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Jesus, the kid was loud. Laughing, he shook his head as he watched Max race to gather up all his toys. “We’ve got time, Max, no rush.”
“What if they eat without us?”
“They won’t.”
Max wandered over and stopped in front of him.
From his place seated on the ground, Jeff looked up slightly and noted the worry clouding Max’s eyes. “What’s the matter?”
“What if they don’t like me as your kid?” he whispered.
Jeff’s chest tightened. He pushed up so he was kneeling at eye level with Max. “They’re gonna love you. I mean, how could they not? You love baseball as much as they do.”
Max nodded. “Yeah, I do.”
“I know, plus I showed them pictures of the Lego stadium we built, and they thought that was the coolest thing they’d ever seen.”
“They did?” Max’s eyes widened.
“Yeah, and we need another guy to round things out in the group. We have an even number, and we need someone who can be a tiebreaker.”
“What’s a tiebreaker?”
“That’s the deciding vote.”
Max’s lips tightened and he frowned. “Kids can’t vote.”
“When you’re out with the guys, you do. For example, let’s say we need to decide on what kind of pizza to order and I want pepperoni and Gonzo wants Hawaiian. You get to vote which one you want and that’s the one we have to get because you broke the tie.”
Max’s forehead wrinkled. “Why don’t you just get half and half like Mom does?”
Jeff smiled. “Because we aren’t as smart as your mom. Bad example. Okay, how about this? We are going to watch a football game. Ryan and I want to sit at the 50-yard line, but Gonzo and Pete want to sit in the end zone. You get to break the tie.”
“I want to sit with you,” Max tells him.
“You’re sitting with me regardless of what you pick because we’re all going to sit together either way.”
“Oh.” Max chewed on his lip as he thought about the question. “Which seats are better?”
“I think the 50-yard line is better.”
“Okay, then we’d sit there.”
“Nice. That would be a good choice.” Jeff began cleaning up. “Although if we’re going to a football game with friends, there isn’t really a bad choice.”
He eyed Max as the little boy watched him clean. “Grab your stuff,” he told the kid.
“I don’t want to,” Max complained.
What the hell? That wasn’t an option. Kia always made it look so effortless for Max to help. He eyed the kid again. “Are you paying me to clean?” Jeff asked.
Max frowned. “No.”
“Exactly, so how about you help out, otherwise we won’t be going anywhere.”
“But you like to clean,” Max said.
“I definitely don’t like cleaning.” He laughed. “This will go a lot faster with both of us helping. Plus, if you want to hang with the big boys you gotta play like the big boys, and unfortunately, that means cleaning up your stuff.”
