“Beckett.”
“Hey, Hold.” I sit up, scrubbing a hand down my face. Goddamn, I did not get enough sleep. “Why are you calling so early?”
There’s a long pause, and then, “Early? It’s almost noon, Beck.”
A yawn damn near splits my jaw. “Oh. Doesn’t feel like it.”
“So, have you called your mom yet?”
I blink a couple of times, confused as fuck about what’s going on. “WasI supposed to?”
Holden sighs. It’s long and drawn out, and he’s clearly put out with me, but I have no idea why. “Beckett, you brought a kid home yesterday, yes?” My heart flutters as I smile.
“Yeah,” I all but sigh. Fuck, I sound like an idiot.
“Don’t you think Lydia would like to know that?”
My foggy brain clears, and mild panic rushes through me, my body getting hot all over. “Holy shit, Hold. I need to tell my parents.”
Holden laughs. “Yeah, you really do. I’m basically vibrating out of my skin every time I see Lydia. I swear sheknowsI know something.”
Oh God. Truthfully, she probably does. She’s entirely too perceptive. “Don’t tell her,” I blurt out.
“Damn, Beckett. Do you take me for an idiot? I don’t want to be the one to tell her. I mean, I totally do. But do you think I want to be the messenger who gets killed because her own son didn’t think to call her about something like this?”
I sigh. “I didn’t intentionally not tell her, you know. First, we didn’t even know if he’d want to come, and I didn’t want to get her hopes up. And then everything was so hectic.”
Holden hums. “Yeah, how’s everything going now that you’ve got him home?”
I almost laugh, but nothing about it is funny. “Not great, honestly. I don’t think any of us slept well. Roman had a nightmare and I wasn’t there for him when he woke up because Eli wasalsohaving a nightmare and I fell asleep in the hallway trying to keep an eye on him. Fuck, Hold. It was just a rough night.”
“You can’t be everything for everyone all the time, Beck,” Holden says gently.
What’s so wrong with me trying to, though?
“How about Julian and I come over tonight and cook dinner for you guys? We’ll take the kids to Ruby and Henry for the night and hang out.”
I hate that I’m relieved by that. I really do. But I slept until almost noon, Roman is dead to the world beside me, and if I had to guess, Eli is asleep too. It really wouldn’t be the worst thing. Some help would be nice.
“It’s okay to accept help, Beckett,” Holden says when I don’t answer quick enough.
“Yeah,” I say with a sigh. “Yeah, okay. As long as you’re sure it won’t be putting you out.”
I can almost hear his eyes rolling through the phone. “You’re so damn stupid sometimes, Beckett. It’s a good thing you didn’t go to medical school. I fear you would have failed.”
I bark out a loud laugh and Holden giggles. “Okay, wake up Ro. Call your mother before she uses her mom powers to get me to spill the tea, and try to enjoy your day until we get there.”
A relieved breath leaves my lips. “Okay. Thanks, Holden.”
He murmurs a quick, “Any time,” and hangs up, leaving me alone with silence and my thoughts. Thoughts that quickly spiral when I don’t have Holden to distract me anymore.
Roman is going to freak out when he realizes we haven’t told my parents about Eli. Hell,they’regoing to freak out. I’malreadyfreaking out.
As much as I hate to wake Roman up when he looks so damn peaceful, there’s no way I’m having this conversation without him. I gently stroke his face, wanting him to wake up to my soft touch and not my panic. My beautiful man has had enough of that already.
He stirs a bit, his lashes fluttering as I run the backs of my knuckles up and down his cheek. “Time to wake up,” I whisper, leaning in to brush my nose along his and press light kisses to his skin.
I can tell he’s waking up before his eyes actually open, courtesy of the adorable little sleepy smile that graces his lips. “Do you want to make a phone call withme?”
