“Sorry!” she squeaked.
“You’re about to have no ball in the house at all,” I growled.
“I didn’t mean to, I swear.”
“Yeah, Dad,” Eddy teased. “She didn’t mean to.”
I leveled her with a look that could peel paint.
She batted those beautiful eyes.
“Not helping,” I pointed out.
She winked at me.
“You ready to go, darlin’?” Romeo asked Mable.
“I am!” She stood up with a quickness that had me laughing. “I’m dying for that crockpot meal we put on earlier.” She turned to me. “We put on an elk roast. Mississippi style.”
“Yum,” Boston said. “Grandma and Grandpa used to do that with venison. Do you like elk better than deer?”
“It’s a bit gamier,” Mable conceded. “But the flavor just pops so perfectly.”
Romeo hooked his arm around Mable’s neck and turned to me. “You need me anytime, I’m here.”
I offered him my hand, and he shook it.
Walking them to the door while Mable and Eddy continued to chat, I couldn’t stop myself from laughing when they never slowed down.
“All right,” Romeo said as he picked up his wife bridal-style. “Let’s go, babe.”
“Bye!” Mable called out over Romeo’s shoulder.
Boston waved.
Eddy called out after her friend.
When the door shut behind them, it was Boston who said, “Start cooking, all right, Dad? I’m dying over here.”
“You’re not dying.” Eddy snickered. “You totally ate your body weight in snacks before he got here.”
“Semantics.”
“You don’t even know what semantics means,” Eddy teased.
She and Boston had a really good laugh at that, and it made my heart incredibly happy to see the two of them laughing together.
I liked that they liked each other.
“Speaking of things you don’t know…” I said as I gestured toward the kitchen table. “You changed your name?”
“Yep.” Bossy grinned and held out her hand to me. “Berkley Winn Grant, nice to formally meet ya.”
I grinned back. “Berkley?”
“I don’t know, I just kind of like it.”
“How’d you know that was what I originally wanted to name you?” I asked as I took her hand, but not to shake, to enclose in my own and pull her toward me.
