“Wow. Mother oftheYear.”
Suddenly the door down the hall opened and Sydney yelled out, “I don’t care about your stupid surpriseanyway!”
We exchanged resigned expressions. She was going to need to be dealt with. The only question was who got thehonors.
Luke sighed, getting his hands ready to duel. “Rock, paper,scissors?”
“No. I’ll do it. I need to get my feet wet before I have her with me full time for amonth.”
“That’s exactly what I was hopingyou’dsay.”
“Sydney, it’sCasey.”
I pushed the door open to find my niece under her blanket. I reached for it, but she yanked back and we played tug-of-war for a few seconds before I got the upper hand and pulled the soft fleeceoffher.
“I don’t want to fight with you, Syd. I just got here, and I want us to have fun together, like old times. All you have to do is come back out and pick up the mess, and then we can have fun and you can hear mysurprise.”
“I’m not coming out while Luke’sthere.”
“Why?”
“Because he was making funofme.”
I wanted to argue that it was just Luke and that he was only kidding, but looking at it through her eyes, I guessed I could see herpoint.
“If I get Luke to say he’s sorry, will you apologize to me and clean upthemess?”
Sydney considered my compromise for an extended period of time before finally nodding. It was a small victory, but not without significance. Now I knew she was a pliable opponent, if not apleasantone.
Luke dutifully apologized, and after the paper and pens were picked up, both kids sat on the sofa, rapt with attention. Riley’s cheeks were burning bright with excitement, and even Sydney, used to playing hard to get, seemed sufficientlycurious.
“How would you two like to go on anadventure?”
“An adventure?” Sydney asked, with interest. “Like a junglesafari?”
“I want to go on a monster truck safari,” Rileyadded.
“No,” I said, deflating a bit. Their idea of adventure differed a bit from mine, for sure. Cramped in a tour bus, driving for hours on end… maybe it wasn’t as exciting as I’d hoped it would be forthekids.
“No. None of those ideas, though they do sound fun. My adventure is a little different. How would you like to goontour?”
Syd’s face lit up. “Really?WithJake?”
“Well, yes, andmetoo.”
“But Jake will be there the whole time,right?”
“Yes. Thewholetime.”
“Yay!” Sydney jumped from her seat and cheered. “Did you hear that, Riley? Jake’s going to bethere!”
“And me too,” I reiterated, but no one was listening to me. By now, Riley was on his feet too, jumping upanddown.
“We’re going on tour, baby!” she sang out, and Riley repeated her word for word. I doubted he even knew what ‘going on tour’ meant, but it didn’t matter. Sydney’s happiness was all it took to spreadthejoy.
“I’m going to go pack now,” Sydney said, racing down the hall. “Come on,Riley.”
He happily followed after her like the obedient little brotherhewas.
