Her blonde hair was pulled back from her face, and she was wearing jeans and a T. Riley didn't remember ever seeing her out of a dress before, but he thought she looked so pretty.
"You're looking really good," Riley offered with another smile.
"Seven months sober," she said proudly.
"Wow, Lisa, that's awesome." He hadn't realized how far she'd come. Why hadn't he known?
"Thank you." She blushed and dropped her gaze. "I'm not making a big thing of it." She looked up. "Y'know, with the family."
A strange mix of emotions assaulted him. First guilt that he hadn't made more of an effort to follow what his sister-in-law was doing or, at the very least, how Luke and Annabelle were doing. Then there was a strange discomfort and a low level embarrassment. He could pin that square to knowing everything he did about her.
"The kids doing okay at school?" He changed the subject. The subject of his niece and nephew was always a safe thing to ask about. She brightened considerably, and her eyes lit up.
"Annabelle is a cheerleader and is going through her first real boyfriend problems… and Luke?" She shrugged. "He hasn't taken losing his dad so well. Acting up at school, the usual teenage things I suppose, just made worse by the fact he was a real daddy's boy."
"Can I do anything to help? I should have said if you needed—"
"No. Please." She reached out and touched Riley on the arm to interrupt what he was going to say. "I do need to ask you a question though. More of a favor I guess." She was so uncertain, and it screamed from her every pore.
"Anything."
"I want you to listen to this and think about it. Talk to Jack. Agree together." Riley glanced over at his husband, who was standing nursing a beer, watching them talk with narrowed eyes.
Lisa continued, "I want to know if anything happens to me you would look out for Luke and Annabelle. I know it's a big thing to ask—especially with Hayley now—but in my will, I want to name you and Jack and Eden as guardians. Just promise me you'll think about it?"
"They're my family, Lisa, and there is nothing to think about."
"Talk to Jack for me. Don't just assume he will agree."
"I will."
With her gaze fixed firmly on his, she reached up and touched his face. "You always were the best brother, Riley." She didn't let him reply. Instead, she made her way over to where Eden was dishing out salad, and Riley assumed she was going to have the same heartfelt discussion with his sister as she had done with him.
"You okay?" Jack's voice was a welcome sound, and Riley relaxed instantly. He took the beer Jack offered him and nodded.
"She wants to know if you and I and Eden would agree to become legal guardians for Luke and Annabelle if anything happened to her."
"Jeez." Riley didn't think Jack sounded shocked or angry. If anything he sounded overwhelmed.
"I said yes for me, and it would be enough. You don't have to say yes as well." Riley looked over to Eden and Lisa, who were hugging; he knew his sister would say yes.
"Does she not have other family she could ask?" Jack asked thoughtfully.
"Just a couple of cousins I think; no one she is close to."
"Why me? I mean I can see why you and Eden, but why me?"
"She knows the man you are, Jack Campbell-Hayes; the same as I do."
"Okay then, if it's what she wants, then yes, of course, she can name me."
Riley threaded his hands through Jack's and tugged him to follow from one side of the yard to the other. "Let's go tell her then."
* * * *
The papers came back from the investigator on Sarah's husband, Hayley's uncle.
"He's done time for hacking…" Riley read down the paperwork. "He was some kind of computer expert who decided to embezzle from the bank he worked in. Resisted arrest and used a gun. Hence the arrest and the prison sentence."
"White collar crime then. He's not a murderer or a wife beater? An abuser or anything?"
"Let's say he didn't get an early release for good behavior. He did his entire sentence—five years. Finally worked his way through it and got out a few weeks back."
"So he's done his time. Why was Lexie so adamant he have nothing to do with Elliot?"
"An ex-con who failed to meet standards for early release doesn't sound like a good role model. I still don't understand how Lexie and Sophie think he's a threat to Hayley but I am sure they had their reasons."
"Okay," Jack conceded. "Maybe there's nothing we need to worry about." Riley shrugged, and Jack could see his husband wasn't convinced.
"We'll see."
C
HAPTER
10
"Where's Daddy?"
Now that was a leading question. Riley's phone had sounded at six, and he had left the bed with some rambling excuse about work, the last Jack had seen of Riley other than a hurried shower. When Jack asked him, all Riley could say was he had paperwork to complete and calls to make for CH Consultancy. Jack knew his husband was being economical with the truth; Riley was so damn transparent. He just wasn't ready to call him on it, not when they were focusing so much of getting Hayley settled.
"I'm not sure, sweetheart, but he'll be here in a minute." They sat in companionable silence, and Jack watched as she continued to comb her hair in front of the large mirror in the hallway.
"It's not dad's fault, you know," she said quietly. "What isn't?"
Hayley didn't answer straight away, but Jack didn't
push for an answer. A good few minutes passed before she said anything else, by which time Jack had checked his watch and seen they'd need to leave in less than thirty minutes.
"He didn't know 'cause she didn't tell him." Her words were intense, and she startled him when she caught his hand in hers. The fingers looked so small against his, and he focused on the delicate pale skin. "Is he angry about it?"
Jack swallowed his immediate reply. Was Riley angry? No. Riley was off doing fuck knows what for some nebulous reason he wasn't sharing with Jack. In the process, he was obviously upsetting Hayley, and it wasn't right.
"No, I promise you. All your daddy wants is to find you the best school and make sure you're happy."