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“Raphael, why don’t we let Phillip see Wally?They’ve been apart, so I’m certain they want to reunite.”

“But he can’t be Wally’s dad.”A bit of a plaintive whine crept into the child’s voice.

That made me wince.

“Raphael, you know that sometimes language is used in picturesque ways.The person who protects and takes care of you is often a dad, so the person who protects and takes care of a dog can be called their dad from that standpoint, not a biological one.”

The kid glared at Jeremy.“I don’t control anything.I am not a remote controller.”

Jeremy covered his mouth with a cough that was so clearly fake that I laughed.

Raphael glared at me.

I held up my hands.“I’m not laughing at you.I wouldneverlaugh at you.I’m just laughing at your…”

“Uncle.”Jeremy managed to get out the word.

“It’s not nice to laugh at anyone.”Now the kid had their hands on their hips.

God save me from smart children.“You’re absolutely right.Making fun of someone isn’t nice.And I’m usually very careful.So I’ll ask your forgiveness and promise to do better in the future.”I wasn’t so crazy as to promise to never do it again.I was good…but I wasn’tthatgood.

Finally Raphael nodded and headed toward the group of adults.

A tall, willowy woman with dark-brown hair and sunglasses crouched down so her eyes were level with the child.The mother?The woman bore a slight resemblance to Jeremy, so that was possible.

Finally, Jeremy approached with a straining Wally.

I crouched.I didn’t have proper balance, though, and fell flat on my ass.

Again.

In front of the cute guy.

Fucking hell, can I never catch a break?

Do you really need to ask…?

Wally leapt onto my lap and proceeded to give me a thorough tongue bath.I laughed.“Okay, dog, I missed you too.”I pulled back to meet his gaze.“Did you miss me?”I added a bit of the sing-songey voice I’d seen connect with him.

He cocked his head, then moved in for one last kiss before settling onto my lap.

“I would say he did miss you.”Jeremy crouched to my level and scratched Wally between the ears.“We did our best to keep him occupied.Is that okay?My sister’s decision to come over with my nibblets was last minute, and then we wanted to come to the park, and my sister recognized one of the women from the daycare, and…” He shrugged.“You know how it goes.”

Yeah.Except I didn’t.I had no idea how people made connections and friends and ran into each other.I couldn’t imagine Jeremy shopping at the discount-food store.Or checking out the rack at the charity store.Or going to the library to learn how to prepare a résumé so he could try to apply for jobs he wasn’t even remotely qualified for.Nope Jeremy had the best of everything.He might not be super rich, but he also wasn’t living off the charity of others, that was for certain.

“You okay?”He cocked his head.

“I’m fine.”Don’t let him see you feeling sorry for yourself.That’s just pathetic.

“Do you want to head home or stay here?The kids would love to spend more time with Wally.You’ll be happy to know he’s done all his business.”

“All his…?Oh.Right.Good to know.”Wally snuggled against my leg.I leaned forward.“I don’t really understand kids, if you know what I mean.I don’t even know what a nibblet is.”

“Ah.Well that’s an easy one.I call my sister’s kids my nibblets.Instead of niece or nephew.I’ve learned to try to not gender people.At all, if possible.”

“Right.We’ll, I’m he/him.”

Jeremy smiled.“So am I.”