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I opened my mouth, unsure what was going to come out, but was interrupted by a small person.
“Uncie Roman!” Maddy called, hanging out the door in a bright pink dressing gown. She sounded stuffed up, which would go a long way to explaining why she hadn’t woken me up that morning.
“In a minute, Mads!” I called before turning back to Piper and trying again.
But I was interrupted again.
“But Grandma said you’d make me pancakes!”
“Of course, she did,” I muttered, thinking it served me right for trying to hold onto something that wasn’t meant to be mine.
“You’d best go,” Piper said softly.
“Yeah, I’d best.” I sighed.
“See you later.”
“Yeah, catchya.” I nodded.
My gaze lingered on her as I seriously contemplated just saying something to her. Anything. But I didn’t know what to say and I guessed that was for the best. It would make the whole thing far less painful to just walk away now.
So, I just ran my hand through my hair, gave her a nod, and jogged back to pick up Maddy.
“Uncie Roman!” Maddy giggled happily. “I’ve got a cold!” she said like I should know not to get too close. I had to assume she’d learnt that from Paris, who’d learnt it the same way I had.
I shrugged, “Sharing is caring,” as we went inside.
She laughed and wriggled out of my arms to jump onto one of the barstools. “Can we have Milo with our pancakes?” she asked Mum.
Mum looked her over. “You know, my mum used to tell me that lots of milk was bad for a cold.”
Maddy gasped in utter horror and I had to hide my smile in the fridge while I hunted for eggs.
“No!” Maddy breathed.
“Yes,” Mum answered.
“So, no Milo?”
Mum laughed. “Personally, I don’t know how true that is. You want Milo. You can have Milo.”
“Thanks, Grandma.”
We made it through pancakes – with enough time for me to duck off to grab a hoody – and then Maddy made us have a movie afternoon. She fell asleep with her head in Mum’s lap just after the start of the second one, but neither Mum nor I seemed inclined to get up and do anything else, so I was on the other couch on my phone and Mum was pretending she wasn’t totally invested in the princess with all the fiery curls wielding a bow and battling a bear. Or something.
Salazar
Jimbo’s. Eight.
Lombardi
Or?
Salazar
Or I beat you
“Are you seeing Piper tonight?” Mum asked quietly, so as to not wake the sleeper.
