Were babies always this annoying? Tyler couldn’t believe they were this troublesome. It had been almost three weeks after their date and Vicky had yet to agree to another one. And helping with the baby seemed to be her go to excuse.

  Not that he doubted looking after a newborn was hard work. He’d been reliably informed and smacked over the head that it was. It was just…The baby had parents? He’d only met her adoptive father briefly, but the man didn’t seem like the type to not pull his weight in child care.

  If anything, he seemed entirely enamored with the baby. He admitted he was a little biased and the fact he’d immediately turned to press a kiss against Vicky’s head had more than a little to do with his liking him. It had warmed his heart to see the way she’d brightened at the obvious affection.

  She’d looked at the baby with adoration and he knew George wasn’t the only one starstruck. Tyler had thought it was cute at the time, but now he was suffering. Weeks gone by without more than a few words about them.

  Normally he would have confronted the issue at hand, but with the main culprit being a baby, that wasn’t something he could do. Not least of reasons being that he’d get smacked over the head by one of the girls. And Vicky. Mainly Vicky.

  The others had seen a picture of Raine as well and had gushed at her cuteness. Which as she was now not so wrinkly, was a real thing. No more potato lookalikes for the little girl. It only annoyed him more.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you this time?” Zach gives him a pointed gre over his book. It’s just them since the girls had something on and would be joining them ter.

  “Nothing’s wrong with me,” he says with a roll of his eyes.

  “Bullshit. You’ve been doing that fidgety foot tapping thing you do when something is bothering you.”

  It’s at moments like this he resents that his friends know him so well. “It’s nothing, really.” He forces a smile. “Just thinking about stuff.”

  Zachshoots him anunamusedlook, “Stuff being Vicky I presume. No. Don’t even try to deny it. You’ve been looking down at your phone far too often.”

  Tyler runs a hand through his hair in frustration. “She’s barely focusing on school most days now.”

  “It’s the weekend,” Zach points out with an eyeroll. Which was true so he couldn’t really say anything about it, but it also brought up another issue.

  “Why the hell do we only see her school days?” Why had no one brought this issue up with him before. Surely, she wouldn’t say no to a hangout sometime. She liked them enough. Hopefully.

  Zachshrugs, “Don’t know. I guess cause we haven’t really been hanging out as much either. With this being our st year and all.”

  “I hate it when you make sense,” Tyler mutters.

  “So do I,” Zach tells him with more seriousness than necessary, “but someone needs to be when you’re being a dumbass.”

  The only answer Tyler has for that is flipping him the finger. “Lia is better at it.”

  “She is not!” Zach shoots him a gre, “She just pretends to be. Now if you’re done, either fuck off and go see her or stop moping. Either way, leave me to finish this book in peace.”

  His brows rise at that, more confused than offended. “What about our pns?”

  “Oh,” Zach grins in a way that only spells annoyance, “Nina texted while you were busy moping. Turns out they can’t make it after all.”

  Tyler blinks. “You couldn’t have told me this earlier?” If their pn was a no-go, he could have used his time otherwise.

  “Didn’t want to,” Zach shrugs and Tyler has to stop himself from flipping him the finger again.

  “You really think I should go see her?” Normally, Zach would be the st person to ask for advice, but he was currently limited on options.

  “Better than sitting here and moping,” he points out and must see the hesitation on Tyler’s face, because he sends him a pointed gre. “It’s stressing me out just watching you.” Which is…Fair. He jumps to his feet, pulling out his phone and shooting Jade a text to make sure she’s cool with him coming over.

  Thankfully, she replies quickly and tells him it’s no trouble at all. “’kay, Jade’s fine with it, so I’ll see you ter.”

  Zachanswers that with a dismissive wave of his hand, but as soon as Tyler gets to the door, he hears him call, “And invite her on our trip!”

  “I will!” It’s one of his best ideas yet. They had enough room in Nina’smum’scar for another person, so there was no harm in inviting Vicky to camp with them as well.

  When he gets to their house, the door opens to reveal a frazzled looking Jade. She greets him with a smile and them ushers him into the living room. Tyler cam see baby bottles and diapers all around it. The air smells like milk and air freshener.

  He feels a little bad for being annoyed now. Jade looks absolutely exhausted, even as she tries to hide it. He can concede that perhaps Vicky wasn’t wrong to skip out on the date requests to help her out. But still…

  “How are you doing?” He can hear Vicky’s voice in the other room, “And where’s the baby?”

  “I’m doing as well as I can,” she tells him kindly, “V has a lot to do with that.” She smiles. “I don’t know what I’d do without her.” She huffs a ugh. “I’d probably lose my mind all alone.” Then she tilts her head knowingly, “And V’s volunteered to put the baby down for a nap.Raine’susually a good sleeper during the day, so she should be out soon.”

  It’s a little disorienting to be seen through so clearly, but he finds he doesn’t mind it too much. Although, even as he thinks it, he can feel heat rushing to his ears. He clears his throat.

  “Good to know,” he takes a sip of the Pepsi she pced in front of him to distract.

  Jade huffs a ugh, shaking her head before promptly filling the silence by telling him about the hectic chaos of the past few days. Regaling him with anecdotes about a younger Vicky every so often. He soaks it all up like a sponge, ughing at some of the antics she got up to.

  Which is exactly how Vicky finds them. Jade with a nostalgic smile as she tells him about the time Vicky punched someone for bullying a girl and Tyler hyper focused on the words with a fond smile. It sounds just like her.

  “What are you doing here?” Wide blue eyes turn to Jade, “You didn’t tell me he was coming over.”

  Jade smiles mischeviously, making jazz hands. “Surprise!”

  Vicky answers that with a pointed gre. “Jade.”

  “Sorry V,” Jade shrugs, “But you’ve been far too busy withRainethe past few weeks. And I appreciate it, I do. However, it would make me feel so much better if you spent some time with your friends.”

  Tyler smothers a smile when Vicky huffs and sends her another gre. “That’s guilt tripping,” she tells her adoptive mother.

  “Perhaps,” Jade grins unrepentantly, “but it’s true just the same.”

  “Fine!” Clearly, this is an argument they’ve had various times over the past few days. It makes him feel a little better about his own thoughts on the matter. Not that he’d say it aloud, of course. Old arguments and all that.

  “Great,” Jade smiles triumphantly then yawns. “Well, I suppose I could use a nap as well,” she says, standing up again. “You kids be careful down here.”

  “We will,” Vicky smiles fondly, “You don’t need to worry.” Clearly, her annoyance is not going to st long.

  With Jade gone, a silence descends upon them. Vicky slumps into the couch in front of him, picking up some of the Doritos as she gives him a inquiring gnce. Which is also the moment he notices they were there this whole time. And then feels like an idiot for being so unobservant.

  “I wanted to see you,” he tells her point bnk, answering her earlier question. “Since you’ve been avoiding me and all that, I thought I’d just come to you.”

  She blinks, hand freezing midway to another chip, “I’m not avoiding you.”

  His nose scrunches up at that and he shoots her a disbelieving look. “Vicky, you’ve been dodging every message I send about a date. Even when it’s just a hangout.”

  “I was helping Jade with the baby!”

  “Every time?” He shakes his head. “Really? You couldn’t leave her alone with Jade for a few hours?” Pause. Nothing but silence. “You know George could help her as well.”

  “I know,” she says quietly. “It’s just…They’re so busy you know? I didn’t…”

  Tyler feels himself soften, a fond sigh leaving him as he moves to sit down beside her and pces a comforting hand on hers. “You don’t need to do everything alone either.”

  For some reason, she feels like she owes them or something. If her hesitance wasn’t proof enough, it’s clear in the way she looks now. Lost and anxious. He wonders whether she knows they adore her.

  It’s clear for him to see by the looks they give her when she’s not looking. Fond and loving, a smile spreading over their faces as they spot her. The way they both looked at her in the hospital room. He feels a smile pull at his lips. As far as either of them are concerned, she’s their daughter.

  George certainly called her such when he was talking to the nurse. It was too bad she’d gone to the bathroom when he did.

  However, he also knows better than butt into this particur circumstance. She had parents before them. Parents she still mourns and clearly loves. They were taken away from her unexpectedly, so it makes sense she’s so hesitant with them. No one said love or pain was easy.

  “Do you need help with something while I’m here?” It’s the only thing he or anyone else can do for her. Just be there if or when she needs them.

  Blue eyes turn to face him, a small smile pulling at her lips. “I could use some help with the undry. It’s been piling up.”

  “Alright,” he tells her, “Lead the way.”

  This is an atmosphere he’s not used to at all. Tentative in its silence. The bck circles under her eyes tell him she hasn’t been sleeping. Her movements are slow and hesitant as she directs him to a pile of clothes to fold.

  Ah, herealises, this is why she’s been avoiding him. It comes to him like a revetion. The hospital. The way she avoids his eyes every so often tells him that maybe it wasn’t just Raine keeping her away. The redness blooming on her cheeks when she meets his gaze for too long only proves it.

  She’s embarrassed, herealises. And the only reason he can think of his her crying into his arms at the hospital. That was the point she started avoiding him, now that he thinks about. He feels his lips twitch, relief blooming in his chest. It wasn’t him at all.

  For someone who hasn’t been embarrassed much, he can see how that would be a problem. Unfortunately, calling her out on it is probably only going to make things worse. But that doesn’t mean he’s going to let this silence linger.

  “We’re going camping next weekend, are you free to come?” The silence gets more comfortable the more time passes, so he feels it’s safe to ask her now.

  Her head snaps up to meet his eyes with furrowed brows. “Camping?”

  “It’s only for one night. It’s kind of an annual thing we do. I can’t really remember when it started, but Nina’s mum drives us over to this local camping ground. And then we spend the night toasting marshmallows and fishing in the river.”

  They would spend more, but Lia always gets freaked out by something in the trees and refuses to stay another night. Yet, she’s also the one who insists on doing it again the next year. Not that Zach’s any better with his impatience and compining, but still.

  Vicky seems to consider it, lips pursing. He can practically see her mull it over as she folds the remaining t-shirts in front of her. “Not that I’m agreeing to anything, but when would we be leaving? I’m not really a early morning person.”

  Tyler grins. “We usually leave at ten or closer to twelve, depending on when we all get there.”

  She pauses in her actions of neatly pcing the folded clothes in a basket. “I see,” she says, smiling just a little. “So I suppose none of us are early people.”

  “Lia is,” he tells her, moving his own pile into the basket as well. “She's just also the most forgetful.” For some reason that gets a barked ugh out of her. He shrugs it off almost immediately when she shoots him a wry smile. “So? Are you in?”

  “No,” she tells him, moving to lift the basket onto the table behind her. He feels his heart drop, face following suit. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea. Especially with-”

  “I think you should go.” They turn to see Jade leaning against the stairs.

  Vicky frowns, “But what about-”

  “Raine and I will be just fine,” Jade smiles, “George has the weekend off next week, remember?”

  “I still don’t think it’s a good idea,” she protests.

  “V,” Jade releases an exasperatedly fond sigh, “I think it’s a great idea. You’re seventeen, you should be having fun not looking after a baby. You should go.”

  “I don’t mind looking after a baby.”

  “I know you don’t.” Jade smiles slightly, “but that doesn’t mean that’s all you should. do. I want to you to have fun. Please?” She finishes the words off by giving her a pleading look. Sensing the opportunity, Tyler moves to stand beside Jade and does the same.

  Vicky shoots a gnce between them, a smile spreading involuntarily before she releases a defeated sigh. “Alright,” she ughs. “I’ll go.”

  Yes! Tyler decided then and there that he absolutely adores Jade. She’s the coolest mum in his opinion, just for doing this. The others should really meet her. He grins as he thinks about their reaction to this news. They’ll be thrilled.

  “Then, I suppose it’s settled,” he says, sounding far calmer than he feels. This is going to be so much fun! He can’t wait.