At 9pm that evening, Eric drove into the practice after being gone for hours only to be t by a sowhat livid Jett.
"Where have you been?"
"Ms. Sutton sent on an errand."
"You’ve been running an errand for the past four hours?"
"Mhm. She sent sowhere far away and without reception."
Jett exhaled tiredly.
It wasn’t just sowhere far away—it was sowhere without reception.
He didn’t know why, but it seed like the universe was against him today.
First, Daniel’s line suddenly wouldn’t connect, and the housekeeper couldn’t make it to the house.
Eric, who he could’ve sent, had also been on an errand for the past five hours.
It was already late, and the apartnt building was at least an hour’s drive away, even if Eric managed to reach it, he’d need to contact the tile manufacturer to ask how to break them.
Then find an excuse to get the triplets and their nanny out of the apartnt so they wouldn’t be hard in the process.
Afterward, he’d have to convince all four of them them that the hole in their ceiling had been there since afternoon.
Eric noticed the disappointnt in his eyes and stepped forward, asking cautiously, "Sir, do I have to do anything for you?"
"Eric, it doesn’t seem like you’ve had lunch. I ordered an extra bucket of chicken just in case." All of a sudden, Kelsie appeared by the door of the practice and bead at him.
It was a quiet night, so they both heard her even though she didn’t raise her voice.
Eric, who really hadn’t tasted anything since that agyernoon, knew sothing was bothering Jett.
So he planned to shake his head in refusal. He had just done so when his stomach growled loudly.
His eyes dimd, and he quickly lowered his face in embarrassnt.
Kelsie chuckled and began strutting toward them.
She stood beside Jett and looked up at him calmly, "Jett, I sent Eric on a very far errand. Will it be okay if he takes so ti off to eat before you make use of him?"
Jett t her gaze and smiled warmly, reaching down to poke her cheek playfully, "Of course."
The words were yet out of his mouth when Eric hurried past them and into the building.
The mont he disappeared through the door, Jett turned to face Kelsie squarely, "How long will it be before you close?"
Kelsie glanced at the ti, then at the sudden chilly wind sweeping their way.
"The weather doesn’t seem so good, so we should be leaving in a few minutes."
"R-really?" Jett, who had made up his mind at the last minute to do everything himself, was so flustered he didn’t know when he stuttered.
Catching a grip of himself, he laughed lightly, his voice stable again.
"Dr. Sutton, shouldn’t you at least stay until ten? An accident could happen nearby and they’d need soone to treat them."
"I’m a brain surgeon. People know better than to co to with issues that don’t relate to the brain." Kelsie scoffed.
His lips twitched.
Eric ca out of the practice at that mont, blissfully chewing chicken as he thanked Kelsie between mouthfuls.
Jett leaned against the car behind him, impatiently tapping his foot on the ground, wondering why Eric, who usually drank his food because he had no patience to chew, was taking so long.
"Sir, do you want so?"
He didn’t realize he’d been staring at Eric the entire ti until he stretched the bucket of chicken toward him, his brows knitted in surprise.
"Since when do you eat so slowly?" Jett couldn’t hold it in and spat out irritatedly.
"Oh, this?" Eric swallowed, smiling sheepishly. "Ms. Sutton saw eating the other day and made promise to chew properly before swallowing."
"She said sothing about how not chewing properly makes it even difficult for the stomach to digest food. And truly, I’ve been having so stomach aches. When I listened to her and started chewing more, it reduced."
The OPEN sign on the practice door suddenly flipped to CLOSED before the door was pushed open and Molly and four janitors strutted out.
"Goodbye, Dr. Sutton. Love you!" Molly scread, but Kelsie was already walking away from her and toward her car.
Molly flashed Jett a knowing look before scurrying away with the janitors.
Jett leaned away from the car and placed a hand on the doorknob, another idea occurring to him.
As long as he rode in a different car from Kelsie, he’d be able to distract her, then make a detour and get everything set up before...
"Owww!"
Kelsie’s pained groan suddenly reached his ears, and he abruptly turned toward her, only to see her holding up her hand, face squeezed up in pain.
She saw him looking and bit down on her lower lip guiltily.
Eric gasped and dropped the chicken worriedly.
"The hands of a doctor should never be too strained. Sir, hurry! Since we can’t all ride in the sa car, drive hers and I’ll follow after it with yours."
Jett was already beside her by the ti Eric was done speaking.
She didn’t let him massage her ’sprained’ wrist, insisting that only her knew how to do it without hurting herself further.
"Besides, didn’t you say your floor caved in? For what it’s worth, your walls might’ve caved in with the floor. So we have to be at the apartnt building before there’s a downpour."
He almost laughed.
No wonder they said lying was a bad thing. He dug a small pit, but the longer the day went on, the deeper it beca.
Forget it. He wouldn’t bother her with his lie now. He’d just explain once they got ho that he had lied about the dent in the floor.
With that, he held the front passenger door open for her to get in before walking around to get into the driver’s seat.
The ride back to the apartnt building was silent.
Kelsie turned her face toward the window, occasionally shifting and wincing slightly when he reached over to feel her wrist.
He had just pulled into the driveway and turned to her when his side of the door opened.
The triplets stood before him, dressed in thick sweaters and earmuffs.
When they saw it was Jett in the driver’s seat instead of their mother, they paused.
Jett frowned. "It’s so cold—what are you doing outside?"
Jesse eyed him.
"The ceiling of the guest bathroom suddenly caved in. How did you not know your floor was unstable?"
"Uncle Daniel was with us in the living room and quickly went upstairs, only to find out you had so guy co in to do sothing, and he mistakenly caved in the floor." Keira chipped in.
Jett was perplexed.
He never did such a thing.
"It’s just like you said. Though the guest bathroom isn’t really close to either of our rooms, I still don’t feel safe going up there." Kelsie spoke up, her voice laced with worry.
Zade hurried around the car, then placed his head on her thigh and took out his phone.
"The weather app says it’ll rain in an hour or less. Will that be too late to find a hotel, mommy??"
Kelsie thinned her lips and sighed warily, "Most of the hotels are usually booked by this ti, baby."
Jesse nudged Jett questioningly. "You own the apartnt building. Do you really not have any vacant room?"
"The apartnt building is booked even before soone leaves." Daniel retorted from where he stood, quickly strutting toward them.
Jesse’s brows instantly perked up, almost leering at Jett, "A hotel room, then?"
"Uncle Daniel and Daddy will have to stay with us. But all six of us won’t fit into three rooms. Even if we do—how exactly would we split ourselves?"
"No, they rent three rooms. Nanny stays in one, Mommy stays with us, while the two brothers stay together." Zade suggested without raising his head.
Kelsie’s lips twitched twitched, finding the suggestion doable.
If she didn’t speak up now, all her hard work today would actually go down the drain.
So she leaned forward and shook her head in refusal.
However, Jett beat her to speaking.
"I have a condo not too far from here, but Daniel and Eric sleep there occasionally, so I wouldn’t want us to go there. But I bought a nearby..."
"We’ll take it." All five of them answered at once.
Daniel opened the backseat of the car, assisting Jesse and Keira inside before waltzing over to Eric.
As they left, Jett couldn’t help the feeling that a veil had been put over his eyes then lifted.
Everything fell into place just when he thought it was all over.
Well, whatever happened, he was just relieved it worked out.
Tossing the thought to the back of his mind, he no longer dwelled on it and drove straight to the castle.
As this was happening, a sleek black car ca to a halt outside Kelsie’s practice.
The sa butler who had been running through the castle two countries away just this afternoon now sat in the back passenger seat with his master.
Looking out the window, his master frowned, "Lois has been missing for 26 years now. Though she’s good at hiding, she’s too ambitious to only own such a small practice after all this ti. Are you sure we’re at the right place?"
The butler didn’t hesitate to nod.
After a while, the man rolled up the window and leaned back.
"We’ll be back first thing in the morning."
As the car drove off, he took out the locket around his neck, flicked it open, and slowly ran his fingers over an old photo of Lois Fletcher smiling brightly.
"I have no doubt you’ve beco a stunning woman in her early 50s."
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