Stomping her tiny, pink converse covered foot, Melody repeated, “Up!”
“Okay.” Anxiety rippled through me as I bent over to oblige her wishes. I had never been very maternal, and I usually was the last person on earth any of my cousins asked to babysit.
Melody’s dark eyes locked on mine before she reached over to bestow a slobbery kiss on my cheek. “Thank you,” I replied, shifting her awkwardly on my hip.
Her fingers came to wind through the strands of my hair. “Pwetty,” she said.
“Thank you again. My Miss Melody, you sure are a talker.”
Lily laughed. “We could barely get Jude talking, but we can’t shut her up.”
A hand came to rest on the small of my back. When I glanced over my shoulder, AJ grinned at me. “I see you’re making new friends.”
“I am.”
Melody’s face lit up like a Fourth of July sparkler. “J!” she squealed, reaching her arms out. “Get me, J!”
“Hey, my little princesa,” he replied, as he took Melody from me. He kissed both of her cheeks, which were dimpled from giving him such a big smile.
I lifted my brows in surprise and turned to Lily. “Does he always act this way around the kids, or is this all just show to impress me?”
As AJ scowled at me Lily laughed. “He’s actually very good with the kids. Of course, none of them were until Jude came along. They pretty much became second fathers to him.”
AJ bobbed his head. “Yep, Jude was my guinea pig, and he taught me well.” He snuggled Melody to his chest. “But this little chica here, she’s my mu?eca linda.”
“En ingles, por favor?” I said with a grin.
“My pretty baby doll.”
“Listen to you. Charming ladies of all ages,” I replied to which AJ winked.
“Out of all the guys, she’s always been enraptured by AJ. She lights up whenever he comes in the room,” Lily said.
“That’s cause she knows I’m the sweetest, most-handsome, best guy in the whole wide world. Right, Melly Moo?”
AJ tickled Melody’s sides, causing her to giggle. Brayden strolled up hand in hand with a little boy who was the spitting image of Lily. “Hey, Mia, good to see you,” he said, giving me a hug.
“Thanks. Same to you.”
“This is our son, Jude.” He peered down at Jude. “Say hello to Mia.”
Jude thrust out his tiny hand. “Hiya Mia.”
Bending over, I smiled and shook his hand. “Hi to you, too.”
“Are you Uncle AJ’s girlfriend?”
Shit! How the hell was I going to get out of this one? “Um…”
Brayden must have sensed my embarrassment because he reached out for Melody. “We were just going to go swing.”
“Wing! Wing!” Melody screeched excitedly, as she dove into her father’s arms.
Jude abandoned his father’s side to tug on AJ’s shirt. Pointing a small finger at me, he asked, “Is she your girlfriend?”
Undaunted, AJ replied, “Yep, she’s a girl, and she’s my friend.” For reasons I couldn’t understand, I felt a little let down by his summation of what we were. I mean, it had only been two weeks, so it wasn’t like I could really claim a relationship status with him. But at the same time, I hated his answer.
Wrinkling his nose, Jude said, “Ew, girls are gross.”
AJ laughed. “Give it a few years, and you’ll change your mind, buddy.”
Jude didn’t appear too convinced as he followed Brayden across the clearing to an enormous wooden play-set. “AJ, give me a hand,” Jake called from the grill.
“Be back in a minute,” AJ assured.
“Okay.”
As we put the finishing touches on lunch, the conversation flowed freely between Abby, Lily, and me. I was starting to enjoy their company more and more.
“So do you sing, Mia?” Abby questioned, before popping a few potato chips into her mouth.