“Nerd.”
“You can’t judge.”
“True.”
“Who was your teacher crush?”
“I had a couple. Madame Ducharme was my favorite French teacher?—”
“You had a native speaker?”
“French Canadian. Know what the French Canadians call a blueberry?”
“Nope.”
“Ableuet.”
I cackled. “Why is that funny?”
“Probably because it sounds like the cartoon dog.” Grinning, Conor got to his feet. “You sure I can’t help?”
“Nope.”
“Who’d you pick for Secret Santa? Savannah?”
“That’d be telling. But warn Aidan that I’ll make sure he gets one of my creations if he doesn’t make it up to my sister from another mister.”
“Duly noted,” he said wryly before strolling over to his desk, depositing Butthead in the bed that Beavis had already fled to, then bribing them both with those stinky-ass dried bull cocks they adored.
“Everything okay with Jake?”
“Yup. Finn just came by to pick him up.”
“Good. The others?”
“Niall’s out for the count.”
“Figured as much. Hasn’t uttered a peep on the security system. One advantage to him, Roman, and Third being the same age is they exhaust each other when they’re together. Plus, putting up his tree was hell so that had to take away his wings. Benjamim’s still with his English tutor, right?”
“Yup, and Kat’s throwing imaginary daggers at a textbook.”
“Goooood.”
We’d expected to adopt a baby a couple Januaries back, but instead we’d been gifted a six-year-old Brazilian boy who we’d spared, within fucking days, from a child brothel in Rio.
I still shuddered to think about how close it had been. Conor, despite his dislike of planes, had flown in to get him across to the US, and we’d dealt with the paperwork afterward.
Two years in, my beautiful Benji spoke English perfectly and understood everything after being indoctrinated by Kat andLyLy, my cousin, in the ways of Cartoon Network, but he needed extra help for classes, as reading/writing were his weakest skills.
As I carefully applied my solution to the strip, I asked, “You the reason that Eoghan was watching us today when Inessa, Camille, Savvie, and I took the kids to Aoife’s bakery?”
His head whipped around so fast, it was a wonder it didn’t fall off. “What? Who? When?! Why?! I mean. No.”
Not suspicious. At all.
“Hmm.”
“I’m not!”
