“That’s debatable. You weren’t particularly rational for a little while.”
“Yeah, well…I’m working on it.” Smiling at Asher, he talked nonsense to him for a few minutes before looking at his sister again. “Can I run something by you?”
“Of course!”
“And do you swear not to blab it to everyone?”
“Um…”
“How about you can blab it to Ari, Liam, Patrick, Will, Tessa, and Ryker, but no one else?”
“So…not to Fallon, is that what you’re getting at?”
He nodded.
“Today was the last time I was going to see her before I left, so I think I can refrain from calling her. But this better be good.”
“Are you seriously trying to debate this with me? Because I can just as easily call Patrick or Liam or…”
“Okay, okay, okay!” she said quickly. “I promise that I won’t call her and I’m sure whatever it is you’re about to say is the greatest thing ever. There. Satisfied?”
The snarky tone and impish grin were so perfectly Ryleigh that he couldn’t help but laugh.
“As a matter of fact, I am,” he joked, and then took a moment to compose himself. “Just keep in mind that most of this literally just came to me in the last hour so I don’t have it all worked out yet.”
“Gotcha. Okay, so…lay it on me.”
And he did.
For a solid ten minutes, Jamie spoke out loud about all the things that he had thought about and how he’d like to implement them in order to make things work the way he wanted them to. The entire time he spoke, she sat quietly and listened.
“So? What do you think?”
“Wait…so…you’re going to do all of this while I’m gone?” she asked incredulously.
“Yup.”
“And I thought you had your mind set on…”
He knew where she was going. “I can’t help being wary, Ry. That’s not something that’s going to go away overnight. I’m working on it, though.”
“I can tell, but…damn, Jamie. I hate that you’re doing it all next week and I’m going to miss it!”
With a grin, he said, “I’m sure you’ll hear all about it when you get home.”
“I know, but…I’m the one who’s helped out the most! Can’t you wait a week?”
“Absolutely not. This has all dragged on long enough. The sooner everything is finalized, the better. I’m ready to move on with my life. Plus, I think it’s best for Asher to have some stability too.”
“You haven’t exactly gotten a guarantee on that one.”
“I know, but hopefully Mom will be willing to lend a hand while I work out the rest.”
Laughing softly, she shook her head. “You know she is going to freak out when she gets home and finds out she’s a grandmother.”
“I’m already expecting the lecture and the smack upside the head.”
“Well, at least you’ve got it all planned out. I’m just bummed that I won’t be here to see it.”
“Knowing our family, Ry, someone’s going to be filming it.”
Her smile grew. “They’d better!
Fallon looked at her watch and wondered if she had maybe gotten the time wrong. She and Tessa had texted back and forth a few times and had met here in the park yesterday, but…she was late. Was something wrong with Asher? Should she call and check?
“Ugh…don’t be naggy,” she quietly warned herself. It was possible that something came up and Tessa didn’t think to text to let her know.
Sitting on the park bench by the big oak tree, Fallon looked around and sighed. It was a gorgeous day out and she was thankful for the chance to be outside and away from the stress of sitting at her parents’ dining room table trying to figure out a business plan for a daycare center.
Yeah. It wasn’t going well.
Patrick’s assistant had been amazing at doing the research to help them narrow down all the parameters for a location, but so far, there wasn’t anything available that would work.
Or…there was one that would work, but it required a lot of renovations to get it up to code.
Which meant it would cost a fortune.
In the meantime, she’d applied for more positions and even received two job offers that she was currently considering, but…
“Nothing feels right,” she murmured.
Now that she got the idea in her head about opening a place of her own, she was excited about it. It would be hard to find a position working for someone else that might make her feel the same way.
Glancing toward the park entrance, she perked up. Tessa was walking toward her, and Fallon instantly got to her feet and went to meet her halfway.
“Hey! I was worried that maybe something had happened and you weren’t coming,” she said when she reached Tessa’s side.
“Sorry about that. We were walking out the door when he needed a diaper change—of the urgent kind, if you know what I mean,” Tessa said with amusement. “How does one tiny person make such a big mess?”
Unable to help herself, Fallon reached into the stroller and picked Asher up. “Hey, sweet boy. Did you give Aunt Tessa a hard time with a stinky diaper? Huh? Did you?” she said sweetly to him as she nuzzled in close. “He smells wonderful now, so…thank you.”
Laughing, Tessa walked toward their bench. “No need to thank me. Consider it my gift to the entire outdoors.”
They sat and she got comfortable with the baby in her lap and smiled down and talked gibberish to him like she usually did.
“So…” Tessa began after a few minutes. “How’s your day going?”
She shrugged. “Okay, I guess. Still job hunting and still uninspired.” Then she looked over at her. “Maybe I should apply with the school district. What do you think?”
“I thought you were looking into opening your own daycare center. What happened to that?”
“It’s going to be a lot more money than I feel comfortable with. All the properties Patrick’s shown me need a lot of work.” She sighed. “Like…the place in Magnolia that I had the job interview at a week ago would be perfect if I could…you know…take it over and do the renovations to get it up to par. But that’s not what they’re looking for.”
“How do you know? What if you approached the owners and presented a plan to them? It might not lead to anything, but…it also might? It can’t hurt, Fallon. Then you’d be in a position of running the place without it being the money out of your pocket.”
“I don’t know. Maybe.” With another sigh, she put her attention back on Asher. “I swear he just gets bigger every day. He’s changing so much. It’s crazy!”
“That’s a good thing, right?”
“Oh, definitely. It’s just so amazing to see.” She marveled at his hands and how much more controlled his movements seemed. She’d studied early childhood development, but it was so much more incredible to see it happen rather than read about it. “I could just watch him all day and never get bored.”
“This is definitely a good age,” Tessa agreed. “I’m with kids from kindergarten through fifth grade and they are exhausting!” Then she laughed. “I love them to death and I love singing with them, but some days it’s a struggle to keep everything in order.”