“You want to watch?” Jarrett asked him, pointing at Carlie. Then he tried again in stilted Spanish. “Quieres verla cocinar?”
Gabe gave a tentative nod and climbed off of Rylie’s lap, tugging her hand to come with him.
She groaned her fatigue, but allowed him to lead her to the stove, where Carlie was combining the veggies, beans, and rice in the frying pan. He said something in Spanish to Rylie, which she evidently interpreted as pick me up so I can see. Soon, he was peering over Carlie’s shoulder, chattering away about something.
Poor kid. He had no idea what was in store for him the next month. The chemo would be tough, and he wouldn’t understand what was happening or why. Even though Jarrett had already lined up Spanish-speaking nurses and aids to help with communication, what three-year-old could possibly understand cancer? If only this didn’t have to be the first memories he made in his new home.
Jarrett sat down at the end of the table. For the first time since he’d made the decision to adopt, he wished he had an actual wife—a real partner who would stand by his side through everything to come. Maybe he should put more effort into his relationship with Carlie now, instead of waiting until Gabe’s initial chemotherapy was finished. He sure needed to move faster than he had the first time. He’d always wondered if Carlie might not have left him if they’d kissed.
Jarrett’s watch vibrated with an incoming message, and he raised his hand to glance at it. Another message from his sister, promising to come next weekend to meet her new nephew. With a start, he noticed he was still wearing his wedding ring. He’d meant to take it off when he got back to Denver, before Carlie saw him wearing it. Bad enough that he married her sister, without him flaunting it in her face. He worked it off his finger, feeling Carlie’s watchful gaze as he slid it into his shirt pocket.
But when he glanced up he realized it wasn’t Carlie who’d watched him tuck the ring away. The piercing gaze belonged to Rylie. He’d done it again… hurt Rylie’s feelings. He knew she would have the wrong interpretation of his action.
Shifting Gabe to her left hip, she walked toward him and used her right hand to slide the gold band from her ring finger. As the ring slid off, it tore his gut, as if it were negating the shared emotional experience when Gabe became “theirs.” No matter that Rylie was simply playing the temporary role of his wife. He could tell she already had feelings for Gabe, and it had made his heart warm.
“Here’s my ring,” she said, her face impassive as she handed it to him. “Maybe if you return it next week, you can get a refund.”
“I don’t really care about that,” he mumbled, glancing over her shoulder where Carlie was stirring the pan on the stove. He was torn between wanting to protect Carlie’s feelings and the desire to atone for taking advantage of Rylie’s generosity. “But thanks again for everything you’ve done.”
“That’s what friends are for.”
She sounded sincere and gracious. Why did it make him feel worse? He was overreacting. Maybe tomorrow, when he’d had a good night’s sleep, he could think of a way to express his appreciation to Rylie without hurting Carlie.
CHAPTER 8
The next morning, Rylie pried her gritty eyes open and snuck downstairs, hoping for some peace and quiet. But about the time she poured the hot water over the tea bag in her cup, Carlie appeared, chattering and smiling in her irritating morning-person way.
“Do you mind babysitting Gabe tonight?” Carlie asked Rylie. “I think Jarrett and I need to spend some time alone.”
Rylie closed her eyes and sipped her tea, pretending for a few seconds that no one else was in the house. Saturday mornings used to be her recharge time. She usually went for a run or a hike. Sometimes she made brownies and watched an old movie, before diving back into work. It felt great not to have her client load looming over her, but she still longed for her introvert time, which had all but disappeared since Carlie moved in. Rylie almost looked forward to when Carlie and Jarrett got married, so Carlie would be out of the house. Almost.
But her sentiments for Gabe won out over her desire to escape from people. “I’d be happy to watch him. But have you talked to Jarrett about this?”
“I haven’t asked him, but I’m sure he’ll be fine with it. After all, you’re the one Gabe wants anyway.”
“Jarrett has to take Gabe to get blood work done today, and I don’t think he’ll want to leave him alone tonight.”
“What about Jarrett and me? He has to put effort into that, too.” Carlie must’ve realized how spoiled she sounded, because she slumped into a chair across from Rylie at the kitchen table. “I guess he needs to put our relationship on hold for a while, right?”
“Think of it as an opportunity to work on your relationship with Gabe. That’ll help your relationship with Jarrett, too.”
Carlie’s hand came up to her chin, and a manicured nail tapped on her front tooth. “Gabe likes you better than me, even though we look alike. You’d think he wouldn’t know the difference.”
“You’ve had voice training, so we probably sound different to him,” Rylie said. “He warmed up to you a lot by the time we walked back to Jarrett’s house last night. He was even holding your hand.”
“He wouldn’t let anyone but you put him in bed.”
“Give him a break. Yesterday was traumatic for him. Pretty soon he’ll be calling you mom.”
“Don’t tell anyone, but that’s a little bit scary to me. I’m sure I’ll get used to the whole being-a-mom thing when I feel more secure with Jarrett.” Carlie switched to another fingernail. “It doesn’t help to know that you and he are married. That’s totally weirding me out.”
Rylie touched her empty ring finger. Once she’d seen him remove the wedding band he was wearing, she’d known he wanted to erase any sign of the marriage. He probably wanted to forget it had ever happened. Some idiotic part of her had hoped he might feel differently about it. What would it take to finally accept the truth—Jarrett simply didn’t see her as marriage material?
“I know there wasn’t really any other choice, but it was such bad luck.” Carlie said, pushing up from the table and crossing to the refrigerator. She reached into the back and retrieved a container of yogurt. “I’ve been thinking about this whole situation, and I’m afraid Jarrett’s going to decide we don’t need to get married anymore. After all, he’s already got Gabe. He doesn’t really need to marry me.”
“As I understand it he’s only approved as guardian for a year or until Gabe’s chemo treatment is over. Unless Gabe has a different caseworker by then, he’ll still need to be married to finalize the adoption.”
“You think so?” Carlie’s face brightened.
“I’m pretty sure.”
Carlie sat down at the table with the yogurt container and spooned a heaping dollop directly into her mouth.
“Ughh! I don’t know how you can eat that nasty stuff,” Rylie said.
“You’ve never given it a fair try,” Carlie said. “I hope you’re right about Jarrett still needing to be married. But he’s so slow to make decisions, and now there’s no reason to hurry. I wonder if I should cancel the plans for the wedding in December. I’m depressed about the whole thing.”
“But you’re not even in love with him, are you?” Rylie raised her tea mug, hoping to hide the hurt behind her question. “You told me you weren’t sure you ever were in love with him.”
“That was before I saw him again.” Carlie dug another spoonful of yogurt from the plastic container and held it poised in front of her face. “I’d forgotten how hot he is.”
“And how sweet he is,” Rylie added, with a sigh.
Carlie licked her spoon clean and made a sour face. “Yeah… maybe too sweet.”
“How could he be too sweet?”
