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Zander gave her a look that only he could get away with when it came to her. “I know, okay. I know. But you shouldn’t. Stay in your lane as long as you can, bucko.”
“Stinks.”
“Oh, kid. Mom's in so much trouble.” She ruffled his blond waves as they walked back to the house. “Well, he is your sister's dad—by blood—he is yours too in a way.”
“Yeah.”
“He shows you how much he loves you, right?”
“And mamma too.” Zander pulled his shoes off the second they got in the door.
“Oh yes. That he does.”
“Do you think he’d mind?”
Soon e veryone will be calling him Daddy. Lexi’s inner voice had bad and comedic timing.
“If it means something to you, I don’t think he would be upset. I know if it comes from a place of love it would mean even more.”
“Yeah, and less confusing for Penny.”
“You’re such a good big brother, already thinking of your sister.”
“As long as I don’t have to share my room or my Legos!”
“Well, someone isn’t going to have Legos anymore if he doesn’t clean them up and keep them out of his sister's reach, Mister,” Mia chimed in, coming into the front hallway and wiping her hands on a kitchen towel.
“It’s not my fault she knocked the bucket over, Mom!”
“No, but it’s your responsibility as her older brother to know better, to keep it where she can’t grab the bucket and knock it over.”
“Hey, you know those things are no fun to step on!” Lexi nudged his shoulder, teasing him to help get the point across. “Do we have to sort through them and get rid of the extras?”
Zander turned and looked up at Lexi with a grin. “Same deal as last time?”
“If you want another special edition of Legos, then you’re going to have to give me more than last time. I want two full boxes this time. We’ll take them down to be cycled out, how’s that sound?” One of their previous clients had introduced them to a company that upcycled gently loved toys and Legos were hard to come by.
Zander had amassed quite the collection over the years. A good portion was attributed to his certain aunt and grandmother.
He scrunched up his face in thought, reaching over and grabbing the banana Mia held out for him. He turned and pointed it at Lexi. “A new motor and you got a deal!”
Lexi waited a beat before answering, already knowing the answer, but she still played the pretense of not caving in too easily. Mia scoffed less that way. “Make it a good haul and you got a deal.”
“Yes!” he whooped, darting toward his room.
“Please, don’t wake your sister,” Mia fussed, then sighed in relief when Zander didn’t slam his door closed in his rushed excitement. She then turned her attention to Lexi. “You two ran to the park awful fast this morning.”
“Hey, my dude was mad I didn’t wake him last night. There’s nothing like nearly breaking your neck on a hundred-degree slide to get some cool auntie points back.”
“Oh, so that was what that was called? I thought it was avoidance.” Over ten years of friendship, so they knew each other's moves as well as any lover.
“You’re tired and reading into things that aren’t there,” Lexi offered. “So, you told Nolan I was here this morning.” She drove the subject away from her situation. “He doesn’t have a problem that I’m here? That’s not what we signed up for,” she asserted.
“Oh goodness, no.” Mia laughed. “He is well aware and knows you’re part of the package.” They made their way into the kitchen, gravitating toward the coffee pot. “He worries when he’s not here. He forgets I did it for years.”
“Yes, but now you’re outnumbered.”
“Well, that is unequivocally his fault. I’ll have a basketball team before I’m forty. This is his last out-of-town account until the end of summer.” Mia set down her coffee, picked up her phone, and unlocked the screen. “We’re still getting together in two weeks? I mean, you already know I’m not asking.”
