Part of her didn’t want to leave the room because…well…it was obvious this guy kind of knew what he was doing and she felt like maybe she should know some stuff too.
“Um…is there anything else you need me to get? Maybe something to eat?”
“Food really wouldn’t be helpful right now,” Hunter replied without looking at her. “We need to make sure she’s hydrated first. So…”
Yeah, she got the message.
With a quiet sigh, she stepped out of the room and found Kira coloring at her kiddie table in the kitchen. She bent down and kissed her on the head as she walked by. “Hey, baby girl. Whatcha coloring?”
“A puppy. Daddy says I can get one when he’s home!” She proudly held up a picture of a large brown…something she supposed could be a dog.
“That is awesome!” she replied as she filled Katie’s jumbo water mug. “Want to help me bring this to your mommy?”
“Yes!” And before Violet knew it, Kira had the cup and was running from the room.
Back in the bedroom, Hunter was now sitting on the corner of the bed with Eli in his lap. He accepted the cup from Kira with a big smile while thanking her profusely for being so helpful.
Kira. Not her.
It would be petty to point that out, so she stayed back and listened to whatever other pearls of wisdom he had to share.
“If you can, just try to relax for maybe thirty minutes,” Hunter was saying. “Drink your water, and if the contractions don’t calm down by then, try a nice warm shower.”
“I know you’re right,” Katie said softly. “I’ve been through this before. I think I was just tired and…” She paused and groaned. “Look, I don’t mean to pry, but…it was a little stressful when Eli started asking…”
Violet knew when to step in. “Hey, Kira, why don’t you and Eli come with me to the kitchen and we can draw some more puppies! What do you say?”
Eli scrambled off Hunter’s lap as he followed Kira from the room. Katie gave her a thankful smile, and Violet took that as her cue to leave.
Fifteen minutes later, Hunter walked into the kitchen and listened intently as Eli told him what he was drawing. Violet knew it was a firetruck but couldn’t figure out why he kept saying “Daddy’s firetruck.”
Hunter turned to her and grinned. “I’m a firefighter.”
And now she felt stupid for not putting two and two together sooner.
“Oh.”
He crossed his arms–which were seriously impressive–across an even more impressive chest as he studied her. She was about to tell him to quit staring when he motioned for her to follow him into the living room.
Which she did.
After a moment, he spoke. “I think you may have gotten the wrong impression of me earlier.” Then he held out his hand to her. “I’m Hunter Jones. Eli’s dad.”
“I figured that last part out,” she said, still not ready to think of him as anything other than a guy who forgot about his kid. But she did shake his hand because she always had manners.
“For the record, I didn’t forget about Eli. It was my ex’s day to pick him up. Had I known she wasn’t, believe me, I would have been here. We argued about it yesterday, and I told her I couldn’t.”
“And she obviously told you she couldn’t,” Violet fired back. “What exactly did you think was going to happen here?”
He raked a hand through his sandy brown hair as he let out a huff of frustration. “I’m not going to get into this with you because, honestly, it’s none of your business. Katie and I are good, and that’s all that matters right now.”
Why argue it? Violet knew the moment he was gone she was going to get all the information from her friend so…
“Okay, then. I guess you’ll be going,” she said smugly.
“You’re not even going to introduce yourself?” he asked, and Violet couldn’t tell if he actually wanted to know or if he was mocking her.
Manners. You have manners.
“I’m Violet Drake. An old friend of Katie’s. I’m going to be staying with her until Brian gets back.”
All he did was nod before walking back to the kitchen. “You ready, little man?”
“Yay!” Eli cried, and all but jumped into Hunter’s arms.
They walked around gathering Eli’s belongings, and once they had them all and were at the door, Hunter turned to her. “Katie should be fine. It sounds like she just overdid it today. But if the contractions become more consistent or get more intense, then you should call her doctor. You shouldn’t need to rush her to the hospital or even call Rose until the doctor says she needs to be seen. No need to get everyone all worked up. I know Katie wasn’t overly thrilled with having her mother-in-law hovering around last week.”
So clearly he knew Katie pretty well.
And had some medical knowledge.
She’d like to add that he was a good dad, but the jury was still out on that one.
At least until she had the chance to get all the details from Katie.
“Okay, so you’re freaking out.”
“Really? What was your first clue?”
It was after nine, Eli was in bed, and Hunter was on the phone with his brother Dean. He hadn’t wanted to talk to anyone while his son was awake because a three-year-old didn’t need to hear his father saying the long line of hateful words Hunter had used to describe Melissa.
“There’s no need for sarcasm,” Dean replied. “You went to her house?”
“Yeah. Her car wasn’t there, the lights were out, and the doors were locked.”
“How many times have you called her?”
“I lost count.”
“Maybe something happened to her, Hunter. Have you thought of that?”
Letting out a long breath, he slowly sat down on his sofa. “Honestly? No. This sort of thing has been happening more and more lately.” He paused and tried to force himself to calm down. “She texted yesterday telling me I had to pick up Eli, and I said no. I told her it was her day per her rules, and I wasn’t available. I just never thought she’d completely forget about picking him up.”
“Damn. Was he okay when you got to Katie’s?”
“Yeah, he was fine from what I could tell, but…you know he’s quiet even on a good day, so…”
“I’m sorry, Hunter. Really. I know we talked about taking legal action a while ago, but…”
“Oh, I’m way ahead of you. I plan on reaching out to my attorney first thing tomorrow. I’m just…I’m done.”
Dean was quiet for a minute and Hunter knew his big brother well enough to know he was considering his next words carefully. “Okay, I know all of this just happened…”
“But…?”
“But…we all know Melissa wasn’t around much, but she was around enough that it helped with your schedule. Have you thought about how you’re going to continue working if you’re Eli’s primary parent now? I mean, you just got off doing a twenty-four-hour shift. How would you do it without her help?”
“Believe me, I’ve been thinking about it for a long time and I still don’t know.”