Page 51 of Unrivaled

“I want to meet him,” she demands, arms crossed over her chest now, her chin raised like she’s bracing for a fight.

“Piper,” Grayson growls.

“What? He’s my nephew. I want to meet him.” She turns her fiery gaze on me, and I force myself not to flinch. I reeeeally don’t want to be in the middle of sibling drama.

“Fuck’s sake, Piper. I’ve barely met him. Mom and Dad haven’t even met him yet. Get in line. You’re actually not the most important one in this situation right now. You’ll get to meet him when you get to meet him.”

She blinks at that, deflating, her arms falling back to her sides. Cal steps up next to her, gathering her against him and whispering something to her. Biting her lip, she nods and lets him steer her away from the table.

Autumn appears, her face apologetic. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know she didn’t know. I thought—”

Grayson waves off the rest of her apology. “It’s fine. You didn’t do anything.”

Her gaze bounces back and forth between us, and she takes a step back. “Well, I’ll go wait for the drinks. Let you two finish … catching up.”

She disappears, and Grayson lets out a weak chuckle, rubbing a hand over his face again. Leaning in, he gives me another quick kiss. “I don’t think here and now is the best place for this conversation. You obviously had a night out planned. Is Ben with your parents?”

At my nod, he nods as well, contemplating. “Hey, um, I know it’s still new, but if you need someone to watch him, could you ask me? Next time?”

“Yeah,” I croak, then clear my throat. “Yeah. I can do that.”

With a nod, he stands. “Alright. Cool. I’ll see you tomorrow for pickup. Have a good night.”

Before I can say anything else, he disappears into the crowd, and I’m not sure if he’s leaving altogether or just rejoining whoever he was with before. Either way, I’m left alone in a swirl of conflicting thoughts. He wants to be my first call for childcare. And he wants to kiss me more.

But if we’re out kissing, he can’t also be watching Ben. But I guess if he’s with me, he’d want someone else watching Ben.

Is more kissing even a good idea? My hormones say,More please. But my brain and my heart are throwing up caution signs and caution tape and turning my insides into a caution party.

Before anyone can come back, I gather my coat and slip out of the booth. Staying here will definitely not help me come to any useful conclusions.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Gray

I stand in my living room with my hands on my hips, surveying the simultaneously familiar and unfamiliar room. After seeing Tiffany at Crowley’s, I immediately called my mom, because if I’m going to impress her with my parenting abilities, I need to have everything Ben could possibly need, and the only other mom I know and trust is mine. She gave me tips on things to buy for a toddler, then ended the call by ordering me to meet her at Target.

Once there, she pushed a cart in my direction and marched away, leaving me to follow in her wake. She led me to the baby section where she promptly filled the cart with a variety of cups, dishes, utensils, bath toys, regular toys, towels, and a dizzying array of things I never would’ve guessed a toddler would need.

But what do I know? The last time I spent a significant amount of time around a toddler, I was little more than one myself. It’s not like my parents expected me to take care of my little sister when I was in Kindergarten.

Now I’m standing in a sea of pastel and primary colored toys and diminutive furniture. Apparently three-year-olds need tiny couches and chairs too. Regular furniture isn’t good enough. Or maybe it’s just not good enough for my mother’s only grandchild, because when I questioned her, she arched an eyebrow and said, “My job is to design spaces to provide maximum comfort and functionality. I know you don’t usually ask my advice and are happy to grab whatever couch you can rescue from a dumpster, but my only grandchild will not be left to molder on whatever eyesore you salvaged from a trash heap.”

And then she picked up the shark-faced bean bag chair and balanced it on the shopping cart followed by a flat pack miniature table and chairs set that I spent an hour putting together after I got home. We made a quick detour through the school supplies aisle where she also added paper, crayons, and safety scissors. Between those and the Play-Doh, I should be able to keep him entertained for at least a little while.

“What about coloring books?” I asked as we passed a rack of those.

Mom wrinkled her nose and shook her head. “Blank pages allow for free creative expression. If he asks for one later, you can consider it. But to start with, let’s offer him unlimited potential.”

She came over, keeping her opinion about my trash heap salvage furniture to herself, and helped me set up and arrange the furniture and toys she bought.

And now I’m looking at it all wondering if maybe I let her go a little overboard. My living room is surprisingly spacious for a cheap apartment, or at least I always thought so when all it had in it was a couch, a coffee table, a TV, and a TV stand. Now it’s almost crowded, though Mom did rearrange everything to maximize the space. Well,Irearranged everything at my mom’s direction. It was just like working for her on one of her jobs, except this time it was my furniture I was moving to ten different spots before she was satisfied.

At least I have a ground floor apartment, so no neighbors to get irritated with me for dragging a couch around at ten pm.

She commandeered a corner of the room for Ben’s furniture—the child-sized table and chairs, an easel with a roll of paper at the top that I didn’t even see her buy at Target so she must’ve had it stashed and brought it over, and a small set of shelves holding plastic bins full of the toys and art supplies she selected. The only item of furniture for him not in his corner is the shark chair, which she had me put near my usual spot on the couch. “So he can feel close to you, but have his own space if he wants it,” she said.

Which is probably a good idea, because as the seconds tick by, I’m realizing that I have no idea what I’m doing. Tiffany and I agreed this week that I’d watch him on my own soon. Not today, but maybe next weekend. What was I thinking? And where are the adults?

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