Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 93307 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93307 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Hahahaha…help me.
“Uh…that’s so sweet, Gracie,” I manage to push out through a dry throat. “But I think these sweatpants are going to make it a lot easier to eat pizza and play some games tonight.”
“Oh! Games are a good idea!” Gracie exclaims with a big ole grin. “I’m gonna find us some games to play right now!”
She takes off, running for a closet in Mack’s living room where I assume cards or board games or a combination of both reside.
“So…how do you two know each other?” Lizzy asks, and Mack is the first to answer.
“We work together.”
And for some reason, I can’t resist chiming in with, “And I mostly tolerate him,” with a teasing smile that makes Lizzy laugh.
“That sounds about right,” she says and looks between the two of us. She starts to open her mouth, but Tom wraps his arm around her shoulders and pulls her close to his side.
“We better get going, Liz. Dinner and the opening speech start at eight.”
“Yeah, Liz, you better get going,” Mack agrees with a smirk. “Don’t want to miss the big work dinner, you know?”
“We’ll talk later, bro.” She eyes him with a pointed stare that I don’t quite understand but doesn’t offer any explanation. “It was really nice meeting you, Katy,” she says, meeting my eyes. “To be honest, I’m relieved there’s an actual adult in my brother’s apartment tonight.”
“Hey, now!” Mack refutes, but I offer Lizzy a little wink.
“Don’t worry. I’ll keep him from getting any crazy ideas.”
Both Tom and Lizzy laugh, and Mack responds by wrapping his arm around my back and discreetly pinching my ass.
He also leans down and whispers, “I might have to spank you later for that” into my ear while Tom and Lizzy tell Gracie goodbye.
It started with a reverse walk of shame, but maybe tonight won’t end so badly after all?
Mack
“Do you know how to braid hair?” Gracie asks as she takes it upon herself to plop down into Katy’s lap.
The sofa feels warm and comfortable after sitting on the floor for our fifth game of UNO—the last of a twenty-game stretch featuring every damn game in this apartment—my hamstrings are sore from our kitchen dance party, and my stomach gurgles from all the pizza and ice cream sundaes.
I don’t know how Katy has the energy to entertain anything else at all from the cute little cheater, but somehow, she does.
“Do you want one braid or two braids?” Katy asks and gently tugs on the ends of Gracie’s pigtails.
“I want one big braid,” my niece demands. Katy doesn’t waste any time undoing her pigtails and combing her fingers through her hair, regardless of Gracie’s authoritarian-style dictation.
“Gracie, you’re kind of bossy, you know that?” I tease, and she shrugs her tiny shoulders at me.
“My mom tells me that all the time, Uncle Mackie.” Her meaning: You’re not telling me something new.
“And you don’t think you should try to be less bossy?”
“No,” she refutes without a second thought in her five-year-old brain. “It helps me get what I want. I like that.”
A child’s reasoning, ladies and gentlemen. Simple, to the point, and one hundred percent focused on her self-interest.
“Hmmm,” Katy hums and glances intentionally at me out of her periphery. “I know someone else who loves to always get what they want. Must be genetic.”
“Pretty sure that mind-set has positive and very pleasurable effects on other people too,” I respond discreetly, and Katy just snorts.
Gracie, on the other hand, is too single-minded on her own wants to think twice about our exchanged words.
“Put on The Little Mermaid, Uncle Mackie,” Gracie bosses, obviously not learning any lessons here, while Katy continues to comb her fingers through her hair. “I want to watch it while Katy does my braid.”
Trust me, I know that now would be a perfect time to not give in to my niece’s every want and whim in the name of helping her become less overbearing, but I’m her uncle. My role isn’t to teach lessons. My role is to have fun and spoil her, consequences and future struggles that Lizzy and Tom will have to deal with be damned.
“You like The Little Mermaid, Katy?” Gracie asks, while a yawn makes her mouth go wide.
“I love it. It was the first movie my dad took me to when I was your age.”
“Really?” Gracie yawns again. “That’s so cool.”
“Gracie, honey, are you sure you’re going to be able to stay awake?” I question, making her small features turn up in a glare.
“Uncle Mackie, I am not tired. I want to stay up until my mom and dad get here.”
My niece says this every time I watch her, and every single time, she’s out like a light before ten. And since Lizzy and Tom aren’t supposed to pick her up until after eleven, I’m certain the little boss isn’t going to last. The proof is in multiple pudding cups, but telling her so isn’t worth the argument.