“But I want to read one with Kelly. Can’t she stay for dinner? We’re having spaghetti and meatballs. Uncle Donovan makes giant meatballs as big as my head. Do you like spaghetti and meatballs?” Avery asked Kelly.
“As big as your head?” The man was getting more interesting by the second.
“They are not as big as your head,” Donovan corrected his niece. “Come on and get your shoes on. You and Graham have to come with us because I can’t trust your brother here unsupervised.”
“But she loves spaghetti!”
Kelly giggled at her persistence. Donovan certainly had his hands full with his niece and nephew.
“She never said she loves spaghetti. Please go get your shoes on.”
It was clear that he did not want a dinner guest. No amount of adorable begging was going to get him to change his mind. Not that Kelly wanted to stay. Considering why they were here, dinner was likely to be a bit tense.
“I like spaghetti, but I really need to get home. Maybe we can have dinner another time, okay?”
Avery looked absolutely crestfallen. “Fine,” she grumbled as she brushed past him and out the door.
“Sorry about that. She lacks boundaries. I’m not sure how to teach her them without making her think she can’t talk to anyone. She’s at that age where everything is black or white. She never sees gray.”
Kelly shook her head. “She’s adorable. Don’t discourage her from being her sweet self.”
“Sweet until she doesn’t get her way. Lucky for her and unfortunately for me, I have a hard time telling her no. If you hadn’t turned her down, I fear I would have forced you to eat spaghetti with us.”
Had she not met Avery in person, it would have been harder to believe that she ruled this roost with her cuteness. Although that was clear, so much more was not. Kelly was naturally curious and she had about a million and one questions. How did Avery and Graham’s parents die? How did the kids end up with Donovan? Did he cook anything other than spaghetti and meatballs? Did he build other things besides bookcases?
“Well, I really do need to get home.” Kelly knew today was not the day to ask any of them. She walked past him and into the hall. “But you owe me spaghetti and meatballs as big as my head some other day because that I have to see.”
* * *
THE LAST THING Donovan imagined happening today was bringing a woman into his home and having to discourage Avery from inviting her over for dinner. One of Jessica’s final requests was that he promise not to bring women in and out of the kids’ lives. To be fair, his sister didn’t specifically ask him to remain single. In fact, Jess had begged him to try harder to let people in, but in his line of work, vulnerability meant death. Donovan understood it was unlikely a woman would kill him if he let her get close, but he was who he was and so far everyone he had ever dated wanted more than he was willing to give. That meant it was better he drop out of the dating game until the kids were grown.
Donovan’s biggest concern was that he’d be responsible for his niece and nephew having to suffer any more losses. A father and a mother were enough. He didn’t want them to get attached to someone only to have them disappear.
He knocked on Graham’s door. “We leave in two minutes. You better be in the back seat of my truck when I’m ready to pull out of the driveway or else.”
Donovan had no idea what the “else” would be but hoped the threat of the mysterious else would be enough to encourage Graham to do as he was told. Why did parenting have to be so hard?
“If it makes you feel any better, I hear that once you get through the teenage years, it’s smooth sailing,” Kelly said as they headed downstairs.
“Considering he’s only fifteen and she’s barely seven, I’m not sure if that’s good news or bad. The light at the end of the tunnel is so far away, it’s a tiny pinprick.”
“Well, maybe she’ll be less trouble. She might learn from some of the trouble he gets in.”
Kelly was quite the optimist. Donovan had lost the ability to see the bright side a long time ago. Since Oliver, Donovan’s best friend and Jessica’s husband, was killed in the line of duty and Jessica was diagnosed with incurable cancer, Donovan only expected the worst. Since his sister died, every day was similar to his time in the military. It was all about survival—his and the kids’. He didn’t have the luxury to hope for more than getting through each day still breathing.
“Can Kelly sit in the back with me?” Avery asked as she came skipping through the house.
“I would love to sit in the back with you, Miss Avery.” Kelly gave one of Avery’s pigtails a gentle tug. “Did you do these pigtails yourself?”
Avery giggled and the sound squeezed Donovan’s heart. His niece’s resiliency was her most amazing quality. She had more experience with tragedy than most adults, yet she could still smile, skip and laugh.
“Uncle Donovan always does my hair in the morning. I wanted a French braid today, but he said there wasn’t enough time.”
Donovan wasn’t surprised by the shocked look on Kelly’s face. Six months ago, no one would have been able to convince him that he would know how to do a little girl’s hair. “Someone was a sleepyhead this morning. If you want a French braid you have to get out of bed earlier.”
“You know how to French braid hair?” Kelly asked.
“Mommy taught him everything before she went to heaven. They had to practice every day because he used to hurt my head when he combed out my knots.”
Kelly pressed her lips together and had that look in her eye that always made him uncomfortable. Avery didn’t understand how talking about her mom might make other people feel and their sympathy was sometimes too much. The sooner he got Kelly back home, the better.
“Let’s get in the truck. It’s late.”
A door slammed upstairs and Graham came stomping down the steps. He had on a black sweatshirt with the hood pulled up. With his hands in the front pocket, he trudged past all of them and out the front door.
“Kelly might have to sit in the front seat, Avery. I don’t think Graham is going to want to sit in front with me.”
“No!” Avery chased after her brother. “Graham! I’m sitting in the back with Kelly. You have to sit in the front.”
As much as Graham hated Donovan, he loved Avery more. He didn’t even argue; he just got into the passenger’s seat. He might be trouble, but that boy would take care of his sister until the day he died.
He apologized to Kelly again. “Today has been kind of a nightmare. I promise it won’t always be like this.”
“It’s okay,” she said, placing a hand on his arm. The contact made him suck in a breath. “Don’t apologize for being a good uncle.”
He didn’t feel like a good uncle. He felt like he was barely cutting it. Maybe she was just being nice, maybe she saw something he didn’t. Either way, he appreciated the compliment.
They all got inside the truck and Donovan headed back to the city. Graham stared out the window and didn’t say a word. Avery, on the other hand, talked nonstop. Kelly patiently listened to her go on and on in excruciating detail about her day at school. She even described everything she ate for lunch.
“At recess, we played tag and I was only it one time because I am super fast. I had my fast shoes on.”
“You have fast shoes?” Kelly asked, making Donovan chuckle. Avery had a pair of sneakers that he told her would make her run faster. He had to be careful what he said around Avery because she