Page 86 of One Night Only
“It’s fine, Gloria.” Andy waves a hand. “We can take over from here.”
“We can’t go to bed without a story!” Jack guffaws as if the idea of going to bed without a story is absurd.
“Who do you want to read?” Andy asks. “Mommy or me?”
“Uncle D!” the kids chorus.
I flash Andy a smug grin. “Can’t argue with that.”
“Hey, who are you?” Dotty ask from over my shoulder.
I spin around to see she’s pointing at Emily.
Emily flushes under the weight of the attention, smiling nervously. “I’m Emily.”
Clambering to get down, I place Dotty onto her feet and she pads across the room, perching herself on the sofa right next to Emily, looking up at her with serious heart eyes. And honestly, same, kid.
“You’re pretty.”
“Aw, thank you.” Emily gushes. “You are too. I love your hair.”
Dotty sighs dramatically. “I hate my curls. Mommy says I got them fromDaddy.”
“Curls can be frustrating sometimes,” Emily agrees, her eyes flitting to me.
Jack wrestles with me, giggling against my hold. “Are you Uncle D’sgirlfriend?” he asks, his tone teasing.
I catch Emily stiffen from the corner of my eye, so I play it cool.
“Dude!” I guffaw, lifting Jack so he’s eye-to-eye with me. “Gross. You know Uncle D is allergic to girls’ germs.”
Andy steps in. “Emily is Daddy’s assistant at work.”
“And… she’sfriendswith Uncle Simon,” Jenn adds with a conspiratorial smile.
I swear, if I never hear that guy’s name again, it’ll be too damn soon.
Dotty gasps, practically bouncing up and down on the sofa. “Are you going to marry Uncle Simon?”
And there it is.
“Oh, um… I-I—” Emily stammers, glancing frantically around the room.
“Nobody’s getting married.” Andy dismisses the topic, moving in to collect Dotty from the sofa and lifting her onto his shoulders. “And it’s time for bed.”
“Will you please read us a bed time story, Uncle D?” Jack pleads.
“Yeah!” Dotty squeals from her dad’s shoulders.
“You betcha,” I’m quick to say.
“I should go,” Emily announces, standing from the sofa.
And my immediate reaction is to argue, to tell her to stay put, that I’ll drive her. But I know I can’t do that right now.
“Let me call you a car, Emily,” Andy says.
“No, it’s fine,” she declines. “I can just catch a cab.”
