Seth
Claire looked spooked.Like she was getting ready to bolt, but before I had a chance to make it to her side to find out what bullshit my idiot brother had been filling her head with, I heard Mum’s voice. Spinning around, I saw Mum and Dad covering Bryce’s entire sixty-five-inch television. While Mum looked nervous, Dad was shovelling corn chips into his mouth by the handful.
“Bryce!”
“Geez, Mum! You don’t have to yell. We can hear you,” Bryce replied, rubbing his ear.
“Yeah, and we can mute you too,” I added.
“Right. Now everyone’s here,” Bryce began looking sweaty and nervous as Emma moved towards him and slipped under his arm. “The reason we wanted to get everyone together tonight was to tell you all at once that…”
“You’re retiring?”
“Emma’s leaving your sorry arse?” Hunter taunted.
Unable to stop myself from getting in on the act. “Yeah, for a younger, better-looking version?”
Not to be outdone, Dad chimed in. “Or an older more distinguished model?”
“You’re all a bunch of arseholes,” Bryce reminded us. Like we needed reminding. “But no. We’re pregnant.”
Mum squealed. Dad rubbed his ear. Sienna jumped up and down on the spot. And I couldn’t stop grinning.
“That’s awesome, man,” I moved towards Bryce before wrapping him in a bro hug.
“Yeah well, before you all get too excited, we should probably tell you the rest,” Bryce’s words silenced the room.
“The rest?” The worry was thick in Mum’s voice.
Beside me, Claire sunk into the lounge chair and sipped her champagne. Part of me felt like an arse for bringing her, but on the other hand, I was really glad she was here.
“We’re actually having twins,” Emma filled in the gaps.
“Twins?” Sienna squawked, and Hunter just shook his head. I guess he was used to the two of them by now.
“Yeah. The IVF worked a little better than we were hoping and well, yeah. Twins.”
After the excitement died down and congratulations exchanged, I headed out and sat by the pool waiting for dinner. I was starving. Sure, I’d been stuffing myself on chips, dip, and cheeses since we’d arrived, but now Bryce had the barbeque going, all I could smell was meat and onions. Emma and Sienna had commandeered Claire, and God only knows what bullshit they were telling her, I didn’t even want to know.
“What’s wrong?” Bryce asked, dropping onto the step beside me.
“Nothing.”
“You excited about being an uncle?”
“Sure.”
“That wasn’t very convincing. Wanna try again?”
“What does an uncle even do?”
I had no idea. What was he expecting from me? What did he think I was going to do? He was the one having a kid. Or kids. I’d buy them noisy toys, feed them junk food then give them back to their parents. Until they could run around and kick a ball, I had nothing. God, I hoped he had boys. I might not have a clue what to do with a kid, but I had even less idea if it was a girl.
“An uncle loves them. He protects them. He watches out for them when I’m not there.” Bryce shrugged casually. He seemed so calm about it. It was freaking me out.
“Yeah, I can do that,” I confirmed. If that was all he wanted, I could do that. I’d be the best damn uncle those kids could ever wish for.
“I know you can,” Bryce confirmed, slapping me on the back.
