I put my socks into my shoes and moved them further away so sand wouldn’t get into them. Then I turned around and pushed my feet into the soft sand.
“Oh, it does feel awesome!” I wiggled my toes until they were buried, then giggled when it tickled like crazy.
“You can put her there with Mr. Rabbit,” Jamie pointed at the corner where a sort of throne had been formed from sand and a couple of bigger slabs of stone. “Daddy made it for Mr. Rabbit so he wouldn’t get all sandy when I play.” He beamed at me.
“You have a really nice Daddy,” I commented as I grabbed her and then knee-walked to put her next to a rabbit that had a yellow—“Is that a rain coat?”
Jamie giggled. “Yup, he has a hat too but it squishes his ears so we don’t wear it unless it’s really raining.”
“Awesome.” I wondered if Tonya needed clothes too, even though she was a tiger.
“Can you help me make this racetrack for my marbles? I want it to go around, and we have these things, and I want to make bridges maybe?” He started to show me all the things he wanted to use, and somehow I got completely sucked into the plan.
“Boys? Time to come inside and wash up.”
I frowned as I collected the marbles at the end of the track and went to put them into the cup we used for sending them off.
“Not yet, Uncle Luke!” Jamie whined.
I nodded vigorously. “What he said!”
I saw Luke move from the corner of my eye and stuck out my tongue preemptively.
“Boys,” he said in a low, serious tone. “You’ve been playing for two hours, and we postponed dinner as much as we could, but I think Jamie’s Daddy doesn’t deserve to have the meal he cooked for us ruined because you two refused to come inside.”
Okay, so maybe he had a point. I lifted my gaze to meet Jamie’s. He seemed as conflicted as I felt.
“Bear, are you really going to be rude to your Uncle Mal?”
I sighed and let my shoulders drop, then put the cup next to the other important track-related things. “I’m sorry, D—Sir,” I murmured, then got to my feet and brushed myself off a little. “I think we should go,” I told Jamie who nodded.
Sir sweetened the deal. “He’s made mac and cheese, and there’s dessert if you start moving.”
“Ooh,” Jamie gasped, then quickly moved to get Mr. Rabbit and handed Tonya to me. “We better go quick, Bear. Daddy makes thebestmac and cheese!”
His enthusiasm caught up with me, and together we made sure we got our shoes—and my socks—and went to clean up in the utility room by the back door.
The mac and cheese wasso goodand the ice cream cake for dessert made me so happy I hadn’t called myself anything bad, because whoa boy would it have sucked to not have been able to eat any.
When we got done with dinner, both Jamie and I started to feel tired and the Domly ones recognized that, of course. Sir called us another Uber, and we all waited in the living room.
I looked around again. There was a large chest of toys in the corner and a neatly organized shelf with other tubs that said things like “Legos” and “train tracks” in them. Jamie really had the best Daddy.
Once the car got there, I grabbed Tonya, and Jamie got off the couch to give Sir a big hug first.
“Thank you for bringing Bear to play with me, Uncle Luke.”
Sir kissed his hair and squeezed him tight. “Anytime, kiddo. See you next time?”
“Uh-huh.” Jamie pulled away from him and yawned, then came to hug me. “Thank you, Bear. We had so much fun. It’s so nice to have another little around here.”
I hugged him back, my eyes wide at what he’d said. My gaze locked with Sir’s, and something in his eyes told me to not object to what Jamie had called me.
“I’ll see you next time,” I repeated Sir’s words and hugged him back instead.
In the car, Sir sat by the door and me in the middle. I leaned heavily to his side. My energy was waning, and I was happy that the drive wasn’t that long.
Even so, by the time the car stopped and Sir got out, I had trouble with coordination. I dragged Tonya with me to the edge of the seat and took Sir’s hand so he could help me out. He tugged too hard, making me collide with his chest, which made me giggle like crazy.
