Page 31 of Ever With Me

Brooks exchanged a look with Cormac. “What the hell is a dip egg?”

“Hell if I know.” Cormac chewed on his bacon.

“Mommy says hell is a no-no word,” Audrey said sternly.

Brooks swallowed. The private chef would be arriving for lunch and dinners, but breakfast was on him. “She’s right. Don’t say it.” He stood, then went back toward the island. “So what does a dip egg look like?”

“Like a dip egg!” She settled into the chair he’d just vacated, her little legs swinging as she held on to her stuffed gorilla.

“What color is it?” Cormac tried, helpfully.

“Egg color.” She picked at her gorilla’s fur.

“Of course it is.” Brooks lifted his head as the sound of footsteps approached. Kayla returned to the kitchen, a strained expression on her face. “Hey, what’s a dip egg?”

“Over-easy,” she said distractedly and gathered her plate. “That was my boss. I changed shifts with one of the other nurses so I could be out until Friday, but Stephanie didn’t approve it. She’s furious and wants me to come in right now.”

“Even though you covered your shift? Haven’t you always been allowed to change shifts pretty easily? That’s part of why you took that job.”

“Yeah, but Stephanie is new. She doesn’t love the amount of flexibility we had before and has really cracked down on it.” Kayla ran her fingers through her hair. “This is so stupid. Jenna is already there, covering my shift. By the time I get there, it will be almost noon.” She tugged at Audrey. “Come on, kiddo. We have to get going.”

Audrey looked stricken. “Where?”

“Home. Grandma will watch you.”

“No!” Audrey clutched her gorilla tightly. “I wanna stay with Uncle Books!”

Kayla rolled her eyes and attempted to lift Audrey from the chair. Audrey flopped herself over, making herself a dead weight. “No!” Audrey wailed again.

“Uncle Brooks is busy. He doesn’t have time to watch you by himself.”

“Yes, he can!” Audrey shot him pleading eyes. “Uncle Books can watch me by hisself!”

Brooks caught his breath. How hard could it be? He’d watched Audrey for a couple of hours at a time before when Kayla came to visit.

Brooks came over toward them and took a wiggling Audrey from Kayla. “I got her. It’s no big deal.”

“Yes, it is a big deal because I’ve got to work on Wednesday, too. I can’t be back and forth from here every day.” Kayla reached her arms out. “I can’t leave you with Uncle Brooks until Friday. That’s too much work for him. You don’t even like to sleep by yourself.”

“I stay with Uncle Books!” Audrey’s little arms clung to his neck as Kayla tried to pull her away.

“If you don’t mind her staying with me, I can watch her,” Brooks said, trying to keep Audrey from falling.

“Yay! I can stay!” Audrey beamed.

“These are conversations we have without the four-year-old present.” Kayla gave him a hard look, then threw up her hands. “Fine. You want to babysit? Go ahead. But when she’s freaking out in the middle of the night because I’m not there, I’m going to tell you I told you so. I’m going to go pack my stuff.”

Cormac let out a low whistle as Kayla stormed off. Audrey continued to smile triumphantly, holding on to Brooks. “You’re a brave man. Even I wouldn’t volunteer to watch my nieces and nephews for the better part of a week. Four is a tough age.”

“I got nothing planned.”

Except dealing with Madison Yardley. The thought made his stomach churn.

Brooks set Audrey down on her feet, then ruffled her hair. “Why don’t you go watch some more cartoons while I make you that dip egg?”

Audrey bounded back toward the couch, the tutu on her pjs swishing as she ran.

He didn’t know what Kayla was so worried about anyway—he’d practically raised his sister, and everything had turned out fine. “Hey, speaking of your nieces and nephews, can you possibly do me the favor of taking Audrey to the park maybe to hang out with some of them around noon? I’ve got one thing I need to take care of, and I’d prefer Audrey not be around for it.”

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