“I’ve got to get home,” Santana said quietly behind us and then leaned down to hug Mrs. V. “Mrs. Valtolina, thank you so much for inviting me into your home and letting me jam with you and Addy. I had a wonderful time.”
Remy stood watching her, his lips pinched like he was trying to stop himself from saying something.
“You’re always welcome, sweet girl. Thank you for looking after my granddaughter so well and for creating beautiful music with us. Will you come back soon?”
“Try and stop me,” Santana whispered, closing her eyes when Mrs. V whispered something in her ear. “I’ll think about it. Thank you again.”
And then she was gone, walking quickly over the grass to where the backyard met the drive at the side of the house.
“I better go with her. She’s got a car seat in her vehicle for Toby,” Remy muttered, giving Mrs. V a quick kiss on the cheek and following after her.
“That boy,” Mrs. V sighed. “We all have to make mistakes to see what’s in front of us.”
She wasn’t wrong there, only I’d seen what was in front of me the first time I’d met Addy, and I had no intentions of fucking it up.
“Nonna, something’s burning in your kitchen,” Addy shouted from somewhere in the house, just as the smoke alarms started going off.
Yelling something in Italian, the woman shook her fist at the sky and then ran to her back door, shouting, “My date’s in an hour. How do you have a date with no food to eat together?”
Chuckling, I walked through the music room to find Addy smirking at the door that connected the houses.
“What did you do?”
Wrapping her arms around my waist, Addy grinned happily. “Her profile says she makes the best lasagna in the country, so I added some mayo and ranch to the top of it and turned the broiler on. When she bites into it, it’ll be nice and crispy and have that extra somethin’-somethin’.”
Throwing my head back, I burst out laughing. This woman fit not only into my life but into my family perfectly. When you had one as crazy as mine, it was easy to think no person would ever be able to survive it and would probably run like the wind the second they experienced it. Addy wouldn’t have a problem, though, and I loved that.
I’d never dreamed of my perfect woman and standing in front of me was proof I’d never needed to because she’d found me all by herself.
Chapter Sixteen
Addy
Two weeks later…
Sadie and Elijah were back for a couple of days. He had a meeting to discuss something he was designing about an hour away, and Sadie had wanted to come back for our book club.
This time, there was no hot tub. No, the damn thing I’d spent over three hundred dollars on had broken, and Marcus hadn’t had time to look at it, so we were relaxing on deck chairs placed around Bronte while she played on the grass. The little girl was adorable and kept checking on Toby, who was fast asleep in his bassinet next to Santana.
I didn’t know what the status quo was between her and Remy because she wouldn’t talk about and I didn’t want to pressure her, so I was leaving it alone until the time came when she changed her mind.
We’d just finished filling Sadie in on everything that’d happened while she’d been away, and I was waiting for her to give her opinion on it all.
“I named Hayes, you know,” she finally said, confusing me. “Marcus got him just after I started having my issues, and while he was babysitting me one night, he asked me what a good name for a Shire horse would be. Hayes is a town right next to where I grew up, so I threw that out there on a whim, but I think it’s perfect for him.”
She wasn’t wrong there.
Smiling when Bronte brought me a leaf and then lifted her arms in the air to be picked up, I blew a raspberry on her belly and settled her down on my lap. I knew from experience she’d only give me about two minutes like this before she was ready to get down again, but I didn’t mind. I loved those two minutes with her. I also loved passing her back to her parents when she started crying, fussing or pooped her diaper.
“That’s kind of neat.”
Snickering, Sadie waved her hand. “Sorry, that’s irrelevant to what you’ve just told me, but I figured I’d get that little snippet of trivia out there.” Turning to me, she smiled softly when she saw Bronte playing with her toes, her head resting on my chest. “Now, onto the rest…” She gestured at Santana to lean in. “The love triangle thing is too delicious, don’t you think, author buddy of ours?”