“Gary,” she gasps, giggling. “Weknowyou’re a dickhead. But who do you love?”
“Tippi,” he says instantly.
“Good boy,” she purrs, feeding him another seed, and the way she says it prickles my skin. What if she said those two words tome…
Like I said, I’m ridiculous.
She points at the kitchen table, loaded with Rhiannon’s birthday presents from friends and family in a riot of brightly coloured wrapping. “Which one’s yours?”
“I beg your pardon?” It’s like there’s a three second delay betweenher lips and my brain, while it diverts resources from marvelling at her beauty to understanding what she’s saying. “Oh. The gifts? Uh, none of them.” I reach into my pocket where an explanatory print-out sits in a plain white envelope. “I opened a premium bonds account for her and put some money in it.”
Tippi looks surprised. “Wow, that’s a really nice gift.” She’s biting her lip, though, and my understanding is that this usually indicates misgivings when other people have done it before.
“But…?” I prompt.
She gives me a sheepish look. “No, honestly, it’s lovely,” she assures me, “but…she’s five, so don’t be surprised if she doesn’t fully understand the gift, or appreciate it right away.”
“Oh. God, I-I didn’t think…” I’m such an idiot. Of course this wouldn’t be an exciting gift to a five year old. I should have asked Sadie what Rhiannon wanted, but she’d only just birthed two whole humans; I didn’t think it was right to bother her with questions. And, now that it’s too late, the alternative is suddenly obvious:my brother.I should have asked Tim. He’s a father, and, even though his daughter is a teenager now, he’d remember what sort of gifts to get little girls.
“Don’t sweat it.” Taking a pen from her back pocket, she picks up a label from what I presume is her gift to our niece and scribbles something on it. “There you are.” She holds the label up for me to read.
To darling RhiRhi,
Happy fifth birthday, and have the bestest of days!
With all the love in the world,
Aunt Tippi +Uncle Jacob
xx xx
She even added a couple of extra kisses under my name. “We’llsay that we clubbed together. Problem solved.”
“I… Wow, that’s ever so decent of you, thank you.”
“No problem.” Tippi leans forward like she’s imparting a secret. “It’s a hair decoration set. Hair chalks, different rainbow threads, more clips than you could use in a lifetime, the works. She’llascend.”
“That sounds perfect. Um. Let me know how much I owe you for my half.”
She flaps her hand. “Nah, forget it.”
“No, I insist.” Oh, hell… Do I sound pushy?
Apparently not, because she looks at me with twinkling eyes. “Alright. Let’s just say you owe me a beer, Longshanks.”
I nod too fast. Beer.
I can do beer.
Chapter 2
Tippi
“You know how most coffee places leave those sad bald patches of foam when they shake the chocolate on?” I ask the barista.
She’s very much my type, with a delicate septum ring, an inky black pixie cut, and razor-sharp eyeliner; however, there’s an engagement ring on her finger, so I behave myself.
“Yeah?” she says.
