Page 104 of Better Daddy
But my brother frowns as his eyes drop to a new Bubbles who is slightly less bright blue than the last two. I wonder if he is finally going to realize that she has been secretly replacing his fish for months.
“You cannot walk a fish like that.”
Although to most people that sounds reasonable, it's bloody ridiculous coming from my brother who has a firm belief in walking down the street with his entire fish tank letting the neighbors stare.
Lo’s eyes widen. “Umm.” She looks from the fish to me and back again.
My brother scoffs. “Bubbles can’t make it in that little guppy cuppy.”
I don’t bother to fight the laugh. Guppy cuppy. “If you had any idea...”
Lo glares at me quickly before shifting her attention back to her boyfriend. “You’re right. I’ll put him back.”
“That big tank is heavy for you.” Cal reaches for the cup. “I’ll take it.”
“No!” Lo clutches the fish to her chest. “I mean.” She thrusts it at me. “Sully will do it.” I barely catch the cup before she grabs my brother’s neck and spins him to face her. “Because I need a kiss. Like now.”
Behind his back she waves me toward the tank and I finally realize that she hasn’t disposed of bubbles number eight yet.
My clueless brother smirks. “Whatever Lola wants…” And he presses his lips to hers. I try not to groan as I step past the couple into their bedroom.
It takes less than a minute to get the live Bubbles into the tank and the dead bubbles into the cup. I know better than to question if Lo has Cal distracted and I’m proven right when I step out of the doorway and only see Murphy.
“Lo said I’m on fish duty.” Murphy holds out his hand and I give him the cup. He glances at the fish floating upside down. “Do you really think Dad’s only going to kill one more of these?” His lips purse as his gaze lifts to me.
I fight the smile as I realize I couldn’t ask for a better nephew. He’s the perfect balance of his dad.
I clasp his shoulder. “I do wonder but I struggle to doubt Madame E.”
“Me too.” He nods and then turns, heading to the toilet to dispose of his father’s fish.
I’m barely into the main room when Cal yelps.
“Ow!” The cupboard door snaps back and clearly it must have caught his fingers. “Evil snappy trappies.”
Just as I step into the kitchen, Lo goes up on her tippy toes, shaking her head, and slides the baby-proofing clip off for him. “How many times do I have to show you how to do this?”
She looks at me and when I give her a quick nod, her body relaxes. Not only did my brother hit the jackpot in the kid department but Lo couldn’t be more perfect for the nutter.
“No baby yet. Sully is just Cal-proofing,” Brian mutters as he pulls the creamer from the fridge.
“Yeah, Tia isn’t even born yet.” Cal glares at me. “And it’ll be years before she’s tall enough to even reach up here. She”—he points to his short girlfriend—“can barely reach.”
Eyes narrowing, she slams the cupboard shut. “Fine. You get it, then.” Backing up, she crosses her arms and waits for Cal to figureit out.
He stares at it, tongue in cheek and lifts the clip. When it slaps back and closes on his finger, he screeches. “This cannot be safe!”
With a grunt, Brian leans around Cal and unlocks the cabinet. “Lift and squeeze,” he grumbles.
Cal holds out a hand for the cup, but rather than hand it over, he passes it to Lo. It’s hard to remember that living with this group annoyed me at first. Now, I wouldn’t trade it.
Behind me, my wife giggles. “It’s probably unnecessary,” she says as she saunters in and heads for the same cabinet.
I snag her wrist and pull her back to my chest before pressing a kiss to her lips. “Good morning, beautiful.”
Yeah. I wouldn’t trade this for the bloody world.
She rolls her eyes, but she’s smiling. “I woke up with you.”
