“I know, it’s just… I really want to please Gavin. He selected me out of sixty applicants and I would hate for him to think that he made a mistake hiring me over any one of them.”
“Sixty?” Jenna mouthed to Ben, who nodded back in response.
“He said one of the reasons he hired me was because I reminded him of himself. So whenever I’m not sure if I should call or not I just ask myself ‘What would Gavin do?’ and I really think he’d want me to follow up and make sure everything was going according to plan.”
“I see,” Ben answered dryly. “You can put your mind at ease because everything is fine.”
“Excellent, sir! Very good. You have my number if you need anything. Just call, twenty-four seven. No worries about the time difference.”
“Great,” Ben said then hung up.
“You shouldn’t be so hard on poor Tyler. He’s just trying to please Gavin.”
“Since I’m Gavin’s boss, then the one he should be trying to please is me. And calling me on my honeymoon while I’m—”
The phone pinged again. “Now what?” he growled. One look at the screen and Ben’s face completely softened. “It’s Rachel.”
Jenna sat up in her chair. “Oh! Keep the speaker on.”
The sound of little girl giggling melted Jenna’s heart. “Daddy Ben! Guess what? Grandma and I are making chocolate chip pancakes for dinner!”
“Hello, you two!” said Pat. “Sorry to interrupt but Rachel insisted we call and let you know.”
“Not a problem, Mom. Call whenever you like,” said Ben.
“Rachel, when we get back from Hawaii we’ll make pancakes with coconut syrup,” said Jenna. “You’ll love them.”
“Can we put whipped cream on ’em too?”
“Of course!”
“Oh! Mommy Jenna, I got the part of the mushroom in the school play!”
“That’s fabulous, sweetheart! We’re so proud of you!”
“Grandma says I gotta go now. Bye!”
“Bye! We love you!” Jenna said.
Ben scowled. “The mushroom? My daughter is going to play the part of a fungus in the preschool play?”
“Don’t you dare say anything, Ben Harrison. For all we know, the mushroom is the star of the whole production. And if it isn’t, then we’ll just have to make sure it gets the most applause, that’s all.”
He grinned. “You’re a terrific mom, you know that?”
Jenna smiled wistfully. “Do you think she’ll ever just call us mommy and daddy?”
“Yes,” he said quietly. “She already does sometimes. We’ll just have to make sure she always remembers Jake and Cindy.”
Jenna nodded solemnly. Raising Rachel was a privilege that Ben never took for granted. It was one of the many things she loved about him.
She leaned back in her chair. “What should we bring Rachel back from Hawaii? I saw the most adorable little sarong in the gift shop. There’s also this cute hula doll. Or maybe we’ll do both. But I don’t want to spoil her. What do you think? The sarong or the doll?”
“What? As a souvenir from our honeymoon? Rachel already asked me for something else.”
“Really? What?”
He turned to look at her. “A baby brother or sister.”