“So,you’regoing to askme?” I said. “Does that mean I can’t ask you?”
Ethan smiled. “No, it doesn’t mean that at all.”
A loud sigh came from Lucy’s vicinity. Ethan and I chuckled. The girl had definitely settled into her new role as our kid just fine. “What’s up, Lucy?” Ethan asked.
She finally put down her phone and swung her hair over her shoulder. She’d started to let her natural hair color return so it was an odd mix of mostly black and a brownish-reddish color at the roots. I’d heard her in deep conversations with Ethan’s sister about the pitfalls of coloring versus not coloring her hair to match her real color, but I’d wisely made myself scarce for that conversation.
“Can I go to the movies with some friends tonight?”
“It’s a school night,” Ethan reminded her. Although Lucy had started school only a week earlier, she’d managed to amass a slew of new friends.
“I’ll be home by ten,” she offered. She quickly glanced at me and said, “And no, there won’t be any boys there.”
I smiled at that because I’d already threatened to run a background check on any boy she brought home. She’d been outraged of course, but she’d hugged me five minutes later when I’d backed off my threat after she’d promised to let me show her some self-defense moves.
“What do you think?” Ethan asked me.
“I think her eye-gouging is good, but she needs to work on the neck jabs and she’s nowhere near ready to break someone’s nose.” Ethan shoved me hard and shook his head. Lucy was smiling wide.
“Fine, you can go. But nine, not ten. And if you’re late, he,” – Ethan pointed to me – “will be driving you and your friends to and from school for a month.”
“Ew, no,” Lucy said. “All my friends keep telling me how hot they think he is!”
“Your friends have good taste,” Ethan said with a smile. “Nine o’clock, Lucy, and not a minute later.”
“Fine,” she harrumphed and then she was getting up, her eyes back on her phone as she began texting as she walked towards the kitchen. I wasn’t surprised when she stopped behind the couch we were sitting on so she could wrap her arms around Ethan’s neck andgive him a kiss on the cheek. There was no hesitation on her part or tension on mine when she did the same to me. As soon as she was done, her eyes were once again glued to her phone as she left the room.
“Her friends think I’m hot,” I said to Ethan with a wink.
He laughed and kissed me. “Shut up,” he whispered. The kiss grew heated and I was about to roll him beneath me on the couch, his family be damned, when the front door opened and Ethan’s father and oldest brother strolled in.
“Son,” Ethan’s dad said knowingly as he took in his son’s flushed cheeks.
“Dad,” Ethan practically squeaked. The man ambled into the kitchen, but no such luck with Devon who plopped down in the chair Lucy had been sitting in and reached for the TV remote.
“You know what you need to do, right?” I said to Ethan as I settled my hand on his thigh.
“No, it’s your turn.”
I shook my head. “I did it last time.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“Yes, I did,” I said firmly.
“It’s your turn, little brother,” Devon said without looking away from the TV as he searched through the sports channels. “Cain did it last time.”
“How do you even know what we’re talking about?” Ethan asked.
“Because you have the same conversation every time you have the house to yourselves for a little while. And since I heard Lucy telling Mom earlier that she was going to ask you about going to the movies tonight…”
Devon’s eyes finally shifted to us. “Your turn to fake the headache so you guys can get out of here tonight, Ethan.”
“So, does everyone know when we’re faking it?” Ethan asked.
“Pretty much.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
