Page 93 of Their Little Helper

Pushing away questions that didn’t matter, I flopped down in Harley’s lap. “I don’t appreciate it when you make logical arguments.”

My ridiculous response had him giggling and some of his worries fading away. “Sorry, Daddy.”

“It’s okay. Sometimes it can’t be helped.” Harley was a born helper and sometimes that came with logic. “I will remind my boss that Sunday evenings are family nights. Very politely, though.”

Just because she was an idiot didn’t mean I had to be rude.

“I’m sure it was just an accident and she didn’t mean to schedule you on Sunday again.” Harley looked so hopeful for that I didn’t have the heart to challenge his assumption. “Sunday is family day and everyone knows that…and I’m not sure anyone has this many catering emergencies.”

No. They did not. They had hiring problems and that was not my emergency.

“We’ve both made sure we have the night off and it’s going to be fine.” I’d started to say fun but I wasn’t sure that was accurate enough. Harley had started turning slightly green every time dinner with my family was mentioned and nausea and fun didn’t usually go together unless roller coasters were involved.

Or cruise ships.

Hmm…maybe they did go together?

Harley took a deep breath, giving me a wide and incredibly forced smile. “She’s very excited to meet us.”

“She is, because she’s heard so many wonderful things about you already.” She was just slightly pissed I’d missed last Sunday’s dinner and hadn’t been willing to make Santos and Harley go without me. For some reason she thought sending them alone their first time was reasonable.

It was not.

Even my father agreed it was not.

“She’s heard wonderful things about Papa too, right?” Harley’s question was confusing but I nodded and that made him smile again. “Good…and you’re going to use his name and not call him Pokey.”

“Of course.” I was going to try at least. “We’re not giving the troublemakers any ammo.”

Once they got a nickname in their head it stuck.

“Yes, and we’re going to remember that Papa and I are only children and ease us into your family.” Harley seemed to think it was necessary to bring that point up on a daily basis but I wasn’t sure why. “That means they probably need to stop texting Papa when he’s at work.”

I wasn’t going to make unreasonable promises, so I smiled and kissed his cheek. “I showed Pokey how to block their numbers.”

It would slow them down for a while.

“Right now, it’s just because she’s hormonal and making questionable decisions. She’ll be fine in another month.” My mother was just the definition of stubborn when she had her mind set on something.

“I…” Harley swallowed and looked worried again. “I don’t think we’re supposed to say that.”

What?

“She does make questionable decisions. She always has at this point.” The medical websites said it was a thing…I’d looked.

“That’s…I think that’s rude.” Harley didn’t seem sure of that, though, and made me wonder what he was running through his head.

“How many pregnant women have you met? They all get nuts. It’s a brain thing or a hormone thing. They can’t help it. She’ll go back to normal once the baby is born. She always does.” Ithought that would’ve fixed the situation but Harley’s eyes got wider.

And wider.

“Papa?” Something about the way Harley called out to Pokey made it sound like he was tattling on me. “Did we know Daddy’s mother was pregnant?”

“She’s what?” Pokey’s voice boomed through the condo, immediately followed by footsteps quickly coming from his office. “I’ve been ignoring a pregnant woman?”

Their brains worked entirely different than mine.

“Why does her inability to understand where babies come from make a difference with her texts?” She could drive people nuts pregnant or not. “She has to be patient and we all know that.”

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