Page 57 of A Play for Love

“Thanks, Uncle Simon. I scored the winning goal.”

“Of course, you did. You’re a Kind, and we Kinds always win.”

“Hey, baby.” I smiled as Ella climbed on my lap.

“Hey, Dad. Where’s Mom?”

“She’s with the girls at Julia’s.”

“Oh, okay.”

She said something to me, and my brows furrowed.

“Are you speaking in Mandarin?”

“Yes.” She giggled.

Suddenly, Shaun started speaking in Mandarin, and the two of them carried on a brief conversation.

“What the actual fu—heck,” Simon said. “I didn’t know you spoke Mandarin.” He stared at Shaun.

Then Christian chimed in, and he, Shaun, and Ella spoke to each other.

“What the hell.” Conner slapped Christian’s arm. “You never told us you spoke Mandarin.”

“I took it in college.” He laughed.

“Me too,” Shaun said.

“Come on, Ella. Let’s go to Aunt Julia’s and play with the kids.”

“Okay. Bye, Dad.”

“See ya, sweetheart.”

She said goodbye in Mandarin to Shaun and Christian, and she and Lily ran to the house.

“Okay. That shit is going to stop,” Simon said. “You two are making the rest of us feel like idiots.”

“Yeah. No shit.” Jackson laughed.

“What the fuck? I’m gone for two nights, and I come back, and my kid speaks Mandarin?”

“So, what did I miss?” Stefan asked as he sat down, and Sam handed him a beer.

“Let’s see,” Simon said. “Did you know that Shaun and Christian speak Mandarin?”

“Oh, cool. Ella was speaking it to us in the car. When did she learn that?” Stefan glanced at me.

“I have no clue.” I tipped the beer bottle to my lips.

“Sofia found out that Nathan went and visited her mother while he was in New York,” Simon told him. “All hell broke loose, and she kicked him out of the house for a hot second.”

“Shit. You two okay?” Stefan asked.

“Yeah. We’re good now.” I smiled.

“That’s good. But damn, I miss everything. Are we playing some music or what?”

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