Three Days

Chapter 7

I walked downstairs to find everyone sitting at the table talking over breakfast.

"Okay there is no way Julian cooked this," I said, raising my eyebrows before I took a seat at the end of the table in between Ryan and Amelia.

"I cooked," Jack said, giving me a look I tried not to laugh at. Ryan placed a cup of coffee in front of me that I grabbed quickly.

"Okay good, just making sure it's edible," I said with a wink at Julian as I took another huge gulp of coffee.

"Where is Ellie?" Ryan asks.

"She had to leave early this morning for a meeting with a client. She said to call her if Amber doesn't sign it," Julian said.

"She also said for you to call her either way for girl talk," Chase said.

"She wants to know why I never told her how hot you guys are. To be honest, I didn't even notice she was gone," I said with a guilty look on my face.
Amelia was resting in her playpen beside me, she was just staring up at me with a happy look on her face, making last night worth all the trouble. The feeling of guilt left quickly as I remember how hard last night was.

"So how did last night go?" Jack asked. All three of us looked ready to hit something at the thought of last night.

"Let's just say that tonight you and Julian get to help Chase with the sleep killer," Ryan said with a tough voice but I found myself nodding vigorously. I froze when I felt Ryan's hand on my leg. He didn't try to travel up, he just put his hand on my leg and rubbed circles with his thumb. I didn't realize how much I needed the contact until then. I reached under that table and took his hand in mine. "Besides, I was going to see if Giana here wanted to go make dinner for everyone down at the station tonight."

"What? You want us to go all night without her help and you want us to feed ourselves." Chase said, with horror evident on his face.

"Well I talked with Ryan and we decided I shouldn't go with you guys to the doctor. So how about I stay here and make some lasagna and leave one here for you guys," I said looking around at them.

"Wait, Ryan convinced you to stay home? And you agreed?" Jack asked, looking more confused than I had ever seen him.

"Yes," I said cautiously. "I figure Amber won't sign the papers if I kill her first. And if I go, I'm gonna want to kill her for what she did to Chase and what she did to mia nipote," I said looking at Amelia.

"What? Giana, you know the rules, no Italian when Nick isn't here to translate," Chase said, annoyed from lack of sleep.

"It means 'my niece'," I said as I reached across to hold his hand. "I'm sorry, I forgot. If you really want me to come today, I will. It is up to you."

"No, you're right, you should stay here but I do want you to meet her when she gets here. I want to know what that famous gut says," Chase said as I let go of his hand.

"Okay, I can do that," I said before my stomach growled. I have been so distracted, I forgot to eat.

Ryan let go of my hand and I pouted, he pointed at my plate and said, "Eat, we didn't get enough sleep last night for you to be starving on top of that." He said as he refilled my cup of coffee.

"I don't know about sleep, but it seems like you got something this morning," Julian said, his voice hinting with a big smirk. I froze again but Ryan's hand was back on my leg in an instant so I relaxed a little.

"What does that mean?" Jack asked with a big smile.

"It means I found them in her bed this morning," Julian said, smiling even bigger.

"And if you were there ten minutes before you would have found me on the floor and Amelia on G's chest," Chase said, rolling his eyes.

"Oh," he said confused and then he smiled again and said, "Wait, that doesn't explain why they were cuddling," his words pointed at me.

"Aw, are you jealous that I stole your old cuddle buddy?" Ryan said, taunting him. Julian just huffed.

"This is the most entertaining breakfast I've had in years," Jack said smiling behind his cup of coffee.

"Wait, seriously, is there something going on with you two?" Chase asked, looking between the two of us.

"Yes there is and we aren't ready to talk about it so if you push it, you will starve," I said, leaving no room for any more questions. Ryan took my hand again and I turned to see him smiling at me. He was happy that I didn't want to sneak around and I knew I probably should have talked to him before I said that but his smile puts me at ease.

"Well it's about damn time," Jacks says, smiling like it's christmas. Ryan chuckled and the other boys just looked too shocked to speak.

"Dad, don't get too excited, all I did was get her to agree to a date," Ryan said with a pointed look at Jack.

"I got it son, I'm just happy you finally made a move. I just wish it didn't take you ten years," Jack said smiling again as Ryan turned red.

I squeezed Ryans hand and whispered in his ear, "I have had a crush on you for fifteen years. I promise you aren't alone in this." He smiled big at that and we shared our own little secret moment.

"How did I not know about this? I was honestly just messing with you guys, I didn't think anything was going on. G, you said no secrets," Julian said with sad eyes.

"Don't try that Julian, this happened this morning and when you asked she told you the truth instead of lying to give us time to figure it out. You don't get to make her feel like shit about this," Ryan said, holding nothing back.

Julian stood up, "She should have told me." He walked to the front door and left as tears welled up in my eyes. I got up and followed him outside.