Page 4 of A Very No Strings Halloween
“Yeah, me too. Let’s take a nap right now.” I shut my eyes and snore loudly.
Finally, I’m getting the laughs I deserve. Twinkling, tired-little-girl toddler laughs.
I open my eyes again and wink at her. “Ahhh. That was refreshin’.”
“Thanks again for organizing this,” Dec chimes in. As if he’s already thanked me and now he’s thanking me again. “I’ll take her.” He gets up from his chair to take his daughter from me. Poor jealous guy can’t handle how much his kid loves me.
“Ohhh, okay. Let’s let your daddy hold you, Little C.”
Ciara immediately starts pouting and then slow-motion erupts into a cryingfit as he pulls her into his arms. Poor Manhattan. I’d feel bad for the guy if he weren’t a rich, handsome lawyer with a beautiful wife and child.
His beautiful wife pats my arm. “Ohhh, Billy! That reminds me. Are you going to be in town in a couple of weeks?”
“Maddie,” Declan mutters. “No.”
Maddie waves him off. “Are you? Middle of October?”
“Yeah, I can be. Why?”
“My niece Piper is dying to go to a book signing event at Harvard. You remember Piper.”
“Yeah, yeah. Cute kid. What is she, twelve?”
“She’ll be graduating from high school next year, actually.”
“Fuck me, that’s insane.” I cover my mouth. “Sorry.”
Dec narrows his eyes at me, but Maddie doesn’t care.
“No, I know. It is insane. But her favorite author is doing a thing hosted by the Harvard Book Store, and I guess this woman refuses to even go to New York because she’s a huge Boston Tomcats fan?—”
“Undahstandable.”
“So Piper got a ticket, but both of her parents are busy that weekend, and Dec and I are too. It’s just for the day—she’s planning to take the train.”
“It would be my honor to be her chaperone. I’ll pay for her flight. Pick her up at the airport.”
“That is not happening,” Dec assures us.
“That would make her so happy!” Maddie exclaims, clapping her hands, all tipsy and ignoring her husband. “I’m pretty sure my sister will be okay with this because she’s still trying to get Piper to think she’s cool.”
“Not happening,” Dec calmly reiterates.
“I’ll help you draft a contract for both of them to sign,” Maddie tells Declan, winking at me with her back to him and mouthing,No, I won’t.
Behind her back, Dec mouths to me,I will fucking murder you if anything happens to her.
“You got it,” I say to both of them. “I’ll take good care of her.”
“This is highly problematic,” my cousin says to Maddie. “You realize that, right?”
My phone keeps buzzing in my back pocket.
All of my attention is now focused on my right ass cheek.
I can just sense her texts in there. That saucy little minx. What kind of ideas do you have for us tonight, huh, Red?
I reach for my phone but freeze as soon as I hear my best friend’s threatening tone.
