The Wedding Agreement Read Online Free PDF Page A

again . . . two weekends in a row. And this time on a Saturday. He couldn’t call Tessa to get Nina early again. It would only validate her accusation that his schedule interfered with his relationship with his daughter. Not to mention that since Tessa’s birthday was tomorrow, he had Nina for just one day. He couldn’t let Tessa think that he’d wasted his only day with his daughter by working.
    Finally he slid his thumb over the bottom of his phone, exhaling the breath he must have been holding. When Don quickly confirmed Alex’s suspicions that he would need to go in to work for a few hours, he hung up and began dialing his list of potential babysitters. His first phone call was always going to be his sister, Christina.
Family is family, after all.
But Alex wasn’t surprised when Christina said she was overtwo hours away at his nephew’s AAU basketball game.
Why do her kids have to be such good athletes?
Alex immediately moved on to a few other people who had watched Nina in the past—an elderly neighbor who had a granddaughter about Nina’s age, the mother of one of Nina’s friends. He even called Xavier, who’d had Nina over once when he was babysitting his niece.
    But when none of them were available, Alex started to panic. He glanced at the clock, taking note of the fact that he had to leave in less than forty-five minutes.
Think, damn it.
He knew Lauren and Scott would be getting ready for their housewarming party, and it wouldn’t be fair to dump a child on them in the midst of all that. Nearly out of options, he almost considered asking the man who peddled bootleg porn in the apartment complex down the street. Surely he’d have time to watch her.
    But Alex knew there was only one person left whom he could legitimately ask. Before he could change his mind, he clicked on Cass’ name and hit Call.
    A groggy voice answered almost immediately. “Hello.”
    â€œHey, sorry to bother you. It sounds like I woke you up.”
    Cass yawned. “You kind of did.”
    â€œOh, well, sorry again. Although if it wasn’t almost noon I might feel worse about it.”
    â€œNot all of us have real responsibilities. Rough night.”
    Alex laughed, wondering but not wanting to ask what that meant. “Well you might be in for a rough afternoon too.”
    He waited a few seconds for Cass to speak again. When she did, her voice sounded more alert than ithad only moments before. “What does that mean exactly?”
    â€œI kind of need a favor.”
    Cass was silent.
    â€œYou can say no.” Alex thought for a second, exhaling a defeated sigh. “Actually, you really can’t. Well, not unless you’re okay with Tessa castrating me with a rusty butter knife.” Alex rubbed his hand across his scalp. “I need you to watch Nina for me. It’d just be for a few hours. I could drop her off at your place on my way in to work, and you guys could just meet me at Scott and Lauren’s house later.”
    â€œYou need
me
”—Cass sounded incredulous—“to watch Nina.”
    â€œYeah, I do. I know it’s not really . . . your thing. But I have no other options. I called everyone else before you—my sister, Xavier, a neighbor, Nina’s friends’ moms. If anyone else could do it, I wouldn’t have called you.” He realized how that sounded, but it was too late to take it back.
    â€œDid you check with the woman we saw on the metro that time? You know, the one who was singing that Kelly Clarkson song and wearing a beaded necklace as a shirt. I bet she’d provide hours of entertainment for little Nina.”
    Alex hesitated, unsure of what to say. He did feel slightly bad that Cass was his last call, but he knew kids weren’t her thing. And she never tried to hide that fact. “Cass, listen. I—”
    She let out a laugh, relieving Alex of any need to apologize.