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“We’re good,” I told her and thanked her.
Everly dipped her fork into the whipped cream and spread it over the edge of the pancakes before attempting to cut off a bite. She pushed down too hard, causing a chunk to go flying into her hair, another landing on her shirt, where the chocolate left a streak as it fell to her lap. “Oopsie.”
I was just about to help her when Kendall leaned over Everly’s plate and started to cut up the stack.
“It’ll taste even better if it’s in small pieces,” she told Everly.
Once she chopped up the section in front, knowing that was more than enough, Kendall took the crumbs out of Everly’s hair.
“How is it?” I asked as she took her first bite.
“Whoooa.”
“That good?”
“Uncle D, sooo good.”
I dug into the strawberry almond stack, this flavor full of tartness, not nearly as sweet as the banana and brown sugar had been.
And it was fucking delicious.
I could tell Kendall really liked hers by the way she was groaning as she chewed. When she swallowed, she said to Everly, “Can I try some of yours? I’ve never had their chocolate chip, and it looks delicious.”
“Mmhmm,” Everly replied with her mouth full.
Kendall took one of the pieces she’d already cut, her eyes closing the moment it hit her lips. “Oh my God.” Her head leaned back, like the night I’d gone down on her. “Everly, this is the best pancake ever. It’s like cake.”
“Want more? I’m a good sharer.”
She laughed. “No, honey, you keep eating, but thank you for offering.”
“There’s so much chocolate. Yummy!”
A chip was on the corner of her mouth, somehow smearing toward her cheek every time she chewed. It now matched her shirt, and I had a feeling more was on her lap.
I would need to hose her off before she brought all that stickiness in my car.
“A girl after my own heart,” Kendall said, wiping Everly’s face with a napkin she had dunked in her water glass. “Chocolate is my favorite kind of cake.”
“Me too!” She reached for her milk, leaving chocolate handprints on the cup. When she finished drinking, she dumped another spoonful of whipped cream on her plate, her lips forming a big circle, full of excitement. “When are you going to be on TV? I need to remember, so I can ask Daddy if I can watch.”
“The TV cameras are following her around now,” I said.
“NOW?!” Everly shouted across the restaurant before realizing how loud she had been and laughing at herself.
“Not now, now,” Kendall said. “But they have been over the last week, and the show will probably come on in a few months.”
“Uncle D, make sure to tell Dad that, ’kay?”
“Of course.”
Everly wiggled as she ate, the thrill not even close to wearing off and the sugar just starting to kick in. After a few more bites, she flopped back against her seat. She patted her belly. “Umph. I’m stuffed.”
“That makes two of us, girlfriend.”
I was feeling full myself and set down my fork, lifting my coffee to sip. “Was it better than you thought it would be?”
Her bangs bounced when she nodded. “I wanna come back next weekend, and I want Kendall to come.”
“What if she’s busy and she can’t make it?”
“I can certainly make time to have brunch with you two,” Kendall replied.
“It’s a date,” Everly said.
Kendall looked at me. “I’m not sure I’d call it that …”
I held her gaze and then waved over the waitress to get the check. Before she even pulled it out of her apron, I handed her my credit card. “Do you mind boxing up these leftovers?”
“Of course. Let me run this”—she held up my card—“and I’ll be right back.”
Kendall put her arm around Everly, pulling her against her side. “This has been a blast. Maybe next time, I’ll bake you something chocolaty to eat with your pancakes.”
“Like cake?”
Kendall laughed. “Sure, I can make you a cake.”
“Uncle D, can Kendall come over and bake a cake? And I can help her decorate and frost and stuff?”
My eyes were back on Kendall. She was making a promise she couldn’t renege on, but her expression told me she wouldn’t. She’d fallen for Everly, like I’d had a feeling she would.
“We can arrange that.”
“Yay!”
Kendall smiled, using the same wet napkin to clean off Everly’s face and hands. “We’ll plan a time really soon. How does that sound?”
“Fantabulous.”
The waitress delivered the receipt and returned my credit card and boxed each of the leftovers. I signed the bottom of the slip, and we got up from the booth, leaving the restaurant.
“Fly,” Everly said, holding out her hands.
Balancing the boxes, I held one, and Kendall gripped the other. We lifted her into the air, her giggle louder than the traffic that passed.
Even though Kendall was looking at Everly, I couldn’t take my eyes off her.
Something had told me she was going to be wonderful around kids. But seeing her interact this way with my niece was an entirely different feeling. A deeper one, something I couldn’t translate into words.
But I felt it.
Right in my goddamn chest.
Kendall, what the fuck am I going to do with you?
I couldn’t get enough of her, couldn’t keep her out of my mind.
Each time I tried, she found her way right back in.
More.
But was that something I could really give her?
Now?
Everly rose into the air one last time before we reached my SUV, and I got her set up in the backseat.
Kendall stayed beside me, and when I finished, she gave Everly a hug. “I’m going to walk back to my apartment, so I’m going to say good-bye now.”
“Nooo.”
Kendall pulled back to look at my niece’s face. “I promise you’ll see me soon. I’ll have Uncle D set up a cake date for us, all right?”
I heard the sadness in Everly’s voice when she said, “Okaaay.”
