And he absolutely refused to think about why that was.
It was a little after three when there was a knock at the door. Asher was in her arms, and when she answered the door, Ryleigh was standing there. Her entire face lit up when she saw her nephew.
“Oh my goodness! I’m so glad I timed it right and he’s awake!”
Fallon stepped aside and laughed as Ryleigh scooped the baby right out of her arms. “Hey! I didn’t know you were stopping by today.”
“It wasn’t originally on my agenda. We’re all trying to give my brother a little space and let him settle in, but after working at the pub today, I knew I needed to come over and talk to you.”
“Uh-oh. Why? What’s wrong?”
Sitting on the sofa, Ryleigh took a few minutes to coo at Asher. When she looked up at Fallon, she looked completely serene. “Can you get my phone out of my bag? I want to show you something.”
“Sure.” Taking the phone out, she handed it to Ryleigh, who swiped the screen a couple of times and then handed the phone back. “Um…what am I looking at?”
“You’re looking at proof of how exhausted my brother is. He face-planted in the potato salad,” she said with a smirk. “So naturally I took a picture and then helped him up. It’s obvious that he’s completely worn out. Clearly, he needs help with the overnight stuff until Asher starts sleeping a little easier.”
“He would sleep easier and longer by now if your brother didn’t disregard the schedule I gave him. Every time I talk to him about it, he simply rolls his eyes and tells me he knows how to handle his son. There isn’t a doubt in my mind that if he had his way, poor Asher would be eating pizza crusts and french fries rather than formula.”
Ryleigh didn’t even try to argue or defend him.
“Okay, I get what you’re saying and…you’re right. But I think he’s seeing the error of his ways, so…maybe you can crash here a couple of nights a week?”
“Ryleigh…” she whined.
“I know it’s a bit of an imposition, but…look at this sweet baby’s face,” she said, pointing to Asher, who was watching them both intently. “Doesn’t he deserve to feel loved and cared for?”
“Of course he does. But shouldn’t that guilt trip be laid on Jamie? I do all of that for Asher all day long and then your brother comes home and drops the ball.”
Although he had started to see she was right this morning.
Before the kiss.
Ugh…the kiss.
Why? Why would he have kissed her?
And why didn’t you kiss him back?
Yeah, that had been something she’d been asking herself all day. The obvious answer was because it was Jamie. She didn’t kiss Jamie. Ever. Had never even considered it. But now that he had kissed her? It was all she could think about.
Dammit.
“I hate saying it, but we all know my brother is stubborn and arrogant and clueless. He knows you’re doing all the right things. He even admitted it to me after the whole potato salad incident.”
“I’m already spending a lot of time here, Ryleigh. If I started spending the nights, it would be like we were living together and that’s just weird.”
Move in with me…
It was exactly what he’d asked of her just a few days ago and she was against it then, just like she was against it now.
But…
“It wouldn’t really be like moving in and it would be a short-term thing. If you get Asher’s schedule firmly in place and he starts sleeping better…”
“It will all go away once I leave and Jamie doesn’t follow it. Trust me, I’ve thought about all of this and it wouldn’t be helping either of them.”
They sat in companionable silence for a minute. Ryleigh was playing with Asher’s feet and talking softly to him, and that left Fallon with time to…think.
How bad would a couple of nights really be? Now that he saw her suggestions actually worked, he should be a little more willing to listen to her. Was she being spiteful just for the sake of being spiteful?
“I can practically hear you thinking from here,” Ryleigh teased.
“It’s hard to think about all of this and spending more time with Jamie. We’ve never gotten along and I fear that me being here all the time will be…tense. And that’s not good for Asher either.”
“Okay, how about this—I stay here with Asher for a little while so you can go home and pack a bag. Just a small one. Enough stuff for, let’s say…two nights. You can go home when he gets home from work or just leave for a couple of hours and come back later on when you know the baby’s asleep. No need for the two of you to go all domestic and eat dinner and watch TV together.” She shuddered dramatically. “Now that would be weird.”
“You’re telling me,” she mumbled.
“And if things are genuinely awful, I’ll get everyone together and we’ll work out a schedule, so we all take a night here to give Jamie a break and so we’re all not losing sleep. What do you think?”
I think I never should have answered my phone on Sunday…
“Ryleigh…” she whined, but she knew she was losing the battle with saying no. She already knew Jamie wouldn’t mind since he was the one who initially asked her days ago.
“I’ll bring dinner over every night so no one has to cook! And…and…I’ll make sure there’s always ice cream or cookies or brownies in the house for dessert! Whatever you want or need, we’ll make it happen, Fallon. Please. I hate to think of this precious boy being neglected in any way. It’s bad enough his mother abandoned him…”
“She said she’s coming back. We need to give her the benefit of the doubt.”
“Um, no. I don’t. She let Jamie off the hook by not telling him what was going on and then she just comes by and leaves Asher on the porch? I mean…who does that?”
“Okay, I know it looks bad, but we don’t know this girl or what her history is like. For all we know, she struggles with depression or some other mental illness. She said she was going away for a few weeks, maybe it’s a rehab sort of thing.”
“Oh my God! What if it’s rehab for drugs? Has Jamie made any appointments with a pediatrician? Shouldn’t that be something he needs to do immediately?”
Fallon gasped because Ryleigh was right. No one had thought of that.
“You’re right. That is something we should have done first thing. When Jamie gets home, I’ll talk to him about it. In the meantime, I’ll see where the closest one is. Obviously it’s been a long time since I’ve been to one.”
“Yeah, me too.”
Unable to sit still, Fallon got up and grabbed her laptop and immediately began searching.
“And where did we land on you sleeping here for a few nights?” Ryleigh asked.
“Ugh…you are relentless. You know that, right?”
“Part of my charm,” her friend said with a small laugh. Standing, she snuggled Asher a little closer. “I think he definitely needs a fresh diaper so I’ll go take care of that and then, when he’s all clean, you can give me your answer.”