Please let her be the answer I need…
Jamie stayed where he was for a minute while he heard a flurry of voices coming from the next room. Everyone sounded cheery and friendly, and it put his mind at ease.
Okay, if his family liked her, then there wasn’t a doubt in his mind that he would. Giving himself a reassuring smile in the mirror, he turned and walked back out to the living room and froze.
Fallon Murphy was standing there in the middle of the room with Asher in her arms.
Shit.
This nightmare of a day just got worse.
“Oh my goodness, he’s so little,” Fallon said softly as she snuggled the baby in her arms.
“He is, but he’s a fantastic eater,” Ryleigh assured her.
“And a good pooper,” Tessa added. “That first diaper wasn’t pretty.”
“I almost threw up,” Liam said. “How can one tiny person create that strong of a smell?”
“Oh, hush,” Tessa gently scolded. “Their little systems are just learning to work.”
Fallon caressed the baby’s cheek for a moment before she looked up at everyone. “So, um…I hate to ask the obvious, but…whose baby is he?”
Five pairs of eyes stared back at her, but no one said a word. Until…
“He’s mine,” Jamie said as he walked into the room.
And then it all made sense—why Ryleigh was so vague on the phone, why they had all lulled her in and immediately put Asher in her arms—it was all a way to get her to soften before finding out which Donovan needed her help.
Clearly now wasn’t the time to make a snarky comment—even though there were a dozen of them on the tip of her tongue. Instead, she simply offered Jamie a small smile and waited for someone to explain what was going on.
“Fallon,” Liam began, but Jamie instantly cut him off.
“This is my home and my son, so…I think I should be the one to explain to…Fallon what’s going on.”
She would have almost respected him if he hadn’t sneered when he said her name.
Ass.
Jamie made quick work of explaining the situation and even gave her the letter he received this morning so she could read it for herself. A myriad of emotions threatened to overwhelm her. How could someone just walk away from their baby? What kind of help did she need that required three weeks away? Were they really going to just put this sweet baby up for adoption when the three weeks were up? She felt a little sick to her stomach and slowly turned to sit herself down on the sofa.
All the Donovans—including Ryker and Tessa—remained standing.
“Basically,” Ryleigh said after a moment, “Jamie really needs help for Asher. I know the two of you don’t have a great history with each other, but I’m hoping you can both put that aside for the sake of the baby.”
Fallon glared up at Jamie and saw he was glaring right back.
This definitely won’t work…
“You used to babysit a lot when we were younger,” Ryleigh went on, “and I know you spent several summers working as a mother’s helper. This is basically the same thing. With our parents out of town, Jamie has to run the pub and there’s no way he can bring a baby to work with him. That’s not a good environment for him.”
While Fallon agreed with everything Ryleigh was saying, it wasn’t Ryleigh’s place to be trying to win her over.
“I understand what you’re saying,” she began diplomatically, “but considering this is a situation of Jamie’s doing, I think he’s the one I need to be talking with.”
There was a collective groan around the room before everyone started to move away.
Patrick and Ryker announced that they were leaving to take things to storage, Liam and Tessa offered to pick up lunch, which left Fallon, Ryleigh, and Jamie.
And she had a feeling poor Ryleigh had been left to play the moderator.
She sat down on the sofa beside her while Jamie sat in the oversized chair.
“Just so you know,” Jamie began, “I had no idea anyone had called you. So if I seem a little shocked that you’re here, that’s why.”
It was a reasonable excuse, but she held no illusions that he was grateful for her presence.
“And just so you know,” she retorted, “I had no idea why I was coming here or even whose house it was so…like you…if I seem a little shocked, that’s why.”
“Okay, so we’re both on the same page. Shocked,” he said flatly.
“Exactly,” she murmured.
And then it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Ryleigh kept looking back and forth between them for several minutes until she clearly couldn’t take it anymore.
“I hate to point out the obvious,” she began, “but this ridiculous little standoff isn’t helping anything.”
Fallon responded first. “You’re right and I get it. But I don’t think this will work. It’s obvious he doesn’t want me here, no matter how much he needs the help. And honestly, I’m not sure I want to be the one doing this. I realize I have the free time right now, but…I have some plans in the work.”
Liar, liar, liar…
Okay, so maybe she was a little more comfortable lying than she thought she was. It didn’t necessarily make her a bad person.
“He’ll pay you!” Ryleigh blurted out. “No one expects you to be doing this for free and I know you’re probably eager to start job hunting, but…you can still do that while babysitting Asher. Jamie doesn’t work all day, every day. He’ll be home at night and during the days when you’re here, you can do whatever you need to, right, Jamie?”
He shrugged.
“Dude, I am seriously trying here,” Ryleigh hissed at him. “Can you maybe take your head out of your butt for a few minutes and see how this is all for your benefit? And maybe thank Fallon for being willing to come here and save your sorry ass?”
“She didn’t know it was me she was coming to help!” he argued. “And I’d bet good money if you mentioned that on the phone, she would have had an excuse why she couldn’t come over.”
He wasn’t wrong.
“But the fact is that I’m still here,” Fallon challenged. “So either talk to me about how we can make this work, or I’ll hand your son to you and leave. The choice is yours.”
This would really be a great thing for her right now, but there was no way she was going to let him know that. She wasn’t ready to start job hunting and she knew therapy was a serious option, but maybe reading a couple of self-help books would be a step in the right direction. Plus, if he were paying her, she’d at least be getting some form of income so she wouldn’t have to dip into her dwindling savings.
Doing her best to keep her expression neutral, Fallon waited him out. Asher was asleep in her arms and he felt so good there that she knew it would be hard to hand him over if Jamie told her to leave.
With a defiant look, he leaned forward in his seat. “You’d have to be here for six to eight hours a day,” he said stiffly.
“I’m aware.”
“While my folks are away, I’m typically working six days a week. I can be flexible with my hours, but I can’t come running home multiple times a day if you’re freaking out about something.”