Counting On You (Counting the Billions 2)

I grabbed him before he could hit the opposite wall. “Whoa there, buddy,” I said, swinging him easily up into the air. “Aunt Abby’s just finishing up the super-secret dessert, and I don’t think she wants to spoil the surprise. Why don’t you and Layla and I go play in the living room while we wait for it to be done?”

Zach tried to lift his head and peek over my shoulder, but I covered his eyes with my fingers. “No peeking!” I told him. “Otherwise you might not get any.”

“Is it a cake?” Zach asked as I carried him down the hall.

“I promised your aunt that I wouldn’t tell you,” I told Zach, winking at Matt and Leanne in the hallway. “Hey, guys. Hey, Layla, Zach, and I were thinking we’d play a game in the living room while the grown-ups talk.”

Layla giggled. “But you’re a grown-up!” she pointed out.

“Nuh-uh,” I said, shaking my head. “I am way younger than those guys.”

“Then how come you’re wearing a suit?” Zach demanded.

“Auntie Abby says you have your own shop!” Layla added. “Do you sell toys?”

I stifled a laugh. “Nope, I don’t sell toys,” I said, setting Zach down on the living room floor and sitting myself down next to him on the rug. Layla joined us.

“What are we going to play?” she asked.

I cast around for ideas in my head, but Layla was already yammering about some game she had learned in school and asking if we could play that. “Sure thing,” I said, “but I don’t know that game. Can you explain the rules to me?”

Between the two of them, they explained the rules, and we spent the rest of the time until dinner playing. I couldn’t help but smile. I had always loved kids, but I never really got a chance to be around them with the business I was in. Growing up, though, I had always been the one hanging out with the younger cousins, keeping them occupied while the grown-ups talked. And even now, I loved it when it was Take Your Child to Work Day and the office was overrun with little rascals.

Again, I thought back to the hospital, seeing Abby with her niece and nephew. Would she and I ever have kids one day? Did she even want kids of her own, or was she content with these two? I wondered.

“Dinner’s on the table,” Leanne said, poking her head in the living room. “Come on, guys, time to wash those hands.”

“Yeah, Daniel,” Zach said. “Wash those hands!”

I laughed and rolled my eyes. “I’m not the one who was playing with worms at lunchtime,” I said, referencing a story he told me at the hospital.

Zach grinned. “We found frogs today!” he told me excitedly. But before he could say more, Leanne was ushering them out of the room. I went into the kitchen to wash my own hands and to see if I could help Abby set the table. But she seemed to have everything under control, and when I finished washing my hands, I joined her and Matt at the table.

“Hey,” Matt said warmly. “I just wanted to say thanks for everything at the hospital. Again.”

I shook my head. “Don’t worry about it,” I said. “It was the least I could do. I’m just glad that you’re feeling better.”

“No, seriously,” Matt said, shaking his head. “I know that Leanne already apologized, but I also wanted to say I’m sorry. I wasn’t sure about you in the beginning, but I’ve never seen my little sister this happy before. I’m glad she found you.”

“All right, that’s enough of that,” Abby said, rolling her eyes. But I could tell she was pleased with her brother’s words. She started scooping out food onto plates, but I couldn’t resist teasing her a little more as I passed the first plate over to Matt.

“You’ve got a pretty special sister, you know,” I told him gravely. “She deserves the world.”

He laughed. “She does,” he agreed. “So I expect you to give it to her.”

“Matt,” Abby protested again, but she was laughing as well.

Leanne and the kids joined us at the table, and Abby finished dishing out the food. “Well, dig in,” she said.

I couldn’t help smiling, still amazed that they had let me into their families like this, so easily. As if I belonged there. For the first time in my life, it felt like I really was part of a family. As scary as that was, as worried as I was that I might do something to mess this up, I really couldn’t deny how happy that made me feel.

Chapter 26

Abby

I WAS SMILING AS I looked around the table at everyone. The kids were telling Matt all about the things that they had done while he was in the hospital, even though I was sure he’d already heard the stories a half dozen times while he was in the hospital as a captive audience. But he smiled good-naturedly at the two of them, just letting them chat and asking questions every once in a while.

Leanne, to my surprise, struck up a conversation with Daniel, asking him how work was going and then asking him about his weekend, his hobbies, and everything else. The conversation was natural, and I couldn’t help smiling as I listened to them. She made it sound like she really wanted to get to know Daniel.