Page 13 of Numbers Boy
At the end of brunch, Stu taps my arm, knocking me out of a daydream of me and Noah cuddling with Stacy on the couch while we talk about our days and back into reality. Around me, everyone is putting on their winter gear and hugging others goodbye. I stand and grab my coat while Stu does the same.
“Henry got to choose the book for next month,” Stu says with a barely contained laugh. “It’s a smutty paranormal romance. He’s apparently been waiting months for it to be released.”
“That ought to be fun. I wonder if Chad is going to avoid eye contact with him when we discuss the sex scenes.”
We share a grin and wave at everyone as we head to the door. “Right? When is he going to realize he wants Henry as more than a friend?”
“No clue, babe. But I can’t wait to see how it all goes down when it happens.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Noah
I JOIN THEnever-ending pickup line at my nieces’ elementary school, once again thanking whatever being wants to listen that the school is not only just a few short blocks from both my apartment and my sister’s, but also that it’s a K-6 building so both girls are still at the same place and I don’t have to do this horrible process twice whenever I get them.
Lilly sees my car first, and I can almost sense her excitement coming down the sidewalk and through the car door. She pulls on Isabella’s coat sleeve, and my lips twitch at the puff of air that forms when she sighs. But as annoyed as she seems for a second, Isabella quickly takes her younger sister’s hand, and they head toward me. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I wonder how long it will be before she’s too cool to hold hands.
When they reach the car, Lilly yanks the handle and scoots in as fast as her bulky snowpants and boots will let her, squeezing an arm through the gap in the front seats to give me an awkward hug. Isabella follows at a more composed pace, but she still reaches out for a hug. I wonder if that’s another thing that she’ll outgrow for a while. I hope not, but I know I certainly wasn’t the most pleasant middle schooler to be around, so I’ll get it if she needs more personal space over the next couple of years.
“Hi, Uncle Noah! Guess what we did in science today?”
“What’s that, Lil?” I ask as I inch my way toward freedom, I mean, out of the school parking lot.
“We finally got to race our balloon-powered cars! It was so cool to see how far some of them went. Some of them went so fast Miss Smith barely had time to get out of their way.”
“That sounds awesome. I know you’ve been working hard on your car the past week. How about you, Isabella? What was something good that happened today?”
I glance in the rear-view mirror to see Isabella looking down at her hands and shrug. “We got to see a high school choir perform. That was kinda cool.”
“Yeah? Did they sing any songs you know?” Hopefully, this is a topic she’ll want to stay on. Isabella has always loved when I pull out my guitar and sing with her, so having more connections to music can only be a good thing.
“They did a version of ‘Here Comes the Sun,’” she says, her voice getting slightly more animated as she thinks about it. I wish I wasn’t driving so I could give her my full attention, but maybe this is what she needs to open up a bit more. “It was pretty cool. Parts of it were different from the one I’ve heard before, but that made me think of when you play and sometimes change bits and pieces of the music. The teacher even talked about that for a bit.”
“I’m glad you enjoyed listening to them and gave them a chance even though it was different from what you already knew.” I don’t push for more when she shrugs and turns to look out the window, happy that she was willing to give me that much. A minute later, I pull into my parking spot and turn to face the two precious kids in my back seat. “Now, who wants hot chocolate and muffins?”
“Me!” both of them exclaim, unbuckling and out of the car before I can even turn back around. I follow after them, chuckling to myself.
Once we’re upstairs and the girls have taken off their snow stuff, we head into the kitchen. They promptly get to work helping me get our snack ready. I take care of the hot chocolate, Isabella grabs plates and cups, and Lilly gets the mini muffins out of their hiding spot at the back of the cupboard full of pots and pans.
“Does Uncle Blake really steal all the muffins if we don’t put them back there?” she asks suspiciously as she straightens up from grabbing them.
“Why don’t you leave them on the counter this time and find out?” I send her a wink, and she grins, popping open the container and placing two on each plate. Honestly, Blake is the one who makes sure the snacks stay full, but putting them in that cupboard makes Lilly giggle and helps us all have our own little space to go to in my not-so-spacious kitchen. Plus, I like to tease Blake, even when he’s not here.
We all dig into our snacks while the girls tell me more about their day and what they’ve got planned for Valentine’s Day in a few weeks. Lilly is in the middle of describing her design ideas for a cat-shaped mailbox when Blake stomps through the door and calls out to us.
“Dude, did you grow two extra pairs of feet? What are all these boots for?” Lilly’s face lights up, and she hops up to go give him a hug while Isabella rolls her eyes, but I catch the smile she tries to hide behind her mug. Blake has been my best friend since we were Lilly’s age, so the girls treat him like a bonus uncle. In the next minute, he makes it to the kitchen, Lilly clinging to his back like an overgrown backpack. “Ooh, are there enough snacks for me, or did Uncle Noah eat them all?”
“There’s plenty, you big goofball.” I point to the extra muffins on the counter. “Lilly was just telling us about her Valentine’s mailbox. She’s going to make it look like a cat.”
Blake scrunches up his nose and turns his head dramatically toward the girl still hanging off him. I bite back a laugh, knowing what’s coming next. “A cat? Acat, Lillybean? Out of all the awesome animals you could choose, why would you go with a cat?”
Lilly huffs and wiggles down so she can plant her hands on her hips. She looks so much like my sister when we were little when she does that. “Cats are awesome, too, Uncle Blake. Just becauseyouare silly enough to be allergic to them doesn’t mean the rest of the world can’t enjoy them.”
“Fair enough,” Blake concedes with an overdramatic sigh. “I guess I’ll just have to steal candy from Isabella instead.”
Isabella groans and hops off her stool to put her dishes in the sink. “Or you could just ask nicely, and we might give you candy. Besides, it’s not like you’ll be allergic to a cardboard box, even if it does look like a cat.”
“You mean use my manners?” he asks, fake-surprised, as he grabs a muffin. “What a novel idea. Wanna take this to the couch? I’ve got some new pictures of cute animals to show you all.”
