CEO Daddy (Crescent Cove 6.50)

“Oh my God, my roast.”

“And my granddaughter.”

They both took off, chattering all the while. The door slapped shut behind them and I stopped on the porch, digging into the bag of presents.

“Snug, get in here with that bag,” my grandmother called.

Busted again.

I followed them into the kitchen, depositing the bag in the foyer on the way. Hannah pulled out the roast pan from the oven, and the fragrant scent of the meat was nearly enough to make a man kneel down and beg. My grandmother had Lily on her hip, who was trying to pull off her dangling earring.

The quiet scene of domesticity nearly rocked me off my feet.

Hannah making dinner, my grandmother quietly chatting about her trip, my daughter bouncing and babbling to herself.

“So, I figured, why not move him in? I’m not getting any younger, you know. A woman has needs. I’d prefer not to place phone calls in the middle of the night when rolling over is just as easy.”

I shut my eyes. Pretty domestic picture shattered.

With a mallet.

Hannah nodded and stuck her long-handled fork into the roast a little too vigorously.

“I imagine the same happened here. You put two attractive adults in the same space and boom, sparks.” Gran shifted to use Lily’s hand to smack against her stomach when she said “boom” and Lily giggled as if it was the funniest joke ever. Her cheeks were smeared with something orange. More Spaghetti-Os? I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

I moved to the sink and wet a paper towel before moving back to clean Lily’s cheeks. She swatted at the paper towel, batting it away every time I tried to clean her up.

“Be still, Lily. I know you’ve been eating that pasta in a can crap again.” I kept my voice even as I tidied her up, but from my grandmother’s sigh, she didn’t find me amusing.

Hannah didn’t respond at all.

Then Lily fisted the towel and started chewing on it.

Well aware when I was outgunned, I stepped back. “Moving a man in you just met is rather sudden.”

“Uh-huh. It is.”

“Are you sure you shouldn’t take some time?”

Gran pried the towel away from Lily and deftly wiped the baby’s cheeks. “I’m not getting younger,” she repeated. “I know what I want right now, so what, exactly, am I waiting for? Some prescribed time when proper society says it’s okay for me to move forward? Screw that.”

“Gran,” I snapped. “Language.”

My grandmother blew out a breath and passed the baby to Hannah, who had to drop her fork to take her. “I don’t know how you deal with him. I love him like the dickens, but sometimes I don’t like him very much.”

She stormed out of the kitchen and I stared after her, stunned into silence. I was even more shocked when Hannah walked over and passed Lily to me. “You look like you need a hug,” she said as Lily reached up with her chubby little arms.

Swallowing hard, I hugged her, holding on even as she started to fuss. She felt so good. Solid and warm and smelling of processed foods and powder and baby.

All the things that soothed me immeasurably right now.

“Should I be eating Spaghetti-Os too?” I wondered aloud.

Hannah snorted. “Let’s not go that far. But I think your grandmother might like to see some of that Asher who was badly singing ‘Lola’ in the car. Really badly.”

“I wasn’t singing badly. Just not well.” I wrinkled my nose at Lily. When she patted my cheeks and made the same face back at me, I would’ve sworn my heart squeezed. “Okay, badly. So, why would she want to hear it?”

“Because she’d know you weren’t perfect. That you know you aren’t perfect. That you’re human just like the rest of us and you’re okay with it.”