Page 60 of The Third Girl

He nods. “Probably in the dryer. Would you mind grabbing one?”

“On it.” I pivot and leave the room, heading down to the closet where the washer and dryer hide.

I tilt my head, hearing Matt’s deep voice. She must have woken up. I hope for his sake that once she goes down, she’ll be out.What a day.Opening the dryer, I pull out all the tiny clothing and dump them into a basket, then head back to Sailor’s room.

When I enter, Sailor’s groggy eyes light up. “Skywar!”

Keeping my voice quiet, I murmur, “Yes, I’m here. Do you want the pink or purple tonight?” I set the basket on the floor before holding up the wearable blankets to let her choose.

She points to the pink one with a squeal.

Smiling, I hand it to Matt, then busy myself folding her clothing and putting it into her drawers. Once I’m finished, I turn around just as Matt is settling into the rocker with Sailor on his lap for a bedtime story. I can’t resist leaning in to kiss the top of Sailor’s head. She smiles tiredly at me. My heart swells, wondering what it would be like if this was my nightly routine. “Night night, sweet girl.”

Twenty minutes later, Matt pokes his head into the kitchen where I’m finishing the cleanup of the mac ’n’ cheese mess that was left on the stovetop when he had to abandon it.

He walks over to stand next to me as I fold the dish towel and set it on the counter. Eyeing the clean dishes sitting in the drying rack on the counter, he groans, “Ah, shit. You didn’t have to do that.”

“This is all part of helping you out. This way your sole focus is on Sailor.” I wrinkle my nose. “Sorry, but I did have to trash the mac ’n’ cheese. It didn’t look so hot after sitting out all this time.”

“I can always make more. I’m the mac ’n’ cheese master.”

I give a little snort. “You’ll have to prove it to me sometime… because what I saw was pretty disgusting.”

His lips twitch. “I imagine it would be pretty bad after what, six hours sitting on the stovetop?”

“Right.” I shoot him a wink. “Are you hungry?”

He sighs. “You know what, I think I need to sleep more than anything else. Put the day behind me.”

“Fair enough. I’m going to turn in, too. Um, I’ll put Sailor’s next dosage of the pain meds upstairs in the bathroom. She should have it in about three hours.”

“You don’t think we should let her sleep?”

I don’t want to overstep, but— “So, when I was in tenth grade, I vividly remember breaking my thumb and not keeping on top of my meds overnight. It was the worst thing ever to get the pain back under control. I don’t want her to go through that. Or you.” As I finish, his brows raise, and I wait a few moments, but he doesn’t say anything, so I can’t help but clarify. “I’m aware I don’t get a vote here, but if I did, it would be to wake her and not let the meds wear off.”

He shakes his head, giving me a troubled smile. “No, I trust that.” He clears his throat. “You. I trust your opinion. I’ll set an alarm.” A groove forms between his eyes. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

“I’ll be here. Let me know if you need anything overnight.” I give him a soft smile as he backs out of the kitchen, but slump against the counter as soon as he’s gone. It’s so strange that I purposely distanced myself from Matt and then something like this happens and throws us right back to where we were. I’m so confused. The hurt I’d felt when he didn’t want to acknowledge to his family that I’m more to him than the damn nanny was excruciating. But it’s obvious after today that he has feelings for me and they aren’t going anywhere. Is he ready to let everyone else see what we truly are to each other? Does he see it himself?

* * *

An hour goes by, but I can’t sleep. I’ve been scrolling through social media on my phone in the dark for so long my mind is going numb. With a sigh, I set my phone on my chest, only to have it vibrate ten seconds later. Frowning, I pick it up, seeing there’s notification of a few text messages.

Matt:Are you asleep?

Matt:That’s a dumb question. If you are, you won’t answer anyway.

Matt:So… are you awake?

My lips twist. I’ve seen more and more of a funny side of Matt coming out lately. I like it. He’s comfortable sharing his true self with me. Or something like that. Rolling over, I curl up before responding.

Me:Yeah. Just looking at dumb stuff on my phone.

Matt:LOL What’s the dumbest thing you’ve seen so far?

Me:It was a reel fromFamily Feudwith Steve Harvey hosting.

Me:Contestants give the goofiest answers sometimes.

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