I scrub a hand over my jaw. “We just got back from the lake.”
“Mm, I know. I saw the photos Elle made Penny send to me so I could show Max. Very wholesome. Veryfamily-core.”
Penny arches a brow at me from across the kitchen, and I turn away slightly and lower my voice, as though that’ll help.
“What do you want, Lawson?”
Remi chuckles just enough that I know she’s conspiring. “A sleepover.”
“For who?”
“For Elle, genius. Pizza. Movie. Max has been asking, and Zela will scream if she doesn’t get to see Elle. And it means you can have your own sleepover, too. WithPenelope.”
“Remi, that’s—”
“Tell him I said stop being useless!” Colt calls from the background.
“Tell him I can hear him,” I say back.
“Good,” comes Colt’s reply.
Remi doesn’t miss a beat. “Quality time matters, Ev. You know that. You guys get a stretch off, and then it’s back to shifts and late nights and missed dinners. Take it while you can.”
I glance at Penny again, who’s now drying the cooler with careful movements and pretending very hard not to listen.
Remi continues. “Also, Zela starts walking, I’m not offering childcare to anyone. I’ll be too busy chasing two toddlers around.”
“You’re dramatic.”
“I’m a limited-time offer, babe.”
There’s another beat, then she continues softly.
“I like her,” she says. “She’s perfect for you… and you should take her out properly.”
I exhale through my nose. “You don’t even know what’s going on.”
“I don’t need a play-by-play,” she replies. “I have eyes.”
Colt pipes up again, faint but audible. “Tell him I got fifty bucks riding on him not screwing this up.”
“Colt says next round at Neverland is on him if you don’t waste this,” Remi translates sweetly.
I shake my head, even though she can’t see it. “You’re both insufferable.”
“Are you bringing my angel princess niece to us or not?”
My shoulders rise as I inhale deeply, then look at Penny again.
“Fine,” I say down the phone. “What time?”
Remi makes a small, satisfied sound. “Drop her in an hour.”
I hang up before she can add anything else, like what she thinks I should wear or where she thinks we should go. I haven’t taken a woman out on a real date in so long, it may as well be never. But I’m still a man who knows how to take a woman out on a damn date.
Elle is on her feet before I’ve even put the phone down. “Was that Aunty Remi?”
“Yup. She wondered if you wanna have a sleepover.”
