She giggled and shook her head which turned to a full body shake in my arms.
The girl had infinite amounts of energy and I wasn’t sure we were all ready for it, but we had her for the day and would just have to deal. I threw her up in the air and she squealed in delight.
Then I plopped her on one of my hips. “What are you hungry for?”
“Your friend Morina fed me.” She pointed over to the woman I still hadn’t acknowledged.
I should have said hi or told her thank you, but we needed to have such a big conversation about what lay ahead that I decided we didn’t need one at all.
We could just follow my lead. She could step in line like most people.
Like Ivy said, I was the boss.
Or one of them.
“That was very nice of Morina,” I said softly to Ivy but was looking at the woman I hadn’t seen in days.
Her wavy hair was, as always, a mess that somehow worked around her face. She wore a tank top that was much too loose, with a picture of a hand making up a peace sign. She’d paired it with a blue sports bra that left little to the imagination. Her ripped jeans fit over her ass much better than I remembered and she glared at me with a face I found I was starting to really like.
I set Ivy down and motioned for her to go play with Cade. He swooped her up into his lap and they started playing a game on his phone.
“Sorry for the visitors today.” I slid my hands in my pockets, not sure how to approach this awkward phase we’d stumbled into.
“I like tiny visitors actually.” She smirked toward Ivy who looked up and wiggled her fingers at Morina, always half listening. “Ivy kept me company for a little bit while I made grilled cheese. The chef had the fridge stocked with lots of different cheeses, I’m guessing after they found out I eat that.”
“Right.” I cleared my throat. “We’re going to head over to the amusement park first thing in the morning. Run her around there and then she’ll be going back home.”
Cade’s head popped up. “Not today?”
“Cade, you can’t go to the park in the middle of the day. There are rides that take hours to get on and even if you hack every fast pass system, we still won’t see everything. You want to start your time at the park with a half-tired child and with the knowledge you won’t get to show her everything?”
Ivy nodded and looked at Cade with big puppy eyes. “I want to see everything, Uncle Cade.”
“Of course you do.” He hopped off the bar stool with her. “Guess we need to go mess up Uncle Bastian’s house then. We need to build a fort for our movie night.”
“Yay!” Ivy screamed, but instead of skipping over to me to give me a high five, she skipped over to Morina. “You’ll watch a movie with me, right?”
“Um…” She glanced at me and then back at Ivy. “Sure. I think. I just...” She wrung her hands together. “I have to go take care of some dogs first and then I’ll be back to watch whatever you want.”
I swear Ivy’s whole body, even her curls straightened at the mention of dogs. I shut my eyes in defeat and Cade slapped a palm to his head. Morina mouthed “What?” to us over Ivy’s head.
“I want to see the dogs you take care of,” Ivy announced.
Scratching the scuff of my five o’clock shadow, I waited to see how Morina would navigate this one.
She glanced at me like she was caught between a rock and a hard place.
Yes, woman, you did this to yourself.
I looked away and ambled toward the fridge. She could figure out how to tell the cutest thing in the world no.
“Um… well, I think your uncles probably want you to stay with them.”
“Oh, they will come with. Uncle Bastian, you have a car to drive us right?” She turned those misty eyes toward me and I didn’t even hesitate.
“Of course I do, monster.”
Morina’s jaw dropped. “You…you can’t come.”
“Why can’t we all come, Morina?” I blinked real big like a little kid.
“I mean… I guess if you want to hang out, but you haven’t wanted to hang–”
“Yay!” Ivy cut her off and barreled into Morina’s thighs to hug her.
She patted the child’s back awkwardly and then side eyed me. “I’m just going to change. I guess we can get going in ten minutes if everyone’s ready. I have to do a quick sweep of the kennels. I’m not going to be there long.”
“But there’s going to be dogs for me to pet, right?” Ivy asked, a tiny little pointer finger up in the air as if she needed to be clear.
“Mmhmm.” Morina started down the hallway to her room. When Ivy followed, Cade glanced at me and I shrugged.
“Jesus Christ,” my brother mumbled, then called, “Ivy, we’re making a tent in Bastian’s room while Morina gets ready and talks to Uncle Bastian.”
The little girl shot off down the hall, and Cade ran after with a roar.
Just as he did, Morina turned into her bedroom even though she’d heard Cade announce that we would be talking.
I sighed and made my way to her door. With it being cracked and my being right behind her, I didn’t think to knock.
When I cleared my throat, she spun away from her closet. “Do you think you could knock next time?”
“Knock?”
“Yes. This is my room.” Her tone held anger and accusation.
It immediately put me on a defense I didn’t need. “This is our room. Just like this whole place is our place.”
“Wouldn’t know it from who is in it all the time.”
“Are you mad I haven’t been here?”
“Nope.” She said the word so loud it ping ponged off the walls.
“I work and I told you I wouldn’t be here much. I’m giving you space.” I crossed my arms.
“Great. I’m happy with it.” She didn’t sound happy at all.
“I come home after three days and you immediately are galivanting off to the humane society. So, that just proves the point that we don’t want to be around each other.”
“Yup, that proves the point.”
“Are you going to say anything you mean right now?”
“No!” She stomped her foot. She breathed fast, holding her fists tight at her sides. “I don’t want to talk to you right now.”
“Care to share why?”
“Because you’re annoying me!” She winced when the words flew out of her. “I don’t… I’m not comfortable here. And I have my crystals and oils, and I surf to stay comfortable. I live in comfort, Bastian. I don’t do luxury or chefs or white countertops well. I have to figure out the will because I can’t buy food processors for my foodtruck to make money so I can buy more ingredients to sell and make more money. And I can’t do any of that because I’m out of my depth.”
“Out of your depth?” I repeated, trying to catch up with all the words she’d just thrown at me faster than a peregrine falcon diving for food.