laughing boys.” Jace came around the shelves with a big smile.

“Daddy!” Avery ran over to Jace and into his open arms.

“Hey, baby boy,” Jace greeted Avery quietly before giving him a kiss.

Hayley sighed as he watched them.

One day, he told himself. One day he would have the same love directed at him.

Mac

Mac easily picked the lock before he stepped into the dark kitchen. The sun was barely over the horizon, so he wasn’t surprised by the silence in the house, the same silence he heard in his own home. Usually he didn’t mind the quiet. But after he’d left Hayley’s shop the day before, he hadn’t been able to settle.

He strolled over to the coffee pot, pleased to see it had already been prepped. It probably had a timer for the occupants of the house. Mac didn’t feel like waiting though, so pressed the On button.

As the coffee machine began to brew, Mac wandered around the kitchen.

He liked the little touches that spoke of the place being a home. His own house didn’t have those small touches. It was cold and sterile. He’d copied the décor out of magazines he’d picked up and couldn’t figure out what he’d done wrong.

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