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“Here you go, Leah,” Bryce said, handing me my tray of drinks.
I jumped in surprise. Radleigh had me mesmerised. Again.
“Thanks,” I said, as I took the drinks. ”I guess I'd better get back. Have a good evening, guys.”
“Wait,” Radleigh said. “Don’t you wanna introduce your nephew to his hero?”
I glanced around the room. “Is Spiderman here?”
Bryce and Cody cracked up, and McCoy glared at me.
“Just kidding,” I told him, giggling. “I'm sure he'd love to meet you but-”
I trailed off, not sure whether to finish the sentence. The truth was, I didn't want to give people anything more to talk about. If I took Radleigh to meet my nephew, however innocent the motive, people were bound to start gossiping again.
“Screw them,” he said, reading my mind.
“If anyone says anything we'll set them straight,” Bryce added, and that was enough for me.
“Okay McCoy,” I said. “Let's go.”
As we approached, Jamie watched, his eyes glued on McCoy. Jamie surveyed him, open mouthed and when we reached the table, I said, “Radleigh wanted to come and meet you, Jamie.”
Suddenly shy, my nephew snuggled into his father.
“Hi. I'm Josh, Leah's brother.”
Radleigh shook his hand and we sat down.
“My son is having difficulty taking in everything that happened today,” Josh laughed. “It's been quite an experience.”
“I bet,” Radleigh said with a smile. “Did you enjoy the match?”
“It was incredible.”
“Even I enjoyed myself,” I said.
“Yeah, I heard you,” Radleigh teased.
Josh watched as we went off into our usual passive aggressive banter, and I knew his mind was ticking over. My behaviour towards McCoy wasn’t backing up the way I'd said I felt about him, but this was precisely how things were. For a while, Radleigh and I got on fine, then everything would flip and we'd be fighting again.
While we'd been talking, Jamie slowly peeled himself away from Josh and towards me. He looked exhausted as he sat down on my lap. I wrapped my arms around him, and with one hand, gently stroked his hair.
“Bedtime for you soon,” I told him.
“I'm not tired,” he answered as a yawn escaped him.
“I guess you'll have to stay down here by yourself then,” I said. “I want to go to sleep so I’m ready for tomorrow.”
“Where are you going tomorrow?” Radleigh asked.
“Aquarium,” Jamie answered, addressing him directly for the first time all evening.
“The Florida Aquarium is awesome. I went a couple of years ago when my parents were in town. My mom dragged me and my dad there.”
“Yeah, we're only going because of Leah and Christina,” Josh laughed. “Although my wife says it will be educational for the children.”
“It is educational. It's surprising what you learn when you're … looking at fish.”
