Make a Wish (Spark House #3)(96)
“I think what you’re saying makes complete sense. I’d have to take a look at the numbers, but on-site daycare would open things up for a lot of our employees. And us. Especially with a new baby on the way.” Declan’s eyes are wide, and he glances at Avery and then focuses on me. “We can bring back the birthday parties too. If that’s what it takes to keep the three of you together as a team, we can be creative and find ways to make it work. I’m guessing we can probably slot in a couple a month. Sunday afternoons would be the best day since events are usually wrapped up, as long as it’s not right after a wedding because the takedown on those is a lot.”
“Just throwing out ideas, but what if we renovated one of the outbuildings?” Jackson suggests. “We’ve got that potting shed behind the atrium.”
The potting shed is hardly a shed. It’s a large building where we store a lot of random gardening stuff that rarely gets used because we’ve hired a grounds crew who come in once a week during the summer months to keep everything in order. It looks more like a small cottage.
“Oh! What if we made it into a party palace for kids? It could be called Sparkle House. It could be the place where we host parties for kids, and when we aren’t, we can use it as a daycare,” I say, thrilled that both Declan and Jackson seem to see this as viable.
“That’s a great idea!” London claps her hands. “Do you think the shed would be big enough?”
“I think so. We’d need to clean it out to be sure, but I believe it could work. A reno like that won’t be cheap, though,” Declan says.
“Think of it like a long-term investment. We’re creating new opportunities and ways for Spark House to keep growing,” Jackson offers.
“I don’t think any of us truly realized how hard this all was for you. We want you to be happy, Harley. And we want you to stay with us.” Avery wraps her arm around my shoulder and gives me a side hug.
“I think this is a solid plan. I’ll do a cost analysis as soon as we’re home and price out the renovation,” Declan says.
“I think it would make sense to see what it would cost to set up a full-time daycare center there. I like the idea of Ella being close to you when I have to be away on business and you can’t join me,” Jackson says to London. “Especially since we’d like to give her a brother or a sister sometime in the near future.”
“Maybe we should poll everyone on staff and see how much interest we get,” Avery says.
“We have lots of people on staff with kids. Offering on-site daycare could be an amazing perk.” My worries over my place at Spark House start to fade as we make this new plan. And I realize that I’ve been passively sitting back, filling roles as they’re handed to me instead of speaking up and asking for what I want.
It’s up to me to make my own happiness. And this is one huge step in the right direction.
Twenty-Seven
BREAK YOUR OWN HEART
GAVIN
“Daddy.” Poke. “Daddy.” Sniffle. “Daddy.”
I crack a lid and find Peyton standing beside my bed, her stuffed bunny cradled against her chest. I glance at the clock. It’s four in the morning. “It’s too early to be up, sweetie.”
“I had another accident.” Peyton’s fingers are in her mouth, eyes wide with worry.
This is the third time in as many days that she’s had an accident at night. The only time she ever has accidents now is when she’s about to spike a fever. It’s how I know she’s coming down with something. And I don’t think it’s happened in more than a year.
I throw the covers off, the fog of sleep too heavy to lift, and scrub my face with my hand. “Did you change your pajamas?”
She nods. “And I used a washcloth to clean myself up. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, sweetie, it’s not your fault. Why don’t you get in bed with me and I’ll toss your sheets in the washing machine.”
“Okay.” She clambers up into bed and takes the side Harley would normally sleep on. If she and I were still a couple. I lean over and kiss Peyton on the forehead, surreptitiously checking for a temperature before determining she’s fine.
I leave her in my room and trudge down the hall. Her bedside lamp is already on, highlighting the wet spot in the middle of the bed. I put the mattress pad back on her bed after the first time it happened. Which incidentally coincided with her ankle sprain and Harley breaking up with me. All I have to do is strip the bed and drop the sheets in the washing machine.
As I pull them off, a picture frame goes tumbling to the floor. I stoop to pick it up and my heart clenches. It’s a photo of me, Peyton, and Harley when we went for a weekend trip to Aspen when Peyton was just a toddler. It was probably taken a couple of months before I decided to move us to Boulder. Karen hadn’t loved the fact that I’d taken my twenty-year-old nanny with me on a mini vacation instead of inviting them to join me.
But Harley had been full of life and energy. She’d been great with Peyton and loved every minute of taking Peyton tubing on the bunny hill. And even back then, I wasn’t sure what exactly it was that I felt for her. I was grateful to have her as support, because I wouldn’t have been able to manage the demands of an infant on my own. The lines had started to blur, and I couldn’t get a handle on my emotions. All I knew was that she’d been far too young, and I’d been far too heartbroken to entertain any kind of relationship with anyone, let alone my twenty-year-old nanny.