Page 81 of Ramsey & Emerson

“Well, since I have a one o’clock meeting that I have to get to, can you tell us quickly what’s wrong with the snacks, bud?” Liam chimed in.

“Lake needs better snacks,” he said, scribbling on his notepad again.

“Lake needs better snacks?” Deke echoed as he stood up to look down at his grandson.

Aaron nodded. “She’s not eating the goldfish anymore. So, she needs better snacks.”

Dash and Eden had given Deke and Delaney two grandchildren almost back-to-back with Aaron the oldest, and little Lake Jr. right behind him. So, since they’d been born one right after the other, they were very close, and Aaron was very protective of his little sister.

“Do you know what kind of snacks she’d rather have?” Liam asked.

“Yes,” he answered confidently. “I wrote them all down.”

With that, he ripped off the top page of his notepad, then handed it to Liam. After looking it over, Liam handed it over to me, and the sheet was nothing but colorful scribbles, telling us absolutely nothing, though he did spell his and Lake’s names correctly.

Handing the paper to Deke, I said, “I think we’ll let you handle these particular employee demands.”

Letting out another sigh, Deke took the paper, then reached down to scoop Aaron up in his arms, though the kid was definitely too big to be carrying these days. “Let’s go find Lake to discuss these new snacks that you’re demanding,” he said before looking back at me and adding, “Since Liam already has a one o’clock, I’ll need you to take my conference call with Jack Simmons at one.”

Now, while most people would call Deke insane for cancelling a call with a global energy company to discuss snack negotiations with his grandchildren, Deke would do anything to keep Delaney happy, in turn, keeping the little ones happy.

“Got it,” I assured him as he carried Aaron out of my office.

As soon as the door shut behind them, I turned to Liam. “Did you let him in my office?”

“Of course,” he answered without shame. “He needed his new crayons for his meeting with us.”

I shook my head, not really blaming him. “Deke said that Roselyn’s not feeling well.”

Liam immediately sobered up. “Yeah, I think she’s coming down with the flu, though she’s trying to lie and say that she isn’t. She’s been preparing for a big presentation on Monday.”

“Well, the fundraiser only needs one of us there with the checkbook,” I remarked.

“Yeah, but we all know how important children’s charities are to Emerson,” he replied regretfully.

“Yeah, but Emerson only cares that enough is raised to help the cause,” I reminded him. “She’s not going to hold it against you. Plus, she probably already knows that Roselyn’s sick.”

“She does,” he confirmed. “Roselyn called Em this morning.”

“Well, again, don’t feel bad,” I told him. “Deke is bowing out, too.”

This time, Liam grinned. “Yeah, I guess Dash is having issues again.”

“How do you know?”

“When Eden stopped by earlier to drop off the kids, she passed me in the hallway, telling me that my nephew was off his entitled rocker, and that we really should do something about that,” he chuckled.

I eyed him. “There are eleven of them, not counting Posie. How in the hell did we go wrong with all of them?”

“I say we blame Ava,” he replied easily, and that just made me laugh.

“I’m good with that.”

“Okay, I gotta go,” he said. “I really do have a one o’clock scheduled.”

“Well, apparently, so do I now,” I snorted.

Two hours later, I was heading to a preliminary budget meeting, and Deke was passing me in the hallway with two bags of new snacks, and he flipped me off before I could say anything.

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