I narrow my eyes at her in suspicion. “I sure hope it’s a coincidence that you just named a whiskey-based cocktail.”
“Of course it is.” Her averted gaze and rosy cheeks make her seem about as convincing as her six-year-old self when she tried to convince me she hadn’t crept downstairs at the crack of dawn and broken into her Christmas presents early. The blue electrical tape she’d used to clumsily re-wrap the gifts, and the t-shirt she was wearing that had been a present from “Santa” told the full story.
“Mmmhmm…”
Ava gives a dismissive wave and plows ahead. “I just meant it doesn’t matter if I’m underage. The place has food doesn’t it? Jamie said the burgers are amazing.”
I groan and rub a hand over my face, already knowing it’s unlikely I’ll be able to talk her out of this. “We’ll see how thenext few days shake out, okay?” I hedge. “I didn’t take the whole weekend off just so I could go to work.”
“No, you took it off so you could spend time with me and Joel,” she reminds me. “And I’m pretty sure he wants to check out the bar as well.”
I roll my eyes. “Let me guess—he was in on this little chat you had with Jamie too?”
Ava nods, grinning. “Yep.”
I give a rueful shake of my head. The twins only discovered they had a cousin last year, but it took no time whatsoever for them to warm up to Jamie. I think partly because of how close they’ve always been with Blake, and partly because Jamie’s just the kind of guy you can’t help getting along with. And I think the fact that Jamie treats them like “mates,” as he would say, rather than kids probably helps a lot.
The train pulls in at our station and I let Ava move ahead of me before following with her suitcase.
“Come on, let’s get to Blake’s.”
When we get to the house, I see there have been a flutter of arrivals in my absence. I passed Shay and Jamie on my way out the door earlier, but now Joel is here and so is my mother.
As Ava and I enter the living room, I’m not entirely surprise to find Sunny dominating the conversation, pressing one of her points of passion: the absurdity of the Thanksgiving holiday.
It’s a spiel Blake and I have been subjected to many times over the years, and I can’t help giving a wry shake of my head as I see Jamie nodding a little too enthusiastically in response to Sunny’s comment about how the money “wasted” on the parade each year could be better spent preserving what little Native land and culture still exists in the country.
“Oh look, Damon and Ava are here,” Blake interrupts loudly.
My mother immediately breaks off from her conversation and turns toward us, a huge smile plastered across her face. “Damey Duck!”
I wince at the old nickname, noticing Owen and Jamie both sniggering in the background as Sunny rushes forward and wraps her arms around me, far more enthusiastically than I’d anticipated.
“Hey, Sunny,” I say a little awkwardly, patting her back.
She lets go and steps back a little, gazing fondly up at me. “You lookwonderful, darling,” she gushes. “The single life suits you, I see. I hope you’re taking the opportunity to get out and explore all the joys casual sex has to offer. You never really gave yourself the opportunity to sow any oats before you settled down,” she says with a look that borders on derisive, before lighting up again. “But now you have all the time in the world. I bet the women are just falling all over themselves, my handsome boy.”
She reaches up to give my cheek a fond stroke, making me even more exasperated. Two seconds in her presence and I’m reminded why I haven’t sought her out before now. I find Blake’s gaze on the other side of the room. “You wonder why I was putting this off? Well, this is why,” I grumble with a gesture to our mother.
Blake offers a wry smile. “I wasn’t wondering. I just suggested you should rip off the band-aid.”
I let out a heavy sigh, shaking my head in frustration. It’s going to be a long fucking day if we’re only five minutes in and Sunny’s already getting under my skin.
“Um, can we maybe not talk about Dad and all his oat-sewing?” Ava asks, her face screwed up in distaste.
Sunny sighs, casting my daughter a wry smile. “Ava, my darling, it’s nothing to feel awkward about. Your father’s singlenow. You should be happy for him to live a healthy, fulfilling life.”
“I’m with Ava,” I mutter. “Let’s just not.” It would be disconcerting at the best of times but given the current state of my sex life I’d prefer to avoid this topic like the plague.
Sunny shrugs and sighs. “If that’s what you want, darling.” Moving closer to Ava, she reaches for the long strands of bright blonde hair currently falling around my daughter’s shoulders. “My goodness, this hair is just beautiful. You know, I used to have hair like this at your age, although I imagine you’re using something a bit more sophisticated than lemon juice.” She lets out a tinkling laugh and carefully sets Ava’s hair back in place. “I can’t believe how much you and Joel have grown.”
“That tends to happen to children when you don’t see them for ten years.” The words fly out of my mouth before I can help it. I see Blake shoot me a concerned glance, but fortunately no one else seems to have noticed the barb,
“Oh yeah, that trip to Disneyland,” Ava says, her face lighting up. “I remember Joel and I really wanted toys from the gift shop but you said it was just overpriced junk that we’d grow out of, so you bought us cameras instead so we could take pictures of the holiday. I still have mine, I love it!”
Sunny beams. “Oh, I’m so glad.”
I shake my head ruefully. Those fucking cameras. Admittedly, the kids did get way more use out of them than any theme park junk, but for a solid six months after we got home it felt like our whole house was wired for CCTV and the twins were the ones in charge of monitoring everything. Privacy does not exist when you live with two eight-year-olds who are both obsessed with their new digital cameras.
