Page 4 of When Alec Met Evie
“Probably not,” Megan says. “But if you can’t help, I’m going to have to miss a week of class to do it myself, and that will probably mean failing at least two of my classes, which would set me back?—”
“Fine. Fine!” I say, cutting her off. “I’ll help her.”
I hear the smile in Megan’s voice when she says, “Thank you. You’re the best brother ever.”
I lean back in my seat. “I can’t believe Evie has a kid. Is she even old enough for that?”
“She’s twenty-three,” Megan says. “Three months older than me.”
“Is she married?”
“Alec. I wasinher wedding. You saw all the pictures.”
A few vague memories of Evie’s wedding pop into my mind. Or more just memories of thinking she was way too young to be getting married. “Oh, that’s right. I do remember. But if she’s married, why does she need help moving?”
“Because she’s divorced,” Megan says. “And don’t even get me started on her jerk of an ex-husband.”
A surge of protectiveness pushes through me. She’sdivorcedwith a four-month-old baby? What kind of a loser husband did she have?
Maybe it’s the similarity to my own situation—I’m no stranger to dads cutting out on their kids—but the thought makes me want to punch something. Who would do that?
“That really sucks.”
“It does. But she’s tough. Just not tough enough to unload her moving pod by herself with a baby strapped to her chest. Think you could take over some teammates to help?”
“Anything else I can do? Stock her pantry? Mow the lawn before she gets into town?”
“Stop being snarky,” Megan says. “Did I catch you in a grumpy mood or something?”
Or something.
“Evie is literally the least demanding person ever,” Megan continues. “Once you get her stuff unloaded, you’ll probably never even hear from her again. I practically had to coerce her into letting me call you in the first place, and I know the only reason she caved is because her finances are really tight and she can’t afford to pay for movers.”
The note of genuine concern in Megan’s voice softens the last bit of my resistance. Honestly, I’m not even sure why I’ve been hesitating. A year ago, this is the kind of thing I would have agreed to in a second. But everything has felt harder lately. Hockey stuff. Social stuff. Just generallifestuff. I haven’t truly been myself since training started back up. But that’s not an excuse to be a jerk. To MeganorEvie.
“It’s fine. I’m sorry. I’ll take some guys over, and we’ll take care of it.”
“Perfect. Thank you.”
“Do you know where she’s moving?” I ask.
“I can text you the address,” Megan says. “It’s a house on this cute street with tons of trees. It looked totally adorable in the pictures.”
“She hasn’t seen it in person?”
“It’s just a rental, and of course she hasn’t. She just had a baby. It’s not like she’s had time to hop on down to North Carolina to check things out.”
I finally climb out of my truck, switching Megan’s call back onto my phone and turning on the speaker. “If you send me the address soon, I’ll drive over and check it out. Make sure it’s in an okay part of town.” This concession at least makes me feel better about my initially grumpy response.
“That would be awesome. See? I told her you’d be willing to help. She’ll be so happy to have a friend in town.”
“I’ll do what I can,” I say. “But remind her how much I’m gone. And I will be useless when it comes to the baby. I don’t do babies.”
Megan scoffs as I unlock my front door. “What does that even mean? You don’t do babies?”
“It means exactly what it means. I’m not a babysitter.”
“I wouldnothave asked you to babysit.”
