She shouldn’t have hidden the truth from Callum about Marcus, and she shouldn’t be lying to him about Brady now.

Not after everything they’d been through.

Not after how he’d helped to get her through the worst years of her life.

Sloane opened her mouth to say something—what, she wasn’t sure—but Callum recovered before she could say a word.

“Everyone had a bet going on if Roger was going to paint the nursery or if Zelda was going to hire someone to do it. I bet that Roger would cave and outsource. I guess I was right.” He grinned. “What’s he paying you?”

“A boat.” Brady had his arms over his chest. Her shirt was in his hand. How long had she been in her room?

“You mean he’s giving you Roboata?” Callum’s eyes had widened at that. It was enough to temporarily pull Sloane out of her guilt.

“Roboata?”

“Yeah. You know like ‘Roberta’ but, well, put ‘boat’ in there instead. Row-boat-ah.”

Sloane couldn’t help it. She laughed.

“We’re borrowing her,” Brady added on, clearly also amused. He might be a bit of a brooder, but it was nice to know he could find humor outside of sarcasm. “In return for painting the nursery, we can use it in the parade.”

Callum nodded, looking impressed. “Easier to pull and decorate a small boat than make a small parade float,” he reasoned. “Smart.”

“And Ms. Peggy’s idea. We got as many decorations as we needed for the parade and the party today from her. All Brady had to do was tackle some yard work.”

“While slowly sweating to death,” he interjected.

“While slowly sweating to death,” Sloane repeated. She gave him a quick eye roll. “Then she sent us to Roger, who asked for the nursery to be painted, but he didn’t have everything we needed, so I thought I’d save everyone a little money by raiding your old paint supply stash.”

“That’s when the spider incident happened,” Brady added with what was becoming his trademark smirk. He was relaxing against the kitchen island and looked completely at ease, compared to his earlier run-ins with Ms. Peggy and Roger. Was it because he wasn’t being asked to do a chore, or was it because he liked Callum?

“Well, I’m glad there was actually a spider and that wasn’t some sex code for something,” Callum said. “I thought that was another bit of slang I’d have to look up like ‘yeet’ or ‘stan.’”

Sloane felt the blush before it reached her cheeks. She avoided Brady’s gaze. “What is it with you and Emma and codes? When have you ever heard me use a code for anything?”

Callum leveled a look at her. “Up until last week, I would have thought I knew the answer, but now I’m learning new things about you from the internet like everyone else.”