“Yes, sir,” Calista answered, inclining her head with a formal little bow, as if he was some small far-from-benevolent despot.
Uttering another dismissive noise, Fowler withdrew back into the storeroom.
Erin looked at the younger woman she’d come to see in disbelief. “How can you stand it, working for Old Man Fowler? He’s so rude.”
“I’ve had practice dealing with foul moods. When you’ve got seven siblings, there’s always someone who’s bound to be in a snit—or worse,” she added with a careless shrug. “And besides, it’s not exactly like I don’t need the money,” she confessed. At twenty-two, she’d just graduated, but that didn’t mean that all that struggling was behind her. A great deal of it was just up ahead. She was currently living at home to save as much money as she could, but it was still slow-going. “I’ve got school loans to pay off and other expenses to juggle as well. Right now, I can’t afford to be picky.” Besides, she added silently, afraid of being overheard, Fowler was harmless.
“Is that why you agreed to babysit for my brother?” Erin asked her.
She’d stopped by to get her friend’s take on working for her brother and to make sure that Calista didn’t decide to suddenly change her mind and tell Jake that she’d had second thoughts about agreeing to babysit for him. Dealing with an infant could be draining. Especially after having had to put up with a Neanderthal despot like Fowler.
“Oh no,” Calista said with feeling, “I’m more than happy to take the job. I think that Marlie’s really adorable.”
Erin laughed. She had fallen in love with her niece at first sight, but she had to admit that there were drawbacks. “For a child who never sleeps, she’s wonderful.” Erin raised her slender shoulders and then let them drop. “At least it feels that way. Our bedroom is just one door down from Jake’s room. I can hear him pacing the floor with her at all hours. That baby cries every night.”
“Well, yes, that’s not unusual. They do that for a while,” Calista assured her. “But that eventually changes and they sleep through the night. For the record, babies don’t learn to manipulate their parents until they’re a few years old.”
Erin sighed, wondering how she would measure up when the time came to have a baby of her own. Right now, it seemed almost daunting to even think about. “You sound a lot more knowledgeable about how to handle things than I am.”
Calista shrugged off the compliment. “I come from a really big family,” she pointed out. “Somewhere along the line, I started taking care of my younger brothers and sisters. Suddenly, I was the expert when it came to changing diapers, feeding and burping. The funny thing is, I don’t really mind, so I can’t complain. The truth of the matter is,” she freely admitted, “I kind of like it.”
“You don’t have to sell me,” Erin assured her with feeling. “I actually just stopped by to find out if there’s anything I can do to make the experience better for you.”
Several things popped up in her mind, none of which she could have ventured to say out loud. All of them concerned Jake Castro. The very thought of him made her feel warm, a reaction she did her best to stifle. It wasn’t something she could readily explain to the man’s sister.
Instead, she guessed at the reason behind Erin’s impromptu field trip to the antique shop, and her. “Don’t worry, Erin, I said I’d babysit and I’m not going to change my mind.”
“Good.” Erin released a large sigh, then immediately asked, “Are you busy tomorrow night?”
Calista hadn’t expected to be asked to babysit so soon. She looked at Jake’s sister in surprise.
“Tomorrow,” she repeated, thinking for a second. “I was just planning to do a little dry reading on government procedures so I don’t come across like some empty-headed little intern. I don’t want people to think that Cousin Bo’s guilty of nepotism, although technically, I suppose he is.” Their connection was distant, but they were still family. “Why? Is Jake going out tomorrow night? He didn’t mention anything to me about it during the interview.”
She would have assumed that he would have right after telling her that she had the job. Had something come up, or had he just held back for some reason of his own?
The smile that rose to Erin’s lips was a self-satisfied one. “That’s because my big brother doesn’t know he’s going out yet.”
“You’re having him kidnapped?” Calista guessed drily.
To her surprise, Erin answered the quip seriously. “In a manner of speaking. I want Corey and Jake to have a guys’ night out.”
She might not have a whole lot of experience beyond her academic one, but that struck Calista as rather unusual.
“You haven’t been married all that long,” she recalled, then marveled, “Boy, talk about an understanding wife.”
Amused, Erin set the other woman straight. “Don’t stick wings on me yet, Calista. There’s a reason for my shipping those two out of the house. I want a clear playing field so that I can help Corey’s sister get ready for her date.”
It was a small enough town to keep up on the various activities of the locals. Corey’s baby sister Rose was, like her brothers, a recent transplant to Thunder Canyon. As such, she didn’t know all that many people yet.
Calista greeted the news with surprise. “I didn’t know that Rose was dating.”
Even though they were alone in the front room of the shop, Erin still drew closer and lowered her voice. “That’s just the problem, she hasn’t been and she’s really nervous about going out.”
To Calista, going out on a date was just an extension of talking. But she supposed she could see why it might make someone else a little nervous. If she were about to go out with Jake, there might be more than one or two butterflies involved.
“So who’s the lucky guy she’s going out with?” she asked Erin.
Erin paused for a moment. This wouldn’t have been her first choice, but it certainly was going to be a great way for Rose to get her feet wet again. “It’s Nick Pritchett.”
“Bo’s brother-in-law?” Calista asked, surprised.
The name belonged to yet another one of her distant relatives, this one being really distant. On the stocky side and more than a little opinionated, Nick Pritchett was one relative she certainly didn’t mind keeping distant.
Erin nodded, deliberately masking her own thoughts on the matter. “The very same.”
Calista laughed shortly. “Well, you can tell Rose she doesn’t have anything to be nervous about. All she has to do is show up and breathe. From what I hear, Nick’ll take it from there and do all the talking. And I do mean all. The man really does like to hear the sound of his own voice.”
There was no point in pretending that this was a good thing. Erin surrendered the charade.
“Well, she has to start somewhere,” she said helplessly.
At least she hadn’t been the one to arrange this, Erin thought. Nick had asked Rose out and her sister-in-law, responding to some sort of newly instituted panic that she was liable to be alone for the rest of her life, had jumped at the chance.
Picking up on the less-than-thrilled note in Erin’s voice, Calista’s inner optimism suddenly rallied and rose to the surface.
“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” she told the other woman encouragingly.
Blowing out a breath, Erin nodded again, more to herself than to Calista. She needed to deal with what was, not with what she wished would be. And Rose needed to learn how to take baby steps. Whatever her sister-in-law might be thinking about her future with Nick,