Page 71 of Moonlit Kisses

“Hey. I brought you a present too,” I remind the birthday boy.

“Oh. Sorry, Uncle Max. I didn’t mean to leave you out.” He holds out his hand for the gift, which is probably lame compared to the tool belt. I hand him the gift bag and he dips his hand in, pulling out the Lego box. “Woah! You got me the Spider Man Molten Man Battle set. This has two hundred and ninety-four pieces and shows the epic battle between Spider Man and Molten Man from the movie, Far From Home.” He looks down at the box with awe and I’m pretty happy that I chose a gift he’ll enjoy. “Thanks, Uncle Max. I won’t open it now because I don’t want to lose any of the pieces.”

“Fair enough. I’m glad you like it.” He gives me a rare hug and runs inside to put his gift away for safekeeping.

Theo claps his hands together. “Okay, everyone. Let’s eat. Kids first, then adults can sort themselves out.”

The kids are served and set up to eat at the large table Theo built, quickly followed by the adults. At first, everyone’s quiet as they enjoy the delicious barbecue Theo and his dad cooked, as well as the salads that Mom and Emma put together.

Gradually, everyone shares about their week. Theo puts down his knife and fork and asks me, “Did you get the truck you were after?”

I swallow the bite of food in my mouth. “Oh, yeah.” I can’t contain my smile. “She’s fucking beautiful.”

“Max!” Mom chastises. Molly elbows me at the same time, looking mortified.

I grimace at the kids. Inevitably, a fuck or two slips out at family gatherings. The kids mostly ignore it. I don’t know why Mom still feels the need to pull me up on it. “Sorry.”

Kenny giggles. “You’re so funny, Uncle Max.”

“Thanks, Munchkin.”

Emma directs her focus to Molly. “The kids know Uncle Max has a potty mouth and they’re not allowed to repeat the grown-up words he says.”

“I don’t know where you learned to talk like that.” Mom shakes her head, pretending to be more upset than she actually is.

I sort of like that I’m the inappropriate uncle; it solidifies my place in the family. Molly leans in close and presses a kiss to my shoulder. Turning my head, I’m able to return the kiss on her cheek. When I glance back at the table, everyone’s eyes are on us. Sarah and Emma have matching smirks, and I don’t even care that they’re going to give me shit later. I’m finally happy.

We all finish eating and Molly’s the first to stand to collect everyone’s dishes. Once again, my family is stunned into silence. I’ll have to explain their reactions to her later. I get up to help, but Emma and Sarah tell me to sit back down. Mom jumps up too, and the three of them collect the dishes and silverware from the table and follow Molly inside. My gut tells me she’s safe with them, but I don’t trust them not to inadvertently drop me in the shit.

I prepare to stand, but Dad puts his hand on my shoulder, pushing me back into my seat. “Let them have their girl time. I’m sure Molly can handle it.”

“I know she can handle it and I trust Mom and the girls implicitly to be kind to her. I don’t trust that they won’t tell Molly about stupid shit I did as a kid, though.”

The guys laugh. “May as well find out if she’ll stick around sooner rather than later.” Theo offers with a shrug.

I huff. “I wanted to ask if you’d be interested in helping me redo the timber for the flatbed of the truck I picked up.”

He scratches his fingers through his short beard. “Yeah. That’d be a great little project.” He leans forward, resting his elbows on the table. “What sort of timber are you planning to use?”

“What would you recommend?”

He thinks for a moment. “Perhaps Asian Keruing or Apitong. It’s commercially harvested and has the best strength-to-weight ratio.” I nod. “It’s reasonably dent and scratch resistant too, which would be an important feature. And it doesn’t bend and flex easily, which helps to support heavier loads.”

I’m impressed by his knowledge as he shares the pros for the timber. “Sounds good. I’ll let you know when I get to that point.”

He nods as the girls step onto the deck with fresh plates and Lachlan’s birthday cake. Molly catches my eye and winks at me with a cheeky smile and a raised eyebrow. At least she didn’t run away. That’s got to be a positive sign. Right?

The kids follow behind the girls and everyone takes their seat, with Lachlan at the head of the table. Sarah places the Spider Man cake she made on the table directly in front of the birthday boy and he looks up at her with a smile. “Thank you, Aunty Sarah.”

She ruffles his hair and leans down to press a kiss to his cheek. “You’re welcome, Lachlan. I hope you like it.”

“I love it. I don’t want to cut into it and ruin it.”

“That’s okay. That’s what cake is for, and I took heaps of photos.” She winks at him.

Austin climbs into my lap as Emma lights the ten candles on the cake and we all sing happy birthday to my eldest nephew. I’m not sure where the time’s gone. It seemed like yesterday I was holding him as a newborn. I miss those days.

I’m pretty sure I’m not supposed to feel my biological clock ticking, but I do. I want to be a dad. Like my dad, I want to be a great father. I study Molly and wonder if she’d think I was a psycho if I wanted to get her pregnant this soon into our relationship. I mean, I only referred to her as my girlfriend when I introduced her to Mom, otherwise we haven’t talked about our relationship or where we’re heading.

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