Page 67 of Say Uncle

Mattie sat up, scratching his head and rubbing his eyes. I gave him a knowing smile that he returned. We all knew what today was.

Nicky threw back the covers and climbed down the ladder. “Do you need me to make breakfast?” he volunteered.

“Nope, already taken care of.”

“How about the laundry?”

“None yet,” I replied.

Nicky frowned. “Oh, I could shave you!”

“You know what? I think I’ll just go with the scruff today.”

I spared a glance at Mattie, who wasn’t even trying to hide his smile.

“Uh, um… why don’t we take a nice hot shower and I can wash you?”

I made a point to sniff under my arms. “Yeah, no thanks. I’m just gonna go up on deck and sweat all day. I’ll shower before bed tonight.”

He looked visibly deflated, and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing.

“Mattie, I could?—”

“I’m good Nicky.” Damn, he shot him down without even giving him a chance.

Nicky rebounded like the eternal optimist he was. “I’ll go see what Daddy needs!”

When he disappeared, Mattie and I shared a good laugh. “How long are you going to thwart him?”

“Just until the panic sets in.” I straightened, finger combing my hair into order. “Come on, let’s go up and watch as he drives Cass crazy. I wonder if he’ll earn a spanking instead of a reward.” Mattie’s laughter followed me up the ladder.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

I fell in love with Bimini from the second I planted my feet in the sugary white sand. The water was the color of blue topaz, pale and clear. The bright sun glittered like diamonds on the water’s surface. Palm trees swayed in the breeze. It was a popular destination, and boats of every size were docked in the shallow waters.

Sam ferried our guests ashore and then came back for us. We took the dinghy to Honeymoon Harbour, where we swam with stingrays. The water was extremely shallow, not coming up much past my thighs, and the stingrays crowded around us, seemingly friendly. It took awhile for me to warm up to the fact that they weren’t going to sting me to death, but of course, Nicky took right to it, like a natural. The pictures I snapped of him petting the rays like theywere docile puppies were definitely going into the next issue of Salt Life magazine.

“Daddy, I’m hungry,” Nicky complained. “Can we take Mattie to Big John’s for lunch?”

“Sounds perfect,” Cass agreed. “I’m starved.”

On the way there, he regaled us with the story of his first romantic date with Cass, and because Nicky was an over-sharer, we heard about their moonlight picnic on the beach and how Cass made love to him for the first time.

“Well, thanks Nicky. Now I’m hard and I have to go sit in a damn restaurant,” I complained.

“The restaurant has a bathroom,” Nicky suggested, giggling. “I could take care of that for you while we’re waiting for our food.”

The restaurant was as laid-back and cool as he described it. We sat out back on the deck overlooking the water. A band played Caribbean style music and huge fish practically piled on top of each other, jumping out of the water in order to grab scraps of bread and other things diners tossed over the railing.

Nicky absolutely loved that part.

The family seated at the table beside ours had a baby who whined and wailed loudly. Either he’d had too much sun or not enough food, or possibly both, but he looked miserable. Nicky made faces at him, crossing his eyes and sticking out his tongue, doing silly things to make the baby smile. Miraculously, itworked, not that I was surprised, because Nicky had the ability to charm anyone, no matter what age.

Cass took Nicky’s hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it. “Congratulations, sweet boy. You just earned your tenth punch.”

Nicky promptly forgot all about the baby and pushed his chair back, springing to his feet as he fist-pumped the air. “Heck yeah!”

Then he seemed to remember we weren’t alone, and he quickly sat back down, lowering his voice. “I want a new stuffie, Daddy! That’s what I pick for my prize, and I want you to choose it for me. Something you think I’ll love, which, of course, I will. Absolutely.”

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