Page 12 of Silver Lining Love

“I got this.” I rose and took the plates from her hands. “You can go get them ready for bed.”

“Are you sure?” she asked.

“Yep.” I confirmed.

“Thanks.” She clapped her hands as she lifted Benji from his highchair. “You ready to get clean, little man?”

I did my best not to check out her ass as she left the room, but my eyes always seemed to follow her. I had to actively not allow myself to look her direction.

“I’m gonna gofixmy project in my room,” Michael emphasized the word fix as he gave his sister a death glare. He stood and shouted a parting, “So stay out!”, before leaving the dining area.

Alice flinched at her brother’s harsh tone, and her shoulders slumped.

When I heard Michael’s door shut, I held my hand out to Alice. “Looks like it’s me and you on dishes duty, kid.”

Alice set her crayons down and sprung up like a Jack-in-the-Box as I took my and Michael’s plates to the sink.

“I’ll wash, you load, deal?” I opened the dishwasher, and she hopped up on the step stool beside it.

“Deal!” She gave me a thumbs up.

We worked together in silence, which was strange for Alice. Usually, she was a chatterbox.

As I handed her the last fork, she asked, “Are you married?”

“No.”

Her head tilted to the side. “Why not?”

I wondered if my mother had somehow put Alice up to this. All of my brothers and my sister were settled down. And a handful of them were starting families of their own. Logic would dictate that my mother having eight of her nine children loved up and or married would be sufficient, but Dolly Briggs defied logic.

That woman would not rest until all nine of her sons and daughter were paired off with an approved candidate.

“Are you married?” I turned the question back on Alice.

Her eyes widened. “No.”

“Why not?”

“I’m too little.” She giggled, but then her expression turned serious. “But when I grow up, I know who I’m going to marry.”

“Oh really?”

She nodded, and with an earnest expression on her tiny, round, moon face, she dreamily sighed, “Winnie the Pooh.”

“Really? Do you think he’ll share his honey with you?”

She scrunched her nose. “He’s not real, so no, I don’t think so.”

“Good point.”

“Alice!” Whitney shouted from the back of the house. “Bath time!”

“Looks like you’re up, kid.”

Alice nodded, her blonde curls bouncing up and down as she climbed down off of the stool. “You should marry Auntie Whitney. She never cries when you’re here,” she explained matter-of-factly as she shuffled out of the room.

A stab of guilt twisted in my gut. Tonight I’d had an epiphany. I was done rationing the time that I spent here. I’d been walking a tightrope of showing up for Whitney and the kids but still giving her enough space so that she knew she could do this on her own. I’d forced myself to stay home a few nights a week. But tonight, I realized that wasn’t working.

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