“Then you prove it to him.”
“Yeah…”
“No, I can see you working through a whole big plan. This isn’t some new project. There’s no need to spend the next six hours planning. Just do it.”
“When did you get so wise?” A month of dating someone can’t possibly have turned him into such a guru on love.
“I don’t know. Maybe you should’ve been listening to me the whole time instead of running in silence.” Barrett slaps me on the shoulder. “Wait! You said you run with him. Do you let him talk while you run?”
I shake my head, laughing. “Yeah, I let him talk. Sometimes, I even talk back.”
“Sounds like he’s special. My two cents? Do whatever it takes to keep him.”
CHAPTER 24
OLIVER
“Got any threes?”
Amelia scrunches up her nose as she carefully looks at each of the cards in her hand. “Go fish.”
“Are you sure? Maybe you want to check again?” I know she’s got them. There are literally no other options. I’ve been counting the cards in the pile since we started, and since they aren’t in my hand, they must be hers.
And yes, I’m cheating at a card game with a six-year-old.
“Nope. Not here.” She shakes her head forcefully.
“Fine.” I draw a card from the stack. A six. Not useful.
“Give me your fives.”
“I don’t think that’s how you’re supposed to ask.”
“Give me your fives, puh-lease.”
That’s still not right, but I’m going to give it to her. I pull the requested cards from my hand and fork them over. I’ve already lost three games in a row, so one more feels like a good place to end the night.
“Thank you.” She lays the cards down on the table. “I win!” As soon as she jumps up and starts celebrating, Scamp runs over and barks along with her. There are suspiciously a couple of threes hanging out in the cards she put down.
Great. Everyone’s happy. Everyone but me.
The advantage of being the uncle and not the parent is that I don’t have to have a talk with her about cheating. That’s my sister’s problem.
“Okay, we’re back,” Jane calls from the door to the garage. “Amelia, come help me with the bag.”
I’m not sure whether I should be offended that she prefers the help of a child, but I’m thankful for a minute of almost quiet. Babysitting is hard work. It’s been a whole ninety minutes alone with one of the twins, and I need a glass of wine. Or three.
“Okay. Girls, why don’t you go ahead upstairs and start getting ready for bed? I’ll be up to tuck you in.”
“We want Uncle Ollie to read our story tonight,” Amelia whines.
“Yeah, Uncle Ollie,” her sister Emilie agrees.
“I’ll be up in twenty minutes.” I can’t say no to them. Hopefully, that changes before they become teenagers. Otherwise, we’re all in trouble.
While they argue over how many books I’m allowed to read tonight, I grab the bags of groceries that Jane brought in and start putting some of the items away. It’s something to do and makes me feel productive. I sort of just barged into her life for the week. I don’t think she minds, especially with the free babysitting, but still.
After I left Matthias’s place on Saturday, the first thing I did was call Jane and beg her to let me stay with her for a week. She said yes, but only after I told her the whole story. Most of it she already knew or at least guessed. The rest of it didn’t come as much of a surprise.
