Page 46 of The Grump I Loathe

A sibling was someone you could depend on for life, and I’d wanted to give Grace that. Early on, some foolish part of me had assumed Ali and I would sort ourselves out enough to grow our family, but now I could see how ridiculous that had been.

“A brother could be fun, too,” Alannah pointed out. “If you’re the oldest, you still get to boss them around. I never get to be the boss.”

“I’m gonna be an older cousin!” Grace said excitedly. “Did I tell you?”

Alannah shook her head.

“My uncle Liam is having a baby. Dad, can I show Alannah the ultrasounds?”

I handed over my phone so Grace could show Alannah the photos.

“Aww,” Alannah cooed, her eyebrows knitting together. “Wait. Is it a boy or a girl?”

“I dunno,” Grace admitted. “Kinda looks like a bean.”

I caught Eddie’s eye and she grinned. “Enjoying your unicorn toots?” I asked.

Eddie smirked, stuffing a spoonful of purple and green ice cream into her mouth. “I’m not gonna lie, I was surprised you went for birthday cake with extra sprinkles.”

“It’s classic.”

“You struck me as more of a rum raisin kind of guy.”

“First of all, ew,” I said, playing up my disgust on purpose and feelingridiculously proud of myself at the bubble of laughter that spilled from her.

“Exactly, boring.”

“Well, that’s not me anymore, right? Did I excel at your lesson today?”

She hummed. “You were really harnessing fun there for a while.”

“For a while?” I argued. “I’ve been having fun the whole afternoon.”

“I’m full!” Alannah declared.

“Me too!” Grace said. “Can we go play some games?”

“Sure,” Eddie said, handing over her debit card so the girls could buy tokens to play.

I arched my brow as they took off together.

“We come here a lot,” Eddie assured me. “They’ll be fine without us hovering. You can see every corner of the arcade from this table. Usually, we come here so Alannah can blow off steam while I catch up on work.”

Sometimes, the way Eddie talked about Alannah, I forgot shewasn’tAlannah’s mother. It was clear how much she cared, and it was impressive how engaged she was in her sister’s life.

“This gives them the illusion of freedom while we can monitor the level of trouble they’re getting into,” Eddie said. “It’s a win-win.”

My eyes flicked across the arcade, following the girls as they darted between flashing games. “I’d prefer they not get into trouble.”

“Oh, a little bit of trouble is good for them. Bonding.”

I snorted. “Is that what you call it?”

Eddie shrugged. “I think it’s healthy. If you always behave, you grow up constantly worried about putting a foot out of step.”

“I’m gonna have to disagree with that.”

She shifted her seat closer to mine, and I realized she was angling to see the girls better. “Don’t tell me you never got into trouble as a kid. I won’t buy it.”