Lovesick -- A Rocky Lynch Story

Chapter 15

As soon as we made it home, I told Rocky to hide our new toy in our room and I'd go check up on Avie. She and Karlee were sitting on the couch and Mason was pulling up on the coffee table in the center of the room. "Hi baby," I cooed to Avie, who looked over to me tiredly.

"Hi mommy," she said quietly.

Karlee got up and came into the kitchen to chat with me about everything. "Hope you guys had a nice time... uh, out?" she said. "But um, Avie's been running a temp for about an hour and it's pretty high. I checked Carter's homework and a friend of his down the street, Caleb, came over." She looked at me curiously.

"I know Caleb," I nodded. "Are they in the backyard?" I looked out.

"Mhm, they're playing pirate ships. I was doing anything to keep Avelyn away from him for now." She looked over at the slumped over little girl. "Mason seems to be acting fine, but she was hugging on him while reading those books so things could go downhill fast. I'm so sorry to have bugged you."

"It's fine," I assured her, "We were just um... shopping..." I smiled awkwardly and nodded my head. I turned to watch Rocky coming down the stairs and press a hand to the little girl's forehead. He pouted and rubbed her cheek for a minute before coming over to me and Karlee.

"She seems a bit warm," he shrugged. "Hopefully she'll just run for a bit and be better." He looked around for a minute and looked at Karlee. "Well, since you're here for the full two hours and we're paying you for two full hours, why don't we chat a bit." He pulled out a chair for me, for Karlee, and them himself.

I went over to pick up Mason from his spot on the floor and held him in my arms while I sat and waited for my husband to trip over his words. I knew what he was going to talk about.

"I felt like this conversation was coming..." Karlee joked and tucked her hair behind her ear. "What would you like to know?"

"Well, you kind of went out on a date with my brother." Rocky nodded his head and looked to me for support. "So I don't know if I want to say that crossed professional boundaries or what?"

"Babe..." I sighed and gripped his hand.

"I didn't intend to step on anyone's toes..." She shook her head. "I apologize if I-"

"YOU did not," I assured her. "It's Ry we're worried about, honestly. Rocky's just a bit shaken up. We know how Ryland can be."

Rocky cleared his throat and looked at Karlee. "Was he respectful?"

"Absolutely," she nodded her head. "I told Juliette- he's a complete gentlemen."

"Never have I heard a girl of his say that in my life..." Rocky shook his head to me. I giggled under my breath and waited for Rocky to respond. "He told us you guys were um..."

"Rocky," I stopped him. "We don't have to go there."

"Intimate," he ignored me. I sighed and looked apologetically at Karlee.

She turned a slight tinge of pink and nodded her head. "I mean yeah, I'm an adult and I do- I do things. It doesn't make me bad at my job though, right?" she questioned.

Rocky nodded his head and laughed. "No Karlee it doesn't and I'm actually happy you can hold your own like this."

"Rocky doesn't mean to grill you with questions," I tried to save him. "He's just-"

"We're nervous that if he dumps you or things don't work out that we won't have a sitter anymore. And since you sit for two of the three siblings in our family that have kids... We figure this could be a bit of a problem," Rocky came right out and said it.