Page 11 of Mouth to Mouth

“Toys!” Luca shouted excitedly.

“Shh,” James turned to hiss at him. “Daddy sleepy.”

“I’m fine, boy,” Jacob said from under his blanket pile. Although he was blinking sleepily at them. “You have fun. Don’t worry about me.”

James harrumphed before going back to playing.

Whatever. Luca dropped to his knees to rummage through the bags. He knew when he spotted the aquarium set that was for him. He pulled the box from the plastic and shoved it toward Josh. “Open, please.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Josh stuffed Luca’s old clothes back into his bag before squatting next to him and taking the box.

“Hurry!” Luca shook Josh’s arm. “Play!”

“What is it?” James asked while crawling closer to them.

Luca glanced over his shoulder. “Sharks!”

James snorted. “A surfer shouldn’t like sharks as much as you do.”

“I love sharks,” Luca told him seriously. “And sea turtles. And dolphins. Fishes, the pretty ones, the colorful ones, even the ones not so pretty.”

“Okay,” James drawled.

“And whales and seals and⁠—”

“Stop!” James whined, falling into him. “You love all the sea creatures. You’re starting to sound like Scott.”

“Where Scott?” Luca asked. Hadn’t James said he invited his brother over? “He play?”

James shook his head. “He’s no fun. Says he is not little like us.”

“He could still play,” Luca pointed out. Playing was awesome!

“I know.” Pushing out his bottom lip, James pouted at him. “You tell him that.”

“I will!” Luca promised. He wasn’t as close to Scott as he was James, but Luca liked Scott. He was smart and funny. Scott hung around the coffee shop just as much as anyone else. He’d claim the table in the back and study for hours while James was on shift.

Luca really enjoyed Scott’s sharp wit and sarcasm. Those who didn’t know Scott well thought he was quiet and reserved. Luca had seen that while Scott was much different from his twin, James, he was a blast to hang out with.

“Okay,” Josh announced. “Here are your toys.” He passed over the open box.

“Yay!” Luca clapped.

“I play too!” James declared.

“I got something special for you too,” Josh replied. He dug through the bags until he came up with three smaller boxes.

“Dragons!” James squealed.

“Sparkly,” Luca pointed out. “Pretty.”

“Pretty dragons,” James agreed with a nod. “They extra powerful.”

“They need to look after my sea animals,” Luca determined. “Bad people are after them.”

“My army will help!” James shouted. He crawled back to his army men and started to drag them closer to where Luca was setting up his animals.

This was fun! Not just having new toys but having a friend to play with. And Josh might not be Luca’s Daddy but he was an amazing uncle and that was good enough. It was time that Luca was grateful for what he did have and stopped worrying about what was missing.