Page 32 of Before You Go
“Okay.” I let my hand fall away. “I’ll follow you.”
After getting her nod, I open her door and wait until she’s in and buckled before I leave her to walk over to my SUV. It takes a little time to get to our building. Traffic in the city on the weekends is always bumper to bumper, with people here from out of town and all the party buses that drive up and down the strip.
As she parks, I pull in behind her, shut down the engine, and then get out, meeting her at her door before she has a chance to get it open.
“Should I just meet you upstairs?” she asks, taking my hand when I reach for hers to help her out of the car.
“No, I’ll come with you and help you get PJ.”
Receiving her nod, I follow her to the door of our building and punch in the code to let us in. As we are stepping inside, I bite back a curse when I see my brother, Tucker, getting off the elevator while pushing an empty stroller, followed by his stepson, Kingston, on his scooter. His wife, Miranda, finally emerges while holding their daughter—Jenny, who is just a few months old—as if the two males insisted on making sure the coast was clear before letting their ladies out of the safety of the elevator.
“Dayton!” Kingston jumps off the scooter, letting it hit the floor with a thud before he runs to me. When he hits me full force, I go back a step as his arms wrap around my hips.
“Hey, bud.” I rub the top of his head. “You heading out with Mom and Dad?”
“Yep.” He pops the last letter. “We’re going for a walk and stopping for ice cream.”
“Nice.” I lift my eyes to Miranda and notice she’s eyeing Franny curiously.
Shit.
“You good, man?” Tucker asks, and I take my eyes off Miranda to meet my brother’s gaze. I haven’t told him or Miles about Franny; the only one who knows about her is Clay.
“All good.” I turn to Franny. “This is my brother, Tucker, his wife Miranda, and their kids, Jenny and Kingston. Guys, this is Franny. She lives here on the first floor.”
“It’s nice to meet you.” Franny smiles as Kingston goes over to stand in front of his mom.
“You too.” Miranda returns her smile with one of her own.
“Tucker isn’t my real dad; he’s my stepdad,” Kingston says, then adds, “But I still call him dad.”
“Cool.” Franny laughs.
“Are you Uncle Dayton’s girlfriend?”
“No, we’re just friends,” she tells him softly.
“That sucks. Mom and Aunt Emma say he needs a girlfriend, and you’re pretty.”
“Oh, wow, thanks.” She laughs again as Miranda reaches her hand down to cover Kingston’s mouth.
“Okay, well, I think that’s our cue to leave,” she says with her cheeks pink. “Sorry about that. He doesn’t have a filter right now, and everything just kind of comes out… all the time.”
“He’s adorable,” Franny assures, with laughter in her voice.
“I’m not sure you’d feel the same if you received some of the phone calls I’ve gotten from his school.” She chuckles, adjusting Jenny in her arms when she begins to wiggle. “It was nice meeting you, Franny. Hopefully, we’ll see you around.”
“Yeah, hopefully,” she agrees as they move past us and out the door, saying goodbye as they leave. “They seem nice.”
“They are.”
“And your nephew is cute,” she adds softly as we start down the hall toward her apartment.
“He is. He’s also a handful, and that only gets worse when he’s with his cousin.”
“How many nieces and nephews do you have?”
“Four. Tucker and Miranda have Kingston and Jenny, Miles has Winter—he just recently got married, and Winter’s biological mom lives in Colorado—and Willow and Clay have Rowen.” We stop at Franny’s door, and as soon as she opens it, PJ excitedly starts to jump around at her feet… until he notices me and starts backing up.
