Page 46 of Accidentally Checked By My Brother's Best Friend

“How do you know about the press conference?” I take her hand. A small grin lines my lips, and my brows pull together. “I thought you were in bed when your dad and I talked about it?”

“When are you going to learn that I know everything going on,” she says, smiling as she skips. Abruptly, she stops and looks around. “Where’s your car?”

“Oh, I have Uncle Duncan’s today. We took his car this morning. It’s right over there.” I point to the Acadia parked about fifty feet in front of us.

“Uncle Dunky let you drive his car?” Is that surprise and awe in her voice? “He never lets anyone drive his car.”

I open the passenger side door and hold my hand out for her backpack. She hands it to me and climbs in the passenger seat. Moving to the rear passenger side door, I pull the handle and toss her backpack in.

Sliding into the driver’s side seat, I pull my seat belt on.

“Buckle up,” I tell Scarlett as she slides a booster seat under her.

Firing up the engine, I glance outside again to see the large group of parents still there, talking animatedly while glancing at us. Leaning on the steering wheel, I sigh.

“They’re talking about you and Uncle Dunky,” Scarlett says without looking up. “It’s what they’ve been talking about since the news that the two of you are dating was announced.”

“Always? Like this?” I ask, nodding in their direction.

“Not usually, but then you don’t normally pick me up. It wasn’t this bad with Uncle Dunky last week either.” Scarlett mulls their reaction over before asking, hopefully, “Did you kiss him?”

“Scarlett,” I scoff, feeling my face heat up. “You know that even if we did kiss, it’s just pretend, right?”

“If it’s pretend, why are you blushing?” My eyebrows shoot up, and my mouth falls open. “And why are you making sure that you look pretty? Today, you took forever to get ready. Was that justpretend?”

Looking at my niece wearing a stern expression, with her hazel eyes narrowed and arms crossed over her chest, I can’t help but chuckle at her. The maturity level of this child is that of a thirty-year-old.

“Well?” She insists.

Messing her hair with my hand, her eyes pop, and she slaps my hand away. “You’ll just have to leave that to the adults for now.” I chuckle.

Putting the car in drive, I pull away from the school and head back to the house.

“Do you like him?” She pushes.

“Uncle Duncan? Of course, I like him.” I smile and do my best to act like I don’t know what ‘like’ she’s talking about. “What’s not to like about him? He’s a good guy.”

“Aunt Ava, I’m being serious!” She yells at me.

“So am I.” I grin, laughing at her annoyed expression.

“Then answer me,” she taunts. “Do you like Uncle Duncan…enough to kiss him? For real?”

Glancing over at Scarlett, I see how much this means to her. What I don’t fully understand is why.

“Scarlett, honey, can you tell me why this is important to you?” She bites her lip, looks out the window, and turns away from me.

This is not a side of Scarlett I see very often. She rarely holds back what she’s thinking. Despite being eight, she has very strong opinions that she never hesitates to share. Staying quiet, I wait for her to tell me what’s on her mind.

Just as we pull into the driveway, I feel her eyes on me. I kill the engine and turn my body toward her.

“You and Uncle Dunky are my favorite people,” she says softly.

“Aww. You know you’re my favorite person, too, right?” She nods and wraps her arms around my neck. My heart melts.

“It would make me happy if the two of you were a couple for real,” she says against my ear. My throat gets tight and the back of my eyes burn. “Plus, you make Uncle Dunky happy.”

Her words wrap me in warm tendrils of possibility. “What makes you think that?”

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