Page 56 of Single Teddy
Huh. Take that, Zach!
I did my best to tame my grin, but I wasn’t sure how successful I was. Thankfully, uncle and nephew were too distracted by pie to notice.
As they sat down at the kitchen table to indulge themselves, my phone pinged.
Ruby:
Good morning, sunshine! Hope you’re spending your Saturday doing the horizontal tango with Baby Daddy.
I groaned and looked up, catching Teddy staring at me.
“Wou—want some pie?”
“Oh no. I’m okay. I’ve got, like, five more at home,” I started, but Teddy was already cutting a piece for me and scooping some vanilla ice cream on top.
“That’s so good, huh, Bear?” he asked after we all sat there, quietly digging in.
And it wasn’t even awkward. It felt…familiar. Friendly. Cozy.
Agh. I’m never going to get over this guy if I keep hanging out with him.
“It’s delicious!” Bear exclaimed, and I ruffled his hair in gratitude.
Coming from him, it was the highest compliment. Coming from his uncle, it was… Well, I wasn’t going to even go there.
“I…I’ve been meaning to talk to you,” I said after a few mouthfuls, and after casting a glance at Bear, I measured mywords carefully. “About what we talked about last Sunday. The?—”
“Yeah. What about that?” Teddy cut in, catching my drift.
“Well, is there any update? I can’t just sit on my hands as you very well know,” I said.
“I know. I’m going to talk to Wyatt today,” he said with a solemn expression.
“Please do. Or I’ll go in without you guys,” I said.
Teddy opened his mouth, but Bear jumped up.
“All done!” He threw his hands in the air, and Teddy turned to his nephew.
“What a good boy. Now go wash your hands in the bathroom, okay? And don’t touch anything with those sticky hands,” he shouted after him, but Bear was already in the bathroom. Teddy turned to me. “I swear, I spend half my time wiping his hands. Like, what is he touching? Where is the dirt coming from?”
I laughed.
“Oh they have a magic ability to get messy wherever they go,” I said.
Teddy sighed, but after a moment, he chuckled.
“Look at me complaining about that. A few days ago, Bear wasn’t even talking to me other than to answer my questions, and now my biggest worry is his sticky fingers.”
I smiled.
“Things are going well then?”
He glanced at the bathroom and nodded.
“I know we’ve only been here for a couple of days, but…it’s like he’s a new person.”
“That’s great,” I said. “You’d be surprised how quickly kids can adjust to a new normal.”
