“Will you tell me where this damn lamp is?”
He smirks. “No.”
“Because you’re an ass or because you don’t know?”
“I mean…”
“Gawd,” I groan, starting to tromp off after the kids.
“Hey,” he hisses after me. “Remmi knows.”
I turn over my shoulder to glare at him.
He laughs again. “I wouldn’t prank you and screw us both.”
I suppose there’s some solace to be found here.
JOVI
I wait until she’s completely out of sight and I can hear her upstairs talking to the kids before I head into the kitchen and make a beeline for the oatmeal box. Of course, now that I’m in the pantry, I’m looking at everything in here with fresh eyes.
Takes maybe thirty seconds before I spot the bag of flour looking lost and out of place among the cans of soup. The only baking Lena ever did involved a roll of cookie dough she found in the cooler section of the grocery store.
Curious, I pull the bag from its perch on the top shelf. “Jackpot,” I mutter when I peek inside and find a collection of snack-sized candies ranging from skittles to gummy bears to sour patch kids. “Thanks, bud.” I send a nod upwards. No doubt, this was Trent’s secret sugar stash.
I take one more look around. It’s a weird sort of game now, like trying to find Waldo in Lena’s kitchen.
I’m about to reach for a very suspicious-looking box of Pringles whose colors look so faded any chips inside would have to be dust, when Remmi pops in on me. “Did you find them yet?”
Startled by the sudden sound of her voice, I nearly stumble out of the pantry. “Why are you sneaking up on me? We’re supposed to be working together, not against each other,” I whisper sternly.
She rolls her eyes. She’s way too damn good at that. She also looks way too much like her damn aunt when she does it. “Did you find them or not?” Her little hands move to her hips. I’m being scolded by a first grader. “I haven’t given Aunt Liz any hints and she’s already almost found the lamp three times.” She stabs a finger out at me. “You said you knew where the cookies are.”
“I did—I do,” I stammer. Jesus Christ, what is happening to me? “They’re right here.” I grab the box I set down in the door rack of the pantry while I went on perusing for possible hidden treasure.
“Good.” She takes the box and looks inside, like she doesn’t trust me. Then she nods, satisfied with her findings. “Gavin! Secret meeting under Miss Cozy.” Beaming at me, she whispers, “Mission accomplished.”
And just like that, I’m Super Uncle Jovi again.
More than that, Remmi is a little more Remmi from before the accident. Even if it only lasts for a moment.
Both kids sit at the center of her bed, huddled under Miss Cozy like it's a makeshift tent keeping their shenanigans secret. Cookies are gobbled up in a quiet comfort interrupted only by Gavin’s repeated slurping of rice milk, which he conceded wasn’t half bad once he had a cookie to dunk in it.
“I found the galaxy lamp,” Liz says, standing in the open doorway smiling and entirely unaware of the melted chocolate sitting at the crease of her mouth. I could tell her.
But I don’t. Though I'm guessing I know what's hiding in that Pringles container now.
“You did?” Remmi’s head pops out from under the blanket, surprise only a little too forced. Gavin appears a second later from the opposite end.
“Uh-huh.” Liz cocks a brow at her and smirks, an expression made more amusing with the smear of chocolate decorating her mouth. “Shockingly, it was in the same closet you insisted it couldn’t be in. Three times.”
Remmi grins sheepishly. “Guess I forgot.”
“Guess so.” Liz crosses her arms, pretending to give her niece a stern look. "Whatcha got there? Hm?"
Busted, Remmi giggles, spitting crumbs when she does. Which makes Gavin laugh too. He damn near spits an entire cookie.
After that, Liz and I huddle under the blanket with them, helping them finish off what's left of the Ginger snaps.
