By 9:30, she had everything cleaned up and put away and had taken the trash out. Getting back in her car felt like she was driving herself to her own execution. The last thing she wanted was another late-night encounter with Jamie. With any luck, he would still be tired and looking forward to going to sleep.
She could only hope.
The drive back was short, and most of the lights in the house were out when she pulled up. Relaxing, she grabbed her purse and quietly let herself in. She didn’t see Jamie in the living room, and when she walked to Asher’s room, she found the two of them sitting in the rocking chair reading a story. The sight was so damn sweet that she felt herself tearing up again. Jamie gave her a small smile but never stopped reading. So rather than intrude and risk startling the baby, Fallon went out to the kitchen and made herself a cup of tea.
Everything was clean and wiped down. She checked the refrigerator and saw that Jamie had made a few more bottles of formula, and then checked the laundry room and saw that he had done a small load of Asher’s clothes.
Okay, maybe I won’t have to stay overnight beyond tonight…
Honestly, it looked like he was getting the hang of things on his own and that he was finally taking her advice. With any luck, they could finish out the next two weeks with their original schedule.
Back out in the kitchen, she took her steaming mug and sat down at the table with a sigh.
“Rough night?” Jamie asked as he walked into the room.
“What?”
“You sighed. I thought maybe something happened tonight.”
“Oh, uh…no. Nothing exciting. I guess I’m just tired. I’m not used to getting up during the night either.”
“Damn,” he murmured, pulling out the chair beside her and sitting. “I guess I hadn’t thought about that.”
“It’s okay. I’ll sleep at home tomorrow night and get caught up on it. And I think you and Asher should be fine going into next week so we can go back to our original plan.”
“You think?”
“Jamie…you got him to sleep in his crib, right?”
He nodded.
“And we’ll see how long he stays asleep tonight, but I don’t see any reason he won’t stick to the four-hour schedule. You’ll be able to handle that fine without me here.”
He didn’t look convinced, but he also looked like he had something to say.
Something she wasn’t willing to take a chance on listening to because she had a feeling it had to do with last night again.
“So, um…I’m going to go to sleep,” she said. “You know, all the books say to sleep when the baby does.”
“Before you go,” he began, and Fallon wanted to curse. “Everyone’s coming over tomorrow night for dinner and I thought you’d like to join us.” Pausing, he stood when she did. “I mean, you don’t have to, but since your folks are out of town, we thought we’d all try to hang out again. Only this time no one will have to be doing baby shopping or organizing my house.” He gave her that boyish grin of his. “We’re going to barbecue so it’s nothing fancy, but…I hope you’ll join us.”
After her pitiful night, she definitely wouldn’t mind hanging out with friends. And with so many Donovans, she knew she would have plenty of distractions and other people to talk to.
“You know what? Sure. That sounds like fun. Is there anything I should make?”
He shook his head. “Nope. We’ve got it all under control.”
“I kind of feel like I need to contribute something.”
“You’re going to be here taking care of Asher before everyone gets here. I’ve got to go into the pub in the morning, but I’ll be back by two and everyone’s coming around three.”
She nodded and then forced herself to yawn. “Sounds good.” Taking a step back and then another, she said, “Welp…goodnight.”
“Hey, uh…Fallon?” He took one step toward her and then hesitated.
“Hmm?”
“Look, I feel like I need to apologize again.”
“What for?”
“I know that we didn’t kiss—at least according to you—but it was rude of me to fall asleep while we were in the middle of talking last night. You were probably telling me something important and I couldn’t even stay awake to hear it. So…I’m sorry.”
Just take the apology and go to bed…
“It’s fine, Jamie. Really. No big deal. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Goodnight, Fallon.”
With a small smile, she turned and walked to Asher’s room and grabbed her things and went into the bathroom to get ready for bed. And by the time she crawled under the blankets, she was confident she had convinced Jamie that he had imagined the whole kissing thing.
Plus, she had gotten an apology and that went a long way in making her feel better about the whole thing. So basically, she was counting it all as a win and managed to sleep like a baby.
Well…for four hours until Asher woke up.
Chapter Seven
Everyone was talking and laughing and having a great time, and Jamie felt like Asher finally made him look like an equal in his siblings’ eyes. This was the first time he had offered to host anything, and it turned out that it was kind of nice to have everyone over when there wasn’t some sort of crisis.
Liam was manning the grill while talking to Will and Patrick, Arianna and Tessa were playing with Asher and chatting with Fallon, and he was in the kitchen with Ryleigh.
“So? How’s everything going?” she asked as she tossed a pasta salad.
“I don’t think I’d call it calm around here yet, but things are definitely improving.”
“I’m sure having Fallon here overnight helped.”
“You have no idea,” he said as he pulled some potato salad and coleslaw out of the fridge. “I really thought she was crazy with some of her suggestions, but every single one of them worked and I think I’m feeling more confident as a parent because of it.”
She nodded. “Yeah, Fallon is awesome. I knew she’d be the right person to help you out.”
“Go figure, right?” he said with amusement. “If anyone would have told me that my nemesis would turn into my savior, I would have said they were crazy.”
“Jamie, nemesis? Really? Isn’t that a bit dramatic?”
“What? It’s the truth! That’s how we always treated each other.”
Shrugging, Ryleigh walked over and washed her hands before tackling the fruit salad. “I still think it sounds ridiculous, but if the two of you have called a truce, then I’m happy.”
“We’ve definitely called a truce.” He paused and looked out to the deck where Fallon was sitting with Asher in her lap, and he couldn’t help but smile. She was a natural with his son, and that made him like her even more.
“Any word from Jenn?”
“What? Oh, um…no. But I haven’t tried calling her either. I’m trying to respect her wishes from the letter. Plus, I don’t know that I’m going to be able to stay calm when I talk to her. After all, she’s turned our lives upside down. And what kind of person just dumps a baby like that?”