Page 127 of This Memory
He kissed me once more and went back into the house.
I started to hum a song as Lily drank. Her little gray-blue eyes looked up at me, and a sweet smile appeared. “You like that? Your mom used to sing that song all the time. It’s Kelsea Ballerini, and the song is called ‘This Time Last Year.’ It was one of her favorites. Should we play it?”
I grabbed my phone, opened Spotify, and selected the song. As it played, I stood and danced slowly with Lily. She stopped nursing and stared at me with the cutest face.
“You like that, sweet pea? Should we play more Kelsea?”
Gavin walked up and buried his face in my neck. “You look beautiful with her in your arms like that.”
I laughed. “It’s all her.”
Turning, I handed Lily to him. He promptly put her over his shoulder and lightly patted her back. When she let out a loud burp, we both laughed.
“I didn’t really think I could ever be this happy,” Gavin said as he swayed to the song. “Today was hard.”
Gavin had been off work for the last month with me and Lily, and today was his first day back.
“It was hard not having you here.”
He sighed. “Did you stop by the store today?”
I nodded and turned down my phone. “I did. Upstairs looks amazing. The nursery is adorable, thanks to Harper and Aurora.”
“I got the background checks done.”
Rolling my eyes, I sat on the outdoor sofa. “Gavin, you cannot be running background checks on everyone.”
“The hell I can’t. They’re going to be watching our daughter. You bet your ass I’m checking them out. They’re both clean, by the way.”
I laughed. “Are you leaning toward one or the other? I kind of like Loren.”
He smiled and ran his finger down Lily’s cheek. “Yeah, she was nice. Good references as well.”
“What about Pam?”
He frowned. “I didn’t get a warm-fuzzy with her. She seems like she’d be strict.”
“Strict? Lily will only be four months old, so how strict could she possibly be?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I thought Loren’s references were better, and she’s used to working with babies. Pam’s last few jobs have been with older kids.”
“That’s true. The good thing is, they’ll just be upstairs. And Loren would live there, so that’s extra easy and convenient for her.”
Nodding, he said, “Another good point.”
I smiled as I looked at Lily, peacefully sleeping in Gavin’s arms.
“Do you think Evelyn and Denny are watching over her?” I asked.
Without even thinking, Gavin replied, “I sure do. Do you ever notice Lily sometimes looks off in the distance and gets excited? My mother says it’s just gas, but I don’t think so. I think she sees them.”
I grinned. “I thought the same thing!”
“Right? I mean, come on. The way she focuses so hard on the distance. She sees her two angels.”
“A hundred percent.”
Gavin focused back on Lily. “When do you want to do this again?”
