Page 55 of Merry with Me

“Right.” Brooks Kincaid pulls his hand out of his scrub pocket and offers it to me. I take it. “Nice to officially meet you. I’m a nurse in the ER,” he explains.

“Nice to meet you.”

“What are you having?” Brooks asks.

“Beef and noodles from the diner,” she answers.

“Sounds good. Maybe I’ll see if Palmer wants me to swing by and pick that up for dinner tonight.”

“Are you heading home?”

“I am. I just needed to run some samples to the lab. I was on my way back through when I saw you sitting here.”

“Are you all coming to the ceremony tonight?”

“No. Leo has basketball practice, and Palmer has a late shoot at the studio.”

“Well, we’ll miss you.”

“I’m sure it’ll be amazing, sweetheart. I know how hard you work.” He leans down and presses a kiss to the crown of her head. “I’ll see you later.” He looks at me. “Good to meet you.” And he walks away.

“That was my uncle Brooks.”

“I’ve talked to him on the phone before when one of my patients presented to the ER. Good to put a face to the name.”

“He’s the best.”

I smile at her. “I’m confident you’d say that about all of your uncles.”

She shrugs. “They’re all the best.”

“I don’t know what I would do with such a big family. I’m so used to it just being my parents and me.”

“It’s all I’ve ever known. I can tell you that there is no shortage of help, or laughs, or mischief when we’re all together. If someone needs a sitter or food dropped off, if everyone in the house is sick, or whatever, there’s an army of us ready to pitch in at any time.”

“Sounds like chaos, but I can’t say I’d hate it.”

“Isla is an only child, and she swears she’s having at least two kids because she was lonely growing up.”

“It wasn’t so bad. I had—” I freeze.

“Josh,” she whispers.

“Yeah.”

Reaching across the table, she places her hand over mine. “What they did was wrong, Oliver. I’m sorry.”

“Nothing for you to be sorry for.”

“I’m sorry they hurt you. I’m sorry you’re still living with the pain they caused.”

“I’m not.”

“You are.”

I turn my hand over, and she automatically laces her fingers with mine. Right here in the lobby of our place of employment. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Maybe you should. Pushing the hard stuff away doesn’t help you get past it.”

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