Page 2 of Say Uncle

He struggled to pull his face from my hold. “You’re not my fucking boss.” I cursed under my breath and he asked, “What was that?”

“Somebody needs to take you in hand and teach you some fucking manners.”

The woman in line behind me grabbed her meat and vegetables and vacated the aisle to stand in a different line.

“Let me guess, you’re just the guy, aren’t you?”

I shook my head with a chuff. “You have no idea what I could teach you.” Grabbing my plastic bags, I started to walk away.

“What, no candy bar this time?”

I always dropped a candy bar on the conveyor belt for his lunch break, but today all he’d earned was my contempt. “I’m all out of treats. Go beg somewhere else.”

When I knocked on Cass’s door, I still had that little fucking punk on my mind.

He answered the door shirtless, with his tanned abs on display. “Hey, come on in.” Sliding one arm around my shoulders, he leaned in to give me a hug, and pressed a kiss on my lips. “Damn, you’re tense.”

“I had to stop at the damn store.”

“What, were they out of jerky?” he teased, laughing at his own joke.

“No, but don’t bring up the jerky. It’s a sore spot.”

“Let me guess, you ran into your nephew.”

“I don’t want to talk about him. Where’s my boy?” I called loudly.

“In the shower,preparingfor your visit.” He emphasized the word preparing, which meant Nicky was shaving and douching, no doubt.

“Good, because I’ve got a surprise for him.”

“Well, no one loves surprises more than my boy.”

I followed him into the kitchen and dumped my bags on his counter. “I think I got everything you asked for. Can’t wait for that seafood pasta. You haven’t made it in a while.”

“Had to have seafood to celebrate Nicky’s first charter of the season. You can’t imagine how excited he is. It’s been uncle Sam, pink sand beaches, snorkeling, and seahorses nonstop around here.”

“Seahorses?” I hadn’t heard Nicky mention them before.

“His newest obsession. You’ll see his seahorse stuffie on the bed when we go in there. Donotchuck it on the floor,” he warned with wide eyes.

I laughed, imagining he must have already done it and suffered dire consequences.

Cass put the water on to boil for the pasta as he cleaned and deveined the shrimp. “Need a hand?” I asked, washing them in the sink. Before he could answer, I was attacked from behind by a squealing little imp.

“Uncle Sam, guess what?” I turned around, filling my arms with a half naked, damp little boy.

“Um, you missed me?” I guessed.

“Well, yeah,” he huffed, raking his wet hair from his eyes. “But also guess what else?”

“Uh, you’re officially on summer break?”

“Yes, but that’s not it!”

“Then what is it?” I mocked in his high-pitched, excited voice.

“In two days we’re going on our first trip of the season together! But Daddy won’t tell me where to,” he sulked.

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