“That means you’ve got the one hopped up on sugar.”
Nat only shrugged. “Perfect, then we match. I’ve eaten nothing but chips and peanut M&M’s for three days.”
With that, she tossed June over her shoulder before spinning the little girl around in helicopters. After a few moments, she dropped a giggling June onto the couch and stared down at her, fists propped on her hips. “I have a deal for you. What do you think of that?”
His niece, ever the skeptic, narrowed her eyes. “What kind of deal?”
“Whoever picks up the most before your brother stops cryin’ gets a cupcake from The Sweet Spot. Agree?”
Asher was pretty sure the last thing his niece needed today—or this week, for that matter—was more sugar. But there was no denying that Nat’s tactics worked because June agreed immediately, flying off the couch and dashing around the disastrous living room to get started. The house was strewn with enough toys to fill an entire store, not to mention the dirty dishes he hadn’t been able to get to or the handful of discarded outfits June insisted on tearing through each day. Then there were all the pee-stained shirts of his, as well as Owen’s—the kid hadn’t woken up dry once since Asher had arrived.
Nat may not have been the maternal type, but shewasthe see-something, do-something type, which was why her immediacy didn’t surprise him. No matter how long they spent apart, it was never weird when they saw each other again. Whether it was after five weeks or five months, they fell right back into the same easy rhythm they had always had between them.
She wore jeans and an oversized hoodie—her standard airplane uniform—and he knew from experience she was dying for a shower. While she loved traveling and seeing the world, she didn’t love airplanes or being stuffed like sardines with a bunch of random people she didn’t know, breathing in recycled air.
“Quit starin’ at me, creep,” Nat said as she bent to pick up a discarded sippy cup, not even bothering to look over her shoulder.
He huffed out a laugh at the exact moment a particularly sharp wail sounded from Owen. Asher adjusted Owen into a different position, lifting him upright and propping the baby’s butt on Asher’s forearm. Owen stared at him, as if Asher were the one responsible for all of this, his bottom lip quivering as he rubbed an angry fist into his eyes.
“I know, buddy.” Asher rubbed Owen’s back as he walked them toward the little boy’s room and away from the peals of laughter from June and Nat. “Now that Nat’s here to take care of your sister, maybe I can finally get you to sleep.”
* * *
Somehow,beyond all hope, Owen actuallydidfall asleep—on top of Asher while he rocked him in the chair in his room, which meant Asher fell asleep, too. He woke up to Owen’s hands slapping happily on his cheeks and his nephew’s face pressed so close he was blurry.
Owen babbled around a drool-filled smile, his mood a complete one-eighty from when they’d stepped foot into his bedroom who knew how long ago.
Asher pulled out his phone and glanced at the time. Shit, he’d been in here for two hours while Nat had been on Sugar Satan duty. What a welcome.Hey, thanks for coming, but I’m gonna crash. So, do you mind handling, well, everything?
“Up we go,” Asher said. “We should probably get you—” Before he could complete the sentence, a wet sensation registered across his torso, and he held Owen out at arm’s length. The kid was soaking wet, which meant so was Asher.
He exhaled a sigh. “I don’t understand how one tiny thing can produce so much pee.”
Owen’s happy babbles continued, even as Asher got him wiped down and changed into a fresh diaper and clothes. He hadn’t yet figured out how to manage taking a shower while both kids were awake, so that meant he’d handled previous pee explosions by simply changing shirts and continuing to smell like urine until he could shower after bedtime. Now that Nat was here, hopefully she could watch them for five minutes so he could get cleaned up.
He strode into the living room with Owen, careful to hold him so he didn’t rest on the wet patch of Asher’s shirt. Nat and June sat on the floor, an explosion of coloring books and crayons spread out in front of them.
“Uncle Asher, we’re doin’ a contest! You get to pick the winner.”
“Sounds like fun. But before I do that, I was hopin’ I could jump in the shower.” He set Owen down, and the baby crawled for his large bin of toys in the corner.
Nat glanced back at him, eyebrow raised at the wet spot on his shirt. “Problems?”
“Kid pees like a racehorse.” He held his arms open toward her. “You want a hug?”
Nat scrunched her nose. “Maybe after you shower. I love you, but not quite get-myself-wet-with-someone-else’s-urine love. I can probably handle them both for five minutes. Any longer than that, and you’re temptin’ fate.”
“You’re a godsend. I’ll hurry.” He strolled toward the spare bedroom—he hadn’t been able to bring himself to even open his sister and brother-in-law’s door, let alone step inside—and reached back to yank the neck of his shirt, pulling the damp fabric over his head. He tossed it in the overflowing basket of dirty laundry he needed to wash and headed straight for the bathroom.
After the fastest shower of his life, he strode back into the living room wearing fresh clothes to find his niece and nephew set up in front of the TV. June sat at the coffee table while Owen was perched in his high chair, snacks spread out for them as theBackyardigansplayed on the screen.
“You’re magic,” he said as he dropped into a chair at the dining room table, assuring he still had eyes on the kids.
“Rory’smagic—I called her to get some tips. And then I slipped them a little bourbon to calm them down. No big.” Nat shrugged, her lips tipped up at the corners.
But then the smile dropped from her face, and she walked straight for him, pulling him up and out of his seat to wrap her arms around his waist. It was so reminiscent of when he’d rushed back about six months ago while her daddy was in open heart surgery—both times, they hadn’t had the privacy the moments demanded, but they made do.
He engulfed her in his arms, dropping his head so he could bury his nose into the crook of her neck. He inhaled deeply, taking her scent into him and relaxing for the first time in days. She smelled like stale air from the plane and sunscreen and just a hint of clove. Home. She smelled like home.
