Page 5 of Only the Beginning

She’s completely transformed, her blonde hair styled in an updo that compliments her strapless dress. Her curves make the dress pop, but it’s the shoes that bring the outfit all together. She was always into fashion growing up, but as an adult, she could actually wear the things in the magazine. It didn’t hurt that Jason had a job that could help with her shoe addiction.

“Yes, you look amazing.”

“Thank you. Can you put this on?” She hands me one end of a necklace and I clasp it closed for her.

“Jason!” Ruby shakes her head. “Where did he go now?”

“Matthew got up a little early,” Jason comes out holding my adorable nephew, who was mid-yawn.

“He woke up, or you woke him up saying goodbye?” Ruby says with an eyebrow raised.

“Oh, come on, you can’t be mad at these cheeks.” Jason holds Matthew up in defense and Ruby caves.

They say goodnight to the girls, steal one last kiss from Matthew, and leave for the night. I grab Matthew a bottle while the cookies bake, and we start the movie with the girls. Their giggles and nights like this make me wonder when I’ll have this for myself.

I am only twenty-six, so it’s not like my clock was ticking or anything, but sometimes I was impatient. I hadn’t been in a serious relationship since before I started Grad school. There was just too much to do and not so much time for relationships if I wanted to keep my scholarship.

Matthew falls asleep in my arms and I watch his little eyelids flutter closed in his milk coma. A few moments later, I place him in the bassinet and turn my attention to the cookies. I grab the girl's fancy plates with their favorite princesses and give them each two cookies, sneaking one while they cool. I fill their Elsa and Anna mugs with milk and carry it out to the living room on a tray.

“OOO! These look yummy!” Lily cheers. I place the tray on their little table, and we pretend the milk is tea, holding our pinkies in the air.

“For you, Princess Lily, and for you, Princess Heather.” I smile as we clink cups.

“Are there more cookies?” Heather asks, flashing her puppy dog eyes at me.

“MORE COOKIES!” Lily shouts. I glance at Matthew, but he only makes a little groan in his sleep. He must be used to his sisters.

“You can have more cookies if you promise to go to bed nice later. Can’t give auntie any troubles.” I look at them both as sternly as I can, which I’m sure isn’t very much. They eagerly agree, and we grab the rest of the cookies to snack on.

After consuming way too many cookies, we settle on the couch for the rest of the movie. Lily and Heather climb onto my lap on from either side of me.

“Holly?”My sister shakes my shoulder and I almost jolt up. Matthew was asleep in the bassinet on the floor, and I cuddled the girls next to me under a fluffy blanket.

“Oh, my gosh! I’m so sorry,” I had never fallen asleep babysitting before.

“It’s okay, it looks like everyone had fun,” Jason smiles and picks the girls up, one in each arm, to carry them upstairs. They’re so exhausted that they don’t protest.

“How did you get him to sleep so long? That's most impressive,” Ruby whispers, looking down at Matthew. I glance at the clock and realize we’ve all been sleeping for at least 2 hours. The last thing I remembered was watching the end of Snow White with the girls already fast asleep in my lap.

“We played, and he was exhausted. Call it an auntie’s gift.” I tease.

“Do you want to spend the night? We can make the guest bed, so you don’t have to drive.”

“No, I should be okay. I guess the girls wore me out more than I realized.” I smile.

“You ever take a day off to just relax? I know school has been running you ragged.”

“I’m actually going hiking with my friends next weekend, a wonderful break before finals start,” I assure her.

“Good, you deserve to do some fun things sometimes, you know.”

ChapterFour

Idon’t know how Marshall and Louis convinced me to spend my first free weekend hiking with them and their wives and kids. Not that I didn’t like kids. I loved them and their wives were nice. I just always felt so out-of-place being the only single guy there. Sometimes I would bring along a girl I was dating, but it had been a while since I’d managed that. Their wives had been trying to set me up for years, but I always declined. The last thing I wanted was to be set up on a random blind date.

Working the hours I do can make it rough on a relationship. I was just cutting back to a normal 40-hour workweek now that I was settled into my role. Which is how I ended up with a weekend off. I insisted on driving up myself, giving the option to bail last minute if I needed to.

The drive to the mountains is quick. My family and I used the same route when my sister and I were kids. Now she’s in New York, running her hair salon. If we’re being honest, she’s the one who convinced me to go on this trip. Kennedy thinks I work too much, and she’s probably right.

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