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One hour till we leave.
Then one hour till we arrive. Then one hour till Jimmy. Then Bobby.
I want things to slow down, but at the same time, I want it to speed up. I want to wake up tomorrow morning with tonight behind us, two shiny championship belts, and a day where we have nothing to do but relax.
“Fu– dge, Tink.” Jack steps into the room and immediately adjusts his sentence. Evie has a sponge brain that’s ready and waiting to soak up a new swear. He’d never normally walk in, definitely not when Bobby’s here, but I guess he feels confident no one’s having sex right now. “Why the hell aren’t you dressed yet?”
She rolls her eyes. “Relax, tiny. It’ll take me two minutes to throw my dress on. Then it’s up to Tina to make me glamorous.”
Just like me, Jack stalks across the room anxiously. Dressed and ready to go in jeans and a Rollin shirt, I shake my head at his outfit. I’ve told him a hundred times that tonight’s a little more formal than jeans and T-shirts, but he’s not budging.
Gym proud, Jack is.
“Alright, Tinky turd. You’re up.” Tina taps Izzy’s thigh and helps her stand.
“Jack, get out unless you wanna see my boobs.” Teasing, Tink begins to undo her top and sends him sprinting from the room before the first button is undone. As soon as the door closes, she shimmies into her dress and sits down.
Groaning, Tina arches her back and pops joints, stretching out. She’s been at this for hours, and although she offered to do this, for free of course, there’s no way in hell we won’t be paying her.
Forty-five minutes of buffing and polishing the already beautiful Casey, I look down at my phone and squeak at the ‘10 minutes to go’ alarm. Butterflies pump through my system, swirling and more violent than before. I’ve tried to keep myself distracted, I sat and drew with Evie and puppy, but now I’ve run out of ideas.
I’m flat out of distractions.
“Alright, babe. You’re all done.” Tina smiles as she studies her handiwork. Having a makeup and hair professional in our midst is pretty handy. “Come with me.” She packs up her makeup case, stands and brushes off her pants, and takes my hand. I grab Izzy’s, who grabs Tink’s, who grabs Evie and pops her on her hip, and we follow silently as she leads us out of the room and down the stairs.
“Okay, stand there.” She stops me at the bottom of the stairs and takes her daughter from Tink. Stepping back, she rummages through her bags until she finds her fancy camera. “Smile ladies. Your men are famous. They’re gonna be the world champions in a few short hours. There are millions of girls who would pay for a night with a Kincaid, yet you’re the girls who have their hearts. Smile like you mean it.”
I do. I smile. I smile like I’m high and I allow the butterflies in my stomach to swirl and batter. Wearethe women who hold their hearts. I can smile for that.
“Jack!”
He jogs to the front entrance at Tina’s call and stops with wide eyes and a smile. “Wow. You guys look real pretty.”
“Hop in the picture, Jack. You’re escorting these beauties tonight, you’re the man of the house right now. Act like it.” Setting Evie on her feet, Tina steps around to find new angles with a smile and her camera covering most of her face.
Jack’s chest puffs with pride, he steps into the picture between me and Tink, but his arms are long enough that he can reach and pull Izzy in tight on the end. Tinaclick, click, clickswith a smile, until eventually, she lowers the camera. “All done. You guys look so amazing. I hope you have an amazing time.”
“No, wait.” I step forward before she packs her camera away. “Jack, could you please take a photo? I want Tina to hop in. And Evie.”
“Oh, no.” Tina waves me off like I’m crazy. “This is your night. I’m not dressed up like you guys.”
“Don’t be silly. Here, Jack. Use my phone, anyway. She’ll kill us if you drop the monster camera.”
“No, wait, here.” Tina carefully hands her camera to Jack as though it were a diamond encrusted newborn baby protected by a single soap bubble. “Just press this button. Look through this hole. Please, please,pleasedon’t drop it.”
“Let me hold Evie?” Tink holds her arms out for the eager toddler. “You girls are all tall and glamourous. I need Evie to balance out my end of the picture.” She tickles the thrashing Evie and turns to angle toward the camera.
“Okay girlies, smile and say monkeys.” Jack laughs and starts clicking through a hundred images a minute. “Evie, stop pulling that face, baby girl.” She giggles and sends Jack’s dimple popping.
My brother looks so handsome. At sixteen, he looks so grown.
“Okay, all done.” He steps forward with his hands outstretched to Tina, but at the last second, he fumbles the camera and yelps with surprise. Tina jumps forward on a cry at the same time he clicks and laughs his ass off. “That’s a good picture.” He snorts and jumps back when she snatches the camera and savagely smacks his chest and arm.
“You asshole!”Smack. “You jerkhole.”Smack. Smack.“I’ll kill you.”
“Damn, woman.” He escapes her wrath with a laugh. “Stop hitting me! Who taught you how to hit like that?”
“I did! I’m so mad at you.” She cuddles the camera as though it were a newborn. “That was a d-i-c-k thing to do.”
