“Yeah.”
“Well, if Uncle Everett thinks it’s okay, then I don’t see the harm in it.”
“Yay!” Bo’s footsteps rapidly receded, giving Caleb the semblance of peace he needed to finish up his business and brace himself for the chaotic world waiting for him outside the bathroom door. Bo and Penelope were adorable, but they didn’t have an off switch. Nonstop excitement and endless bounce-off-the-walls energy was fun for the first few hours, but after a while, it became exhausting. With a third kid in the mix, Caleb wasn’t sure what to expect. On one hand, Bo’s friend might keep him engaged and wear both of them out without any effort—on the other, with their powers combined, they might overthrow Caleb and Everett both.
Caleb thought the latter option more likely.
While Caleb lathered and rinsed his hands, the muffled sounds of conversation breached the bathroom walls. The upbeat cadence of Everett’s voice suggested that he was talking with Bo, but Caleb couldn’t confirm it. The voice he heard replying was too faint to get a read on—a far cry from the loud way Bo had demanded a response through the bathroom door. Bo’s friend, maybe? If the kid was quiet and well-behaved, maybe the rest of the afternoon would go by uneventfully.
A guy could dream.
Caleb bumped the tap with his wrist to turn it off, dried his hands on the towel hanging from the back of the door, then undid the lock keeping him from the living room. For the next few hours, he’d be fun and cool Uncle Caleb, famous for once having allowed pizza for breakfast, and keeper of all of the neatest things, like the big-screen television with access to a Netflix account without age-restricted viewing. Then, like magic, Aaron would stop by and pick up the kids, and Caleb would go back to his regular, inappropriate self. When he broke it down like that, being worn ragged by a group of kids under six didn’t seem like such a bad deal. It wasn’t like he was going to be keeping any, after all.
Besides—if he played his cards right, he could get a one-up on Everett and reclaim the title of World’s Greatest Uncle. Everett, the cheating bastard that he was, had wrested the distinction away from him at Christmas with tickets toPeppa Pig on Ice,but that had been months ago, and Caleb was ready for his comeback.
He opened the door, expecting to find Everett hanging out in the living room with Bo, Penelope, and Bo’s friend.
He found Jayne instead.
15
Caleb
Caleb stopped. He stared, then blinked hard to make sure what he was seeing wasn’t a hallucination. Jayne, wearing the clothes Everett had laundered last night, lay across the couch, an arm hooked over his eyes. The top button of his shirt had come undone, revealing a glittering V of skin that would have tempted Caleb had Jayne not looked like he’d recently been informed that everything he loved in the universe had been wiped from existence, and also that Spicy Nacho Doritos had been outlawed.
Bo and Penelope sat in front of the couch, solemn and serious, like guard dogs ready to snap at anyone who dared interrupt their master’s sorrow. Bo lifted his head and looked at Caleb with the saddest, roundest eyes Caleb had ever seen. For the most part, barring his nephew and niece, Caleb didn’t like children, but seeing Bo with eyes as big as dinner plates and as shimmery as freshly fallen snow gutted him.
“Uncle Caleb,” Bo said softly. “This is the daddy of my friend Parker. His name is Jayne, and he’s my friend, too.”
Caleb’s throat constricted. “Oh.”
“You need to be nice to him, okay?” Bo continued. “He’s… he’s sad, and so Penny and I are gonna share some of our happiness with him until he gets better.”
Caleb’s gaze flicked from Bo to Everett, who was setting up a play gym next to the entertainment system similar to the one Penelope had used when she was younger. As few times as Caleb had seen her play gym, he knew it wasn’t the same one—he distinctly remembered flowers and a fairytale castle built into Penelope’s. This one was built to resemble a car.
Everett caught Caleb’s eye and nodded down the hall toward the kitchen.
“I’ll be nice.” Caleb glanced at Jayne again, then looked away quickly. Seeing him so miserable made Caleb uncomfortable in ways he didn’t care to explore. “In fact, I’m going to be extra nice and go get everyone something to drink. You stay here with Jayne, okay? Help him feel better. Everett, you wanna come get some snacks ready?”
“We just ate breakfast, Uncle Caleb,” Bo said helpfully. “We don’t need snacks.”
“I’m thinking ice cream.” Everett rose and brushed his hands on his thighs. There was a strange kind of finality about the gesture that Caleb found troublesome. Whatever had gone on today hadn’t only affected Jayne—it had hit Everett hard, too.
“I love ice cream,” Bo whispered.
“Keem,” Penelope chirped.
“Sounds like we’ve got our work cut out for us.” Caleb crossed the room, gesturing for Everett to follow. “Let’s go.”
All signs pointed toward the fact that something more was going on here than Caleb knew, and he’d be damned if he didn’t figure out what it was.
* * *
The luxury kitchenin casa di Caleb was Caleb’s favorite room in the condo. Its center island was sprawling and well lit from above, and the storage space it offered below had been a godsend. Caleb’s many pots and pans fit below without being overcrowded, freeing up the other cabinets in the room for spices, dry goods, dishes, and glasses. A Calacatta marble countertop crowned its surface, matched by the counters that ran the length of the room. A simple but elegant subway tile backsplash lined the wall behind the sink, and while the view from the kitchen windows wasn’t anything to write home about, the light they let in made the room sparkle.
“Okay,” Caleb said as he entered the kitchen. What remained of the dishes from earlier that morning were piled in the sink—Caleb leaned against the counter in front of them. “What’s going on?”
Everett hopped up onto the kitchen island, planting his ass on the marble. Caleb’s eye twitched. Marble was finicky as fuck. “Jayne’s apartment building caught fire.”
