Page 31 of Enemy Daddy Next Door

I roll my eyes. Leave it to Kira to “calculate” the needs of a baby as if it’s somehow a science. In some ways it is, but nothing can account for temperament and just the general randomness of life. Still, though, I like her spirit to make anything some sort of scientific project. It’s just how I see everything as a potential story.

Kira and I have been tasked with babysitting our nieces while Harley and Grant go on a double date with Gillian and Axel. We told them not to worry about coming home at a certain time. After all, what is family for but to babysit the little ones when you need some grown-up time? I just hope when my time comes, they’ll do the same.

Who am I kidding? If my time comes.

“What’s going on, K?” I ask.

Kira eyes me. “What do you mean?”

“You’re a bit grumpy, aren’t you?”

Kira starts to respond, but is interrupted by Stella teasing Tana with another, “Boo!” She grimaces and crosses her arms over her chest. “What makes you think that?”

I laugh. Kira has been the quiet one our whole lives. But since the rest of our sisters moved out, we’ve become closer than close. I’ve heard Kira talk more over the past few years than our entire childhood. “I don’t know…maybe the crossed arms? The sour face?”

Kira touches her cheek and realizes her lips are downturned. “Oh…”

“So. Now that you can’t hide from me…”

“Amy, it’s fine. Really.”

“Please! You’re hanging out with the three coolest people you know and you look like you’re at a funeral.”

Kira smirks. “Coolest isn’t the word I’d use.”

“Boo!” Stella shouts. Tana laughs.

I smile at the scene. Coolest might not be the word Kira would use, but it’s the one I would use. Watching my sisters become mothers has been one of the most rewarding things to watch. Not to mention watching my nieces grow up from day one up to now. What could be cooler than growing? Changing? For the better, of course.

“Work stuff,” Kira finally says. “Boring.”

“Just because I don’t understand what you do doesn’t mean I find it boring.” Admittedly, there have been times I’ve accidentally tuned her out while she rants and raves about whatever she does at her engineering job. Forgive me that I don’t understand a good chunk of the words she throws around. The curse of being the smartest person I know, I guess. “Besides, you’re not usually so…sullen about work things.”

“Sullen…that’s why you’re the writer.”

I snort. “Sullen isn’t that special of a word.”

“I wouldn’t ever use the word sullen to describe anything. Writer,” she repeats adamantly.

I resist qualifying that with, “Of kids’ books.” It’s valid. How do people learn to read without children’s books? At least this is what Jordan would say to me.

“I have a new boss,” Kira says.

Oof. Kira hates change already. That’s why she’s the very logical, left-brained one. She likes that facts, figures, and physics don’t change just because we feel like it. “Okay…”

“And he’s…I don’t like him.”

“What’d he do?”

Kira’s lips twist to the side. “Nothing.”

I resist laughing.

“Nothing yet. But I just know…I just know he’s going to do something that’s going to piss me off.”

“Okay, are you a psychic, or –”

“He’s Trevor’s son.”

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