Diamonds Are Forever - Brooke St. James Page 0,19

the whole time. I had heard them mention their two-year-old son, Blake, several times. From what I gathered, there was childcare provided at this party, but their son was having trouble staying in the room with the babysitter.

"We're just going to have to go," Brian said coming back to the table, shaking his head and wearing a frustrated expression. "He's ready to go home, Michelle. He's not having it in there."

"Just bring him out here," Drew's mom said, overhearing them.

But Michelle was already talking. "Seriously?" Michelle said, looking frustrated and disappointed. She looked at her mom when she heard her say that. "He'd be all over the place out here. If he can't get it together, we'll just have to go home.

"Why don't you go in there and see if you can calm him down?" Brian suggested.

Michelle shook her head. "I've already been in there for thirty minutes while y'all were eating. The whole point is that I wanted to be here for the party. If I stay in there any more, I'll miss the whole thing."

Brian sat down next to her. "I told you we should've just had my mom watch him at home."

She sighed. "Why don't they try reading him a book? There are books in his diaper bag."

"I told them about the books," Brian said, shaking his head. "I don't know what to tell you, Michelle. They asked me to tell you to go back there. I almost brought him out here with me so he could see you."

"Don't leave," Drew's mom said, chiming in again. "You'll miss the family picture. Just bring him out here if you need to."

I leaned forward, raising my hand a little and waving to get their attention. "I'd love to give it a shot, if you don't mind," I said.

Everyone looked at me when I spoke.

"I wouldn’t mind going to hang out with Blake for a little while," I said. "I love kids."

"Thank you," Michelle said. "Really? Would you do that?"

"Sure, I don't mind at all."

I was having a fine time with everyone, and it was easy as far as fake dates went, but I wasn't in it for the date. I figured hanging out with a two-year-old could be fun.

"I'll walk you over there," Drew said.

I didn't want him to have to do that, but he didn’t seem to mind. And we set off for the conference room.

"How do you think it's going?" I asked as we walked away from the party.

"Amazing," he said. "They love you. You're doing perfect." He put his arm around my shoulders as we walked. It was a friendly gesture, but I figured it seemed more significant to anyone who was looking at us. I leaned into him. I felt certain that Jocelyn was noticing us. I felt like my mission was complete. That thought made me think of getting a ride home.

"I don't know why we didn't think of me driving here," I said, pulling back and looking at Drew. "I'm not going to be able to be here all night, and I don't want to make you leave. I should've driven over here instead of leaving my car at the park."

"No, it's no big deal," Drew said, letting go of me and walking beside me. "I'll drive you home whenever you're ready.

We could hear the baby crying before we opened the door. I turned and looked at Drew. "Go back to the party," I said. "Tell your sister I'll come get her if we need her, but otherwise he's fine."

"She'll assume he's fine. If we don't go back out there, she'll know we're taking care of it."

"I got it," I said. "You go back."

"Do you really think you can stop that?" He squinted like his ears were hurting and pointed into the air, indicating the sound of the crying toddler.

"Yes," I said. I opened the door. "I'm going in."

"I'm coming with youuu," he said, comically following me as if we were going into battle.

"Enter at your own risk," I said, shaking my head at him."

The sound got louder with every step we took. He was an older toddler, I could tell by his voice, and he was not happy.

"How are you going to fix this?" Drew asked.

"I'm about to need a hero. We'll see if he can step up to a challenge."

"Okay, let's see what you got," Drew said with a nod as we entered the room.

Another round of wails rang out, and he flinched comically at the sound. There were two large