Page 77 of Temporarily in Love

“Say thank you to Mrs. MacGregor, girls,” Lila urged them.

They said their thanks, and we waved to Avery. She waved Norah’s little hand for her as we walked to the next house.

“Norah’s so cute,” Lila said.

I smiled. “Yeah, she is.”

“I like Avery.”

“Yeah? Me too. She brings the best out in Nol.”

Lila squinted at me. “Can I admit something terrible?”

“What’s that?”

“Kath sucked, and she and Nol were never right for each other.”

Her honesty stunned me, but she was one hundred percent correct. My brother’s first wife was the worst. They got married right out of high school, and I think they only did so because Nol needed help raising me. I’d always feel guilty about the burden on my brother after our parents died. Nol didn’t resent me for it, but it wasn’t easy for him at eighteen being my guardian.

“You’re not wrong.”

Lila grinned at me, but then her nieces tugged her along, and I had to jog to keep up with them. Those two tiny girls were certainly making us work for it.

We went to a couple more houses until Callie got cranky and Cora had filled up her bucket until it was brimming with candy. In our day, we took pillow cases out and hit up the whole town. But Lila’s nieces might be a bit too young for that.

I picked up Callie, and she fell asleep on my shoulder while Lila held Cora’s hand as we walked back to her parents’ house.

Once inside, Lila took Callie from me and brought her up to one of the guest rooms, where the girls slept. Downstairs in the living room, I inspected the candy for the girls like our parents always did for us.

“Declan? Why can’t I call you uncle?” Cora asked.

I blew out a breath. Oh boy, there was a lot to unpack there. I would have loved for her to call me her uncle, but I got why that would be confusing.

“Because, sweetheart, your aunt and I aren’t married.”

“But why?”

“Your Aunt Lila and I just came back into each other’s lives. We’re not together like your mommy and daddy.”

“Why?”

I sighed. ‘Why’ seemed to be her favorite question. I didn’t know how to answer this tiny interrogator. Why wasn’t I married to her aunt? Because she broke up with me a long time ago and avoided me whenever she came back into town. Because I never got the chance to ask.

“Cora,” Lila said in a warning tone. “Stop harassing Declan. He was so nice to come trick or treating with us. Say thank you.”

“Thank you,” she said. “Uncle Declan!”

I smirked at her. This kid sure was going to be a handful.

Lila rolled her eyes and shrugged.

“Okay, kiddo, you can have two pieces of candy tonight,” Lila told her.

I nodded to the candy spread out before us. “I inspected both buckets. We’re all good.”

“Thanks,” she said with a sigh. “Did you eat? I was so busy today, I forgot to eat dinner.”

“I could eat,” I said.