"I did have something else in mind, but I'm a little ashamed to admit that I'm actually too tired."
Chortling, Julie said, "Wow, the guy is using the 'I'm tired' excuse?"
"Don't pick on me or I will go back outside for a couple minutes and then come back in here and finish what I had planned on starting."
"No," she practically cooed, running her fingers lightly through his hair. "Go to sleep. We'll have plenty of time to do that in the future."
"I'm glad," he murmured, nuzzling his face into her neck.
Sighing happily as she lightly rubbed his back, she said, "Me, too."
And without another word, Aaron fell quiet and was quickly asleep.
Julie, thinking about Leigh's story, felt newly grateful that she had found Aaron and that she could hold him in her arms every night when they went to sleep, that they could buy a condo together and start a family… all things that Leigh had lost out on when her fiancé died way too young.
; Poor Leigh…
Yawning, Julie closed her eyes, but as she drifted off to sleep she tried to think of something she could do to make Leigh's life a little brighter…
---
The obnoxious sound of Julie's cell phone jarred her from her sleep the next morning and she rolled over, not altogether conscious, hoping to see Aaron reaching for her phone to shut it off, but the bed next to her was empty.
Groaning, she stretched across the bed and grabbed her phone, flipping it open as she yawned, refusing to so much as open her eyes.
"Hello?" she croaked.
"Julie, I need a favor."
Her eyes flew open and she yanked the phone away from her ear, checking the caller ID to make sure her sleep-fogged mind wasn't playing tricks on her.
"Emma?" she questioned, thoroughly confused.
Sighing, Emma said, "Of course. Don't pretend my number isn't still programmed into your phone, because I know it is."
"Why the hell…?"
Since Julie didn't really have the energy to finish, Emma jumped in. "I need you to do me a favor."
"That sounds highly likely," Julie replied. "Why would you call me of all people when you need a favor?"
"Because it's concerning Anna, and I know regardless of your feelings toward me or my husband, you wouldn't refuse to help her."
Damn, Emma had her on that one.
"What exactly do you need?" Julie asked carefully.
Sighing irritably, Emma said, "I hired a new nanny—a chubby, unattractive one that I know Matt won't want to sleep with—and while she is far from perfect, she has been working out."
"Great," Julie said unenthusiastically. "What does this have to do with anything?"
"Well, I have to be at the airport by 10:30—I'm flying to New York—and the nanny was supposed to watch her, obviously. But the idiot that I hired calls me twenty minutes ago to tell me that she has strep throat and she can't watch Anna today. You would think she could give me better notice than this, but she apparently has no concern for my travel arrangements."
"So… you want me to do what, exactly?"
"I need you to watch Anna," she said, as if it should be obvious. "I'll pay you, of course. I just need you to keep her until probably about seven, then Matt will come over to Aaron's and pick her up."