Roman wasn’t the kind of guy trapped in his phone all the time. He was, however, the kind of guy who kept tabs on it.
Eli handed Roman his cell. “You should keep better track of this thing.”
“I got Babushka’d.” Roman was going to have to tie the damn thing to his pant leg to ensure Babushka didn’t swipe it again. “Where did you find it anyway?”
“Sadie found it in the pantry.” Chef Eli narrowed his eyes. He did not seem impressed that Roman had been in his space. Roman got it. Eli’s kitchen was his man cave. “What were you doing in my kitchen?”
“I was never in your kitchen, swear to whatever you want me to swear on. But thanks for sending my brother over to let me know you had it. Now he’s giving me shit about losing it, too. So everyone is winning.” Everyone but Roman.
“Are you staying for dinner?” Marlee asked.
He glanced over to where she sat on the sofa next to Eli’s mom, Jennifer. Luke was clearly getting all the grandma cuddles.
“I’m just here for this.” Roman held up his cell. “Seriously, thanks for returning it.”
“Oh.” Marlee sounded disappointed. He didn’t want to disappoint. “Thank you for helping with Lothario and taking pictures of Luke.”
“Hey, man, stay for dinner,” Eli said. “We’ve got plenty.”
Sadie appeared in the living room entryway wearing a black Eats Grille apron that matched Eli’s.
“On that note, I’ve got to get home to Dad.” Jennifer laid Luke in the bassinet beside the sofa. “Call me if you need me.”
“They’ll be calling in like ten minutes,” Sadie said.
So things weren’t going exceptionally well for the new parents?
“I’ll follow you out.” Sadie began untying her apron.
Jennifer snatched her purse. “No, you stay. Enjoy dinner.” She grasped Marlee’s hand. “I’m so sorry I have to run, but you’re doing great. Remember, poop is totally normal.”
Sadie pulled the apron over her head. “I have to get home and check out some case law anyway and, yes, poop is totally normal. What happened with Luke in the kitchen?” She shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
“Luke is perfectly fine.” Jennifer put on what Roman knew to be a mother’s you’re-going-to-listen-to-me expression. “But honey, you spend entirely too much time working. Enjoy your friend. Your brother. Bond with Luke.”
Sadie scowled. Clearly very reluctant, she slipped the apron back on.
“Roman? We’ve got space for one more at the table,” Eli said. His eyes were bloodshot, worse than the aftermath of Jase’s old desert parties.
Sadie nodded enthusiastically behind her brother.
“Stay,” she mouthed.
Well, with that kind of invitation…
“I’d love to,” Roman replied.
Jennifer leaned over to hug Marlee. “I promise you’ll be fine.”
Marlee didn’t look so certain. Eli didn’t look certain. Sadie definitely didn’t look certain.
What the hell had he just agreed to when he agreed to stick around for dinner?
“Do you know anything about babies?” Marlee asked Roman as Jennifer closed the front door behind her.
He shook his head slowly. That would be a no. He knew that they were cute, and he enjoyed looking at them from a distance. Sort of like an exotic lion cub. Don’t get too close or anything because… Yeah, no.
“Darn,” Marlee replied. “Maybe I should call Babushka. She probably knows lots about babies.”
Negative. Roman was up to his eyeballs in Babushka.
“He seems content now.” Roman dipped his forehead toward where the child in question slept.
“That’s now.” Sadie waltzed toward him. “Give him ten minutes. He’s like a miniature-sized tyrant. We should definitely call in additional help.”
Roman was happy to eat with them, but… “Look, if you’re calling in the Babushka reinforcements, I’m heading out. No offense, I just need to be able to find my phone tomorrow and I like the air in my tires.”
“Can I talk to you for a second?” Sadie asked, pulling him to the side.
“What’s up?” He looped his fingers in the pockets of his jeans.
Sadie moved in, whispering without moving her lips as though there were a lip reader nearby who might catch what she was saying. “I’m being held hostage. I need you to get me out of here before Marlee shows me her boobs again.”
“Marlee is showing you her breasts?” he whispered back. Was that a best-friend thing he never knew about? Because he’d totally want to know about that kind of thing.
“Yes,” Sadie said it so low only he could hear. “That’s what I said. I don’t want a repeat. After we eat, you have to get me out of here.”
“Why are they making you stay?” And why were they both whispering?
And what the hell was the dog doing to his… Aw, man. He jostled his foot to remove the chihuahua. It didn’t work—apparently, that only seemed to get the little guy going with more gusto.
“Stop it, Lothario.” Sadie leaned down, grasped the dog in her arms, and held him.
“Seriously, why are they making you stay?” Roman asked again.
Sadie nibbled at her bottom lip before looking around to apparently ensure she wasn’t being listened to. “Because they’re terrified to be parents. Don’t tell anyone I said that.” She did the shifty eye thing again. “Are you going to help me?”
“Okay,” he mouthed and nodded.
She stroked Lothario’s head. “Okay?”
“Yeah, okay.”
“What, okay?”
What part of okay was she not getting?
“I’ll get you out of here after we eat.”
“How exactly are you going to do that?” She glanced to where Marlee was resting on the sofa, nearly asleep herself.
“I have many ways.” Oh boy, did he have his ways.
After being raised in a family of Dvornakovs, he could have added escaping uncomfortable family situations to his military resume.
“I need to know you have a plan.” Sadie looked as unconvinced as Lothario, but Roman totally had this.
“Babushka is my grandmother; I’ve been escaping after eating for decades. I’m surprisingly good at it.”
“Oh.” Sadie drew in a huge amount of air. “What do you want from me in return?”
“Nothing.” He blinked rapidly.
“Nothing?” she asked. “Everyone wants something.”
This wasn’t a negotiation. She’d asked for his help. He’d agreed. “Why would I want something in return?”
“Because that’s how these things work. I ask for something. You counter. We come to an agreement.”
Is that how things worked in SadieLand? That’s not how things worked in his world. “Maybe I just want to help you out.”
“That’s not how this works though.”
“It could work this way.”
“Not in my world.”
“Then you are living in the wrong world. People don’t do things because of some lame negotiation.”
“Negotiation is not lame,” she said with a huff.
“Okay, you want me to want something?” He bit at the inside of his cheek. “Have a real dinner with me sometime when it’s just us and we can connect.”
“Done.” She held her hand out for him to shake.
He shook her hand and Sadie’s skin against his caused his skin to tingle in a really nice way.
“It’s nice doing business with you,” Sadie said like this was a courtroom transaction.
Was that what this was? The tingle did not feel legal.
“Next time, though, you should add a stipulation on the time frame you expect your payment to occur.” She released her grip and started toward the kitchen.
Was she for real?
“Sadie?” he called, not whispering.
“What?” She turned, shoulders tense. Jaw locked.
The woman seriously needed a solid massage with a side of new age music.
“Calm,” he said, gesturing to his chest and inhaling deeply like his sister did to him after she’d been to one too many yoga classes.
Sadie squinched her eyes together, practically rolled them, and moved back to the kitchen.
With Marlee crashed on the sofa, Roman peeked in on Luke. He was also sleeping, his chest moving up and down with each breath he took.
“You mind keeping an eye on them for me?” Eli asked from the door to the kitchen.
Not at all.
Roman looked away from Luke to Eli. “I’d be happy to.”
Eli wavered a little on his feet.
“When’s the last time you slept?” Roman asked.
“Uh.” Eli’s eyes glazed over as he thought so hard Roman worried he might break his brain.
“I’m guessing Marlee hasn’t slept, either?” Roman glanced to Eli’s wife sawing logs on the sofa.
Eli shook his head. “You should’ve seen her. She was a force in the delivery room. I can’t even describe—” His voice clogged. “She’s done the work. I’ve gotta step up. Lost sleep is nothing compared to what she’s been through.”
“You just opened a restaurant.” Roman pointed out. From what he’d heard, opening a restaurant took a shit ton of energy.
Eli’s eyes glazed over again. “I did, but she made our kid. Literally.”
Roman stepped toward his friend, taking the tongs from his hand.
He could tell Eli was wiped because Eli didn’t object as they slipped from his hand to Roman’s.
“Fair point,” Roman said. “But you’ve got to sleep so you can keep doing nothing for her.” Well, that didn’t sound right at all.
Eli’s glazed look disappeared into confusion.
“Leave Luke down here with Sadie and me,” Roman said. “Take your wife to a real bed and catch some Z’s. We’ll handle things here.”
Eli looked at Roman with the hope in his eyes of a seriously sleep-deprived man who had just been promised a nap. “Seriously?”
“I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing. Let’s be honest, though, neither do you.” Honesty was the name of the game. “But Sadie’s here. I’ll call my mom if I need help. Or Sadie will call yours. Worst case, we’ll call in the babushka.”
Eli wiped a hand over his face. “Whatever you do, don’t call Marlee’s mom. She’ll bring in a team of nannies who will never leave and neither of us wants that.”
Noted.
“Sure thing. We will not call Marlee’s mom.” Roman nodded once to punctuate his declaration.
“You let me sleep?” Eli untied his apron, pulling it over his head. “I will name my next kid after you.”
“Don’t make promises on no sleep, man.” Roman clapped him on the back, taking the apron. “But I’ll hold you to it.”
“You have no idea what you’re giving me right now.”
Oh, Roman had a hunch.
“You think you can get your wife upstairs or do you two want to crash here?” Roman asked.
Eli was already on it though, picking up his wife and carrying her up the stairs. She stirred, but he shushed her, promising that Luke was with his Auntie Sadie and Roman. Arms around Eli’s neck, Marlee nodded and laid her head against his chest.
Roman glanced to Luke. Then to the kitchen.
Sadie stared at him, eyebrows raised.
He shrugged.
What was he supposed to do?
Then she smiled and went back to whatever she was doing on the stove. Listening for Luke, he strode to where she stood.
“I take it we’re not leaving?” she asked.
“No.” Roman blew a breath from his cheeks.
“And I’m cooking now?” she asked.
Roman nodded.
“And we’re babysitting?” Sadie asked.
“Yup,” Roman confirmed.
“This was not in the negotiation.”
No, it was not.
The air between them crackled like it always seemed to do when they were around each other.
She glanced up at him then, and the space between them withered away.
And then, Sadie did the last thing he ever expected her to do. She rolled up on her toes like she was going to kiss him. Which would’ve been an exceptional reward for volunteering her to cook dinner and babysit with him.
Was she actually going to kiss him?
She moved closer.
Oh yes, yes, she was.
This was the best babysitting gig he’d ever had.
Also, the first babysitting gig.
Luke let out a cry from the other room.
Sadie rolled right back down away from him. “Are you getting him or am I?”
“I’ll grab him.” Roman traced his fingertip over the apple of Sadie’s cheek and went to Luke.
“Rome?” she called.
He turned, already halfway to Luke. “Yeah?”
“You owe me for not holding up your end of the bargain.” She said the words, but the sly smile on her lips implied she really didn’t mind.
“And Rome?” she said.
“Yeah?”
“You’re a good guy.” She refocused on the pan in front of her and didn’t look up from flipping the fish in the pan.
Roman went to see what kind of negotiations he could make with a newborn.