𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐛𝐨𝐲

VII. It Was For Evie.

     

     AFTER PUTTING away Evie's things and setting her into her crib, Jake smiled as he looked at his daughter before leaning down to kiss her forehead gently. He headed back down, finding his father in the kitchen rather than the living room he was originally in.

"Hey... pops." He feels awkward saying it and Reece Yukimura can sense it, as he chuckled and poured some water into a cup, sliding it over to his son who took it with a small grateful smile on his face. "How was seeing your mother and grandma?" The man now asked and he shrugged. "It was nice..." He replied and Reece nods, sipping his own water.

"Listen, kid... um, Bella doesn't feel very open with taking care of Evie, but not on my end, I love the kid, she makes my days so much brighter having both you and her around, but... she doesn't wanna keep being a babysitter." He says and Jake just nodded.

"Yeah... I understand. I'm sorry. With my friends being back, I just wanna--" "be there for them. I understand." Reece nodded and Jake just smiles softly, glancing away. "I'm willing to hire a nanny... if you're open to that." The man now offered and the teenager glanced up quickly, brows raising slightly. "A nanny?" He asked and Reece nodded, smiling back.

"Anything to keep you and Evie around."

Jake had told his father that he'd think about it, before saying he's gonna head to bed. He laid there, staring at the ceiling and thinking about it for like maybe two hours before finally being able to fall asleep, facing the left side of the bed and hugging one of his pillows.

The thing about a nanny is it had to be someone Evie would click with, someone she'd feel comfortable with and someone who'd take good care of her, not a random person. He thinks of this as he got up the next morning and went to go check on Evie, to find her wide awake and sitting up, holding the bars of her crib as she slowly stood up. "Morning baby girl," he smiles widely as he approached the bed and the girl raised her arms to him.

He lifted her up and took her over to her changing bed, quickly changing her diaper and then bringing her to the kitchen where he fed her and made himself some coffee and toast. After eating, he just lounged around in the living room when his father walked in, "oh, Jake. There's an event today at the Wreck, for Anna and Mike's 15th anniversary. They're close friends of mine, will you come with Bella, the girls and I?" He asked and Jake shrugs.

"Sure..." He replied and Reece smiled. "Great." He says, heading off to the kitchen right after. It was probably around the afternoon time when Jake received a message from Kiara, she was asking if he'd come by, check it out and whatnot, so he quickly told her that his dad and his step-mom was invited, so he was going along with them and his younger sisters.

She played it off cool, mentioning that her mom invited the entire island, Kooks and Pogues. While getting ready for the event, Jake kept looking over at Evie playing with her toys on the floor of his bedroom. "Alright, time for you to dress up, Evie girl." He said, swiftly picking up his daughter from the floor.

He dressed in simple dress pants and a black button up shirt, figuring it wasn't fancy but good enough for his dad to deem presentable for the "Yukimura family". He got Evie dressed into a pastel pink t-shirt, tights and one of her new clothes, overalls that was a dress, pairing it with one of the shoes his half-sisters got for her, a pair of white converse.

"Perfect. You look just perfect, Eves." He smiled and Evie cooes softly, adjusting the overalls that she was dressed in before kicking her feet and then he picked her up, kissing his cheek gently before heading out the room with her diaper back on one shoulder.

Bella and Reece rode with the girls in another vehicle while he took the Honda Civic as usual, Evie buckled in the backseat as he drove behind his father's Range Rover. When they arrived, Reece insisted they all walk into the event together, as a united front, as a family. But just as he always felt, Jake felt like he stuck out, didn't belong with the family.