Page 194 of The Vacation Mix-Up
“Yeah, Mom.”
“Won’t that be difficult?”
“I’m trying not to think that far ahead. All I know is I’m desperate to see her again. We had such a great time together. She pulled me out of my funk and encouraged me to do and see things I wouldn’t have. And she made me want to be—” I stretch Poppy’s cheek into a smile. “—happy again.”
Roni places our coffees in front of us and takes a seat. “Don’t worry about the commute. Manhattan isn’t that far. Adrian and I managed a long-distance relationship just fine.” She stares into her mug, blinks, then looks up. “It can work if you both want it to.”
I reach out and cover her hand with mine, her late husband’s passing still as raw as the day we got the dreaded news.
“Uncle Riley?”
“Yes, popsicle.”
“Can I have my present now?”
Giving my niece my undivided attention, I grin at her adorable, pleading face. “You can if you use the magic word.”
“Pleeease!”
I kiss her forehead, stand with her on my hip before taking her to my bedroom, and plonk her on the bed. She scoots across it, practically dives into my open suitcase, and instantly snags the stuffed moose I got her in Nova Scotia.
“Is this my present?” she asks, holdingit up.
“One of them.”
She gives it a curious look. “What is it?”
“A moose.”
“I love him. What’s his name?”
“What do you want to call him?”
“Moose.”
Okaaay.Not awfully original, but… it works.
I rifle through my case for the bracelets as she hugs Moose to her chest.
“Is this my present too?”
Looking up and seeing the gold ship trophy tightly gripped in her hand, I shake my head and smirk. “No. Uncle Riley won that in a dancing competition.”
Poppy giggles and jiggles, and then she tucks the trophy under her arm next to Moose. “Where’s my other present? Where’s my other present?”
My fingers snag the beads, so I bunch my fists and sit next to her. “Here. Pick a hand.”
She points to my left, so I open my fingers.
“A purple bracelet!” Poppy snatches it up and instantly points to my right. Chuckling, I open that hand too. “And a pink one!”
“Do you like them?”
“I love them. Look, Mommy!” She scurries off the bed. “Look what Uncle Riley got me.”
Roni pushes off from the doorframe and enters my room. “Wow! They’re pretty.”
“And this is Moose. And this is Uncle Riley’s dancing trophy.”
