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Lexi remained ominously silent, probably holding her breath. She had her back to him, watching the kids carefully. She was studying Noel at the moment, but Noel had her big blue eyes glued on him. She studied him with all the careful attention her four-year-old self could muster.
“What happened?” she repeated. “Did he die?”
“Honey, maybe-”
He cut Lexi off. She was a little late on the damage control front. “Actually, he did,” he informed Noel tonelessly. “He died a few years ago. Right before you were born. We went on a fishing trip. Grandpa, great grandpa and me. He was ancient, but he never let that slow him down. Maybe he should have since he ended up having a heart attack. He did it on my watch, while grandpa was back in the cabin. We were out on the lake in the boat. I tried to save him, but he was beyond what I could do. CPR wasn’t going to help. He needed a hospital and we were out in the wilderness, hours from help.”
He studied Noel’s face carefully. He really had no filter. Didn’t believe in it. Not for kids. Not for anyone. She’d asked him a question. Straight up. He answered her. Straight up. It wasn’t like he could lie about that. She hadn’t asked him if Santa was real, for fuck sakes.
“Well…” Noel blinked. “Is he in heaven then?”
He chuckled tonelessly. “I don’t know. No one does.”
“Mom said he’s in heaven. Dad too. They say that’s where people go when they die. And pets too.”
“Sweetheart, I’m sure that most people don’t end up going there. Your parents don’t even know that heaven is real-”
“Okay!” Lexi clapped her hands far too enthusiastically. “How about we finish up with the cereal and go outside! There’s a great big pool out there and I know for a fact your mom packed you both bathing suits. It’s already hot! A great day for a swim.”
“Austin can’t swim, silly,” Noel pointed out. “Mom says if he goes in water he’ll drown and then maybe he’ll end up in heaven too.”
“No one is going to end up in heaven!” Lexi corrected breathlessly.
Curtis turned and bit down on his bottom lip to keep from laughing. Lord. Kids. While he didn’t like to be reminded about his grandfather dying in his arms and it sucked to explain it, the rest was actually quite humorous, especially Lexi getting told off by a four-year-old.
“At least not yet,” Lexi went on. “You’re both going to live long, happy lives. There are lifejackets in your room, and I’ll hold onto Austin. Or both of you, if you want me to. It will be perfectly safe and perfectly fine.”
“I can swim like a fish,” Noel said proudly. She waved her spoon in the air, flinging cereal all over. Austin let out a joyful scream in echo. He wasn’t really talking yet, that Curtis knew of at any rate. It was probably coming soon. He was thankful for small mercies. The lip of one was about all he could handle.
“Great! Me too!” Lexi said proudly. “Well, how about we go up and change. Leave uncle to clean up breakfast.”
“Yeah!” Noel punched the air with her little fist. She scrambled away from the table. Austin couldn’t get down as fast as his sister, which led to him bursting into frustrated tears which Lexi quickly soothed as she scooped him up.
Curtis watched them leave. He breathed out a sigh of relief before he went down on half a roll of paper towel to clean up the disaster that was his table. The thing used to be a high-end piece of furniture. Just one of the one million reasons people should never have kids. They were disgusting germ factories. They took up all your free time. They ruined your things. They ruined your life in general. They turned into teenagers and ruined your life all over again. End of story.
He had the kitchen put back together and went up to change as soon as Lexi ushered the kids outside. The double doors to the patio opened off the living room, so he heard her go out. He figured that he should get changed and go out too. The weekend wasn’t just about looking after his sister’s brats. She hadn’t even called about her dear children. No matter how worried she was, she was taking her weekend away seriously. Or maybe she thought he could grow a pair of stones and actually look after two little kids. Maybe, absurdly enough, she trusted him to keep them alive. Not well. Just alive. Maybe that was good enough for her. She knew nothing about Lexi or anyone else coming over, so she must really trust him, or she was just that desperate for a vacation to the dumpy bed and breakfast she’d picked out.
