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“School was fine. And Tara left. Uncle Gray asked her to leave,” he informs me.
My eyes land on my brother who’s doing his best to look innocent and unassuming.
“Who even let you in here?” I ask.
“The kid did.”
My son looks from me to his uncle, his expression pensive.
“Please don’t fight with Uncle Gray, dad. He said he’s in the city for a couple of days and doesn’t have a place to stay so I told him he could just stay here with us.”
My muscles tense. I look at my brother again and there’s a light smile playing on his lips.
“Your uncle can get a room at a hotel,” I say carefully. “He’s not staying here.”
“But we have an extra room,” my son counters innocently.
I run my hand through my hair in frustration. I swear one of these days I’m going to kill my brother.
“Graham,” I begin. “You can stay in a hotel, right? Or better yet, just go back home.”
My brother looks at me, stroking his jaw as he pretends to think it over.
“I could. But I think I’m gonna stay here,” he finally says, breaking out into a grin. “The kid wants me to. And it’s pissing the hell out of you, so I’ll take that as a win.”
I glare at him, he glares back. A phone in the room starts to ring and Nate climbs off the couch heading for the dining table and grabbing his phone.
He picks up the call. “Hi, Aunt Kayla,” he says enthusiastically.
I sigh softly before moving to sit on the love seat. Graham shoots me a wink that makes me want to punch his smug face. I swear his frontal lobe has never fully developed. No wonder he gets along so well with a ten year old.
“Yeah, dad’s home,” Nate continues to say over the phone. “Uncle Gray’s here too. He’s going to stay with us.”
I don’t hear what my sister says on the other line but suddenly Nate’s stepping in the middle of the living room and putting the phone on speaker.
“Listen up, dear brothers,” Kayla’s voice rings out. “I hear you’re going to be co-habituating for a couple of days and there can be no fighting, understand? Nate’s a sensitive kid and he doesn’t need all that bad mojo in what’s meant to be a stress free environment, okay?”
Nate nods, looking at both me and his uncle. “I’m a sensitive kid,” he repeats.
My lips twitch and Graham laughs outright.
“Alright, buddy. I’ll be on my best behavior, Kay,” he tells our sister.
“Xan?” Kayla prompts.
“Fine! He can stay. But you’re on breakfast duty.”
Graham snorts. “Sure, if you want to see the penthouse burn down.”
“Thirty years old and you still can’t cook. Exactly what are you good for?” I ask.
“Boys...” Mikayla cautions.
“Whatever. I’m tired. Nate order pizza,” I say to my son. “Bye, Kay.”
“Bye. I’ll come join the party as soon as I get permission from dad,” she informs us.
Mikayla’s 25 and should absolutely be allowed to go wherever the hell she wants, whenever she wants. But owing to the fact that she’s the only girl, my dad has a much tighter leash on her. He can be extremely protective and she’s had to deal with the weight of his overbearingness.
