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Chapter3
“My hands will be stained for days.”
“Yeah, must be hard on you, seeing as you’re so soft,” Luke said to Jack, the middle Trainer brother.
They were on the grass that doubled as the go-to place in Ryker for most things from displays to events. At Christmas there was a huge tree with lights, and today was all about pumpkins. They were carving them, and they would then be lined up for people to judge.
“Do you notice a lack of parental supervision?” Jack asked, making a show of looking around them for Joe and Pip and their partners.
“They’re tucked up inside drinking coffee, while the uncles are shouldering the pumpkin-carving burden.”
Their nieces, Ella and Grace, and nephew, Benji, had asked them to help create pumpkin masterpieces. Luke suspected they’d been put up to that. Blake had stayed with Dylan, as he had a cold.
“Uncle Luke?”
“What’s up, Gracie? Other than the fact your uncle is going soft, that is,” Luke added throwing pumpkin innards at his brother.
She was the eldest of his nieces and nephews and the leader of the pack in every way. Bossy and demanding, she was held in check by Dylan and Pip, her parents. Her uncles, however, tended to let her do what she wanted.
“That boy there said I was ugly and he didn’t like my boots.”
Luke followed his niece’s pointed finger to where Lindel Tanner stood beside his son, Marley. He tensed. Lindel Tanner had been a shithead when Luke was in school. A bully and a shithead, he amended.
“I told him he was uglier, and then his daddy said I was a nasty little girl.”
Gracie’s lip quivered. Today’s outfit was a dress in pale blue with a face on it—he couldn’t remember the name—woolen tights, and black fur-lined boots. Her jacket was lying on the ground beside him. Her woolen cap was standing on top of her head and doing nothing to keep her ears warm, as her mother had intended when she’d put it on. Luke reached up and tugged it down.
“Okay, well, that wasn’t very nice. I’ll go have a chat with him, but first, why were you over there anyway? Aren’t you supposed to be helping your pathetic uncle Jack make his pumpkin look good enough to even get a vote?”
“Ella and I are helping you, Uncle Luke, and Benji is helping Uncle Jack.”
“Gee, that’s exciting for me then.”
Jack snickered, knowing that a girlie pumpkin was in Luke’s future.
“I wanted to go and see what everyone was doing and say hello.” Grace’s face was sweet and innocent. Anyone who didn’t know her would be fooled. Luke did know her.
“So you didn’t go over there to check out the competition and maybe make a few comments about yours being better than theirs?”
Her eyes went to the toes of her boots.
“Here’s the thing, Gracie. You can think stuff all you want, but you need to keep the bad words inside your head. It’s not going to get you anywhere in life if you’re mean to people.”
“I wasn’t being mean; I was being honest. Their pumpkin’s eyes are too close together.”
Jack snickered again. “I know a few humans like that.”
“But if that honesty comes out mean, it’s best you don’t say it.” Luke ignored his brother. “In fact, don’t say anything. Then you’re not lying either.” This parenting crap was hard, and she wasn’t even his child. “You gotta try to be nice. I get some people are not nice back, but you should walk away when that happens.”
“Do as I say not as I did,” Jack muttered.
“Not helping.” Luke glared at him. “Got it, Gracie? Being mean is not cool.”
She muttered something under her breath.
“Saying ‘fuck’ under your breath is still saying it. And you know only adults get to say that.” It was hell keeping a straight face when he wanted to laugh like Jack was.
“Daddy says that. He says adults earned the right to swear, even if they shouldn’t do it in front of me.”
