“You don’t want to sleep with me?” Ellie asks her, and Hope’s face scrunches up adorably like she’s trying to think about it then she shakes her head.
“I’m not a baby, wemember?”
“No, I guess you’re not.” Ellie sighs then looks at me, biting her bottom lip. “Are you sure you don’t mind us taking up two rooms?”
“Positive.” I smile, and she looks toward the end of the hall at my door then back toward hers, and my smile gets bigger. I can practically hear the wheels in her head turning. “Why don’t you guys get cleaned up while I bring everything in?” I say, opening the door to the bathroom.
“Bafftub! Bafftub!” Hope jumps up and down, squealing, making me laugh.
“I’ll bring your clothes up first. That way, you’ll have something clean to change into afterward.”
“Thanks, Jax,” Ellie whispers.
“No problem, baby,” I tell her then look down at Hope when she grabs my hand, tugging on it.
“Mama’s not a baby.” She giggles then runs into the bathroom, making me laugh.
Leaning on the doorjamb, I watch as the two of them turn on the tub then pull myself away, closing the door when they both take off their shoes.
I have never really put much thought into having kids, but I could get used to hearing Hope giggle. Moving downstairs, I pull out my cellphone and press send on my mom’s number when I see she’s called a few times.
“Don’t you know how worried we’ve been?” she scolds after the first ring.
“You knew I was driving.” I know my dad isn’t really included in that ‘we’. It’s all my mom; she’s always worried.
“You have Bluetooth,” she mutters, sounding annoyed.
“Ellie and Hope were sleeping, and I’m not gonna answer the phone with the girls in the truck.”
“Oh, God, it’s really happening, isn’t it?” she whispers, making me frown.
“What’s happening?”
“Nothing,” she says quickly. “How’s Ellie feeling, and what’s Hope like?”
“Ellie’s tired, but I think she’s okay. Hope is cute. You’ll love her.”
“I wish it wasn’t so late,” she grumbles, making me smile.
“You can come over tomorrow. If I know Ellie at all, she’s gonna want to head over to the salon in the morning.”
“I can take her,” she says immediately as I pull two of the bags from the back and take them inside.
“Thanks, Mom,” I say sincerely.
“I’m happy to help.”
“Where’s Dad?”
“He’s right here. Hold on,” she says, and I’m sure she is sitting on my dad’s lap, or tucked into his side, where she always is.
“Hey, bud,” I hear his deep voice come over the line.
“Hey, Dad. You busy tomorrow?”
“Nothing’s on the schedule. What’s up?”
“I need to get Ellie some wheels. You got time to go with me?”
“Sure, I’ll bring your mom over in the morning, since I can tell she’s chomping at the bit to meet Hope, and we’ll head out from there.”
“Thanks,” I mumble, taking the two bags up the stairs and setting them in bedroom Ellie chose.
“Anytime. Get some rest and we’ll see you in the morning.”
“See you then,” I say, hanging up and heading back outside. My phone vibrates again, and I look at the screen and shake my head when I see Mellissa’s number pop up, with the emoji of a butcher knife that my sister Ashlyn put next to her name. Mellissa and I dated in high school, and hooked up over the summer one time. I thought maybe she had changed with age and college, but she was a bigger bitch now than she was back then. Pressing ignore on her call, I put my phone in my pocket and take the rest of the stuff into the house. Once I get everything upstairs, both girls are in Ellie’s room lying in bed.
“Thank you for bringing everything in,” Ellie says sleepily.