“Auntie Cassie,” she replied, brushing her Barbie doll’s hair. She had six others, sitting on the floor in front of her, patiently waiting their turn in June’s imaginary salon chair. “Daddy says her standards are too high. What are standards, Uncle J?”
June had the cutest little voice I ever heard, but when she brought up Cassie, even in her sweetest voice, it still stung a little.
“Well… standards are what you want out of someone or something. Auntie Cassie went out with a boy, and she didn’t like him. He didn’t meet her standards.”
“Daddy says boys have cooties and they stink.”
“He’s not wrong, kid. Best to stay away from them.”
“Maybe that’s what Auntie Cassie should do—stay away from boys,” June said, shrugging her shoulders as if she couldn’t understand why Cassie didn’t solve all her problems by stayingsingle for the rest of her life. In June’s eyes, the solution seemed pretty obvious.
“You’re right, kid. She should stay away from boys forever. All they do is cause problems.”
“I heard Mommy say you really like Auntie Cassie, but she won’t go on a date with you. How come you don’t meet her standards, Uncle J?”
Shit. I was about to be humbled by a four-year-old.
“I don’t know, kiddo. Maybe you could put in a good word for me to your Auntie Cassie.”
“I don’t think you stink, and you’re nice.”
“Be sure to tell Aunt Cassie that next time you see her. Okay, June Bug?” I asked, laughing.
“You got it.”
“Alright, kiddo. Bedtime,” Colt said as he walked back into the living room, turning off the TV.
She gave him the best ocean-blue puppy-dog eyes she could make, but he wasn’t buying it.
“Sorry June, your momma already has your bath drawn and pj’s picked out. No getting out of this one, kiddo,” Colt said as he motioned toward the hallway.
“Uncle J, will you take me to get cupcakes from Aunt Molly’s bakery again like you did last week?” June asked, her eyes lighting up in excitement as she looked in my direction.
“Of course, June Bug. I’ll take you next week after I get back from my trip down to Wyoming,” I said, then kissed the top of her head goodnight.
“Yay!” June cheered as she ran down the hallway, all seven Barbies in her arms.
Before June was born, kids terrified me.
They are loud, unpredictable, and sticky for absolutely no reason. I used to watch other people interact with kids andwonder what manual they’d all apparently been given that I somehow missed.
Then my brother handed me this tiny, wrinkly, impossibly fragile human and said, “Meet your niece.”
I swear something rewired in me right then.
June curled her fingers around mine—barely big enough to wrap around the tip—and suddenly the world didn’t feel so empty.
Being an uncle flipped a switch I didn’t know I had. It made me see the world more clearly.
Growing up, I was a rowdy kid. I would try anything once. For example, when I was a teenager, I almost burned down the barn trying to smoke cigarettes for the first time. I blamed it on old fireworks. At the time, I thought my dad had really bought my story. Now that I was older, I wondered if he actually did. Better not ask him and rat myself out all these years later. Let sleeping dogs lie if you will.
I was pretty much the same way with women. If a girl gave me sex eyes at the bar, I’d take her back to my place, have sex, then ghost her. Now that I was older, I knew that probably wasn’t the way I’d find someone to settle down with, but young, naïve Jace didn’t care.
Grabbing my flannel jacket, I made my way to the front door. Colt followed me close behind.
It was October in Silver Creek, which meant the days were starting to get cold and the nights even colder. Despite the cool weather, Montana had some of the most breathtaking foliage in the fall. Everything from the trees to the grass were shades of red, orange, and gold.
“Thanks for inviting me over for dinner,” I said, turning toward Colt as we stood next to my truck in his driveway.
