Everyone told him how sorry they were about his sister, then Beth called from the stove, where she and Ruby were stirring something in a big pot, “If you need help babysitting, I’m more than happy to help.”
“That’s very generous of you, but I couldn’t ask you to do that.”
“Are you kidding?” Cassie said. “I haven’t seen Mom look this happy since Kevin was a baby.”
“Truly,” Beth agreed as she stepped away from the stove to lower Ruby to the floor to meet the dog, “it would be my pleasure to spend a few hours a day with this little cutie while you’re staying in town.”
All of them, all of this, was so nice. Too nice. Flynn was afraid to trust it. Afraid to let himself enjoy it. Afraid that just when he let his defenses down, it would all disappear as though it had been nothing more than a mirage.
Lola, who didn’t seem at all shy, elbowed him in the ribs when he didn’t reply quickly enough for her liking. “Say yes, or you’ll break her heart.”
Flynn desperately needed the hours with his screenplay. What’s more, every day for the past three weeks, he and Ruby had been attached at the hip. Literally, she sat on his hip most hours, her arms around his neck.
The last thing he wanted to do was let Ruby leave his side when he couldn’t shake the fear that something might happen to her while he was gone. But courtesy of the countless baby books he’d read while Ruby slept in his arms, he also knew this wasn’t a healthy pattern to set. He needed to create some independence and boundaries for both of them before they created an unbreakable, and untenable, routine.
In the end, however, what swayed him was seeing how happy Ruby was in the Sullivan family home as she patted the dog’s fur.
Beth said, “Doggy.”
Ruby made a happy sound, one that was nowhere close to doggy but filled his heart all the same.
“In that case,” he said, “I’ll take you up on your generous offer.”
Cassie’s mother’s grin lit up the room. “Did you hear that, Ruby? The two of us are going to have so much fun!” She clapped her hands, and the baby mimicked her. “I set up a portable crib and baby monitor in one of the bedrooms for tonight so that you can tuck Ruby in when she gets tired, instead of trying to keep her up until the end of dinner. And I’ve made some more apple puree if you think she’s hungry now.”
“I’m sure she is. Although you didn’t have to do that.” He pulled several covered bowls out of the baby bag and placed them on the kitchen island next to the high chair they had put out for Ruby. “She liked what you made at your café so much that I experimented with making a few purees for her too.”
He put Ruby in the high chair, wiped her hands clean of dog hair with baby wipes from his bag, and tied a bib around her neck. Though she wasn’t thrilled about being taken away from her new furry best friend, as soon as she realized it was dinnertime, her eyes lit up.
Grabbing her purple plastic spoon, she dove into her food as soon as he pulled the top off the plastic container. Soon, pureed vegetables were flying onto her face, clothes, and hair.
Ashley laughed. “Kevin was just like that when he was a baby. His food went everywhere but in his mouth. But boy, did he have a great time eating.”
“What was I like?”
Flynn turned to see Ashley’s son standing at the kitchen door that led to the lush, well-landscaped backyard.
Ashley smiled at her son. “Kevin, this is Cassie’s friend Flynn and his little girl, Ruby.”
Flynn went over to shake the boy’s hand. “Hi there. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Hey.” Kevin’s grip was surprisingly strong. “It’s nice to meet you too.”
Flynn remembered being that age, halfway between a kid and a teenager. His body had felt like it was growing too fast and in weird ways. Girls were suddenly interesting, but he hadn’t been sure why.
Ten was also when he’d finally been unable to ignore how different his family was from everyone else’s. They weren’t really one, for starters. And the other kids at school all turned on him, saying his parents were dirty and smelly and drunks and losers.
“I was just saying how much you liked playing with your food when you were Ruby’s age.”
At last, Ruby noticed Kevin. Her eyes grew big. As far as Flynn knew, she’d never played with another kid before. She couldn’t take her eyes off Ashley’s son.
“I could help you feed her if you want.” Kevin tried to say it like he didn’t care either way, but it was obvious he was just as curious about Ruby as she was about him.
“Sure,” Flynn said. “I’ll bet she’d love that.”
“Wash your hands first.” Ashley shuttled him over to the sink, where he did the world’s fastest soap-up-and-rinse. “And be careful with her. She’s really tiny.”
“She’s not that tiny.” He walked over to her high chair. “Hi, Ruby.” He spoke to her as though she were a peer, rather than nearly ten years younger. “I’m Kevin.” Ruby’s one-toothed grin was her own brand of introduction. “What do you want to eat next?” He squinted at the bowls. “How about this green stuff?”
“Peas,” Flynn supplied.
Kevin made a face—ewww, peas—but he fed it to her anyway. When that bowl was empty, he moved on to the apple puree Beth slid in front of them.
That was when it hit Flynn that he didn’t need to stand guard over Ruby in Cassie’s parents’ house.
It was the strangest feeling.
For the past three weeks, since he’d paid off his sister’s friend so that he could bring Ruby home with him, every breath he took, every move he made, had been with Ruby’s safety and happiness at the forefront. Heck, until Beth had taken Ruby into the kitchen at the café, he hadn’t let her out of his sight.
An unexpected wave of relief moved through him. Not because he was glad to be free from watching over Ruby for a little while. It wasn’t that at all.
No, it was relief at having unexpectedly found a group of truly good people. And knowing instinctively that they wouldn’t hurt his little girl—unlike people in Hollywood, who were only after the biggest paycheck they could get selling their stories. Granted, Smith and Valentina were two of the best people he’d met in Los Angeles, but he’d always felt that they were an anomaly.
From a writer’s perspective, Flynn couldn’t help but be intrigued. How had they built such a loving family? What were their motivations and goals? What life experiences had made each of them who they were? Especially Cassie’s parents.
“Everything is ready to be brought to the table,” Beth announced. “Flynn, why don’t you move Ruby to the high chair in the dining room?”
After transferring Ruby, he sat on one side of her, while Kevin claimed the other side. She seemed to be full, so he put a few plastic toys on the tray for her to rattle and chew on. By the time he looked up from rooting around in her baby bag, a feast had been laid out on the large dining room table.
“This all looks delicious, Beth.” His mother had barely been able to boil water without setting the house on fire. Honestly, until tonight, he hadn’t realized family meals like this even existed outside of movies and TV shows, where he’d assumed they must be figments of the writer’s imagination. “When did you learn to cook so well?”