“I’m not thirsty.”
“Hungry, then? I’ve got a few snacks I’m sure I could dig up,” he said.
“I’m fine standing here waiting for the call from CPS.”
He snickered and shook his head before he pushed off the wall. He walked over to the kids and placed his hands on the back of the couch, then bent to kiss Zoey on top of her head. She looked up at him and smiled with her beautiful bright eyes, and the way Ryan looked down at her was curious to me.
He looked at them almost as if he loved them like his own.
He walked around and kissed both of the boys on their heads and they laughed. I watched him walk around and sit in a chair, his leg crossing over his knee. He was watching them to their homework. Making himself available in case they needed help.
It was a side to Ryan Aaron I didn’t think existed.
“Uncle Ryan?”
“Yes, sweet pea?”
“What does… R-A-L-P-H spell?” Zoey asked.
“Why don’t you sound it out for me?”
“Rah-ll-puh-huh.”
“When ‘p’ and ‘h’ appear together, they make the found of an ‘f’.”
“Why?” Zoey asked.
“Because ‘ph’ is a sound that is derived from Ancient Greek text,” I said. “When the sound was modernized, it became a voiceless labiodental fricative. It’s the evolution of the English language, essentially.”
Ryan’s eyes whipped up to mine as Zoey turned around. Her face was scrunched up and it made me bite back a giggle. Ugh. Sometimes I hated explaining the English language to kids.
“Because that’s just how it is,” I said.
“Oh. Okay. So… Rah-ll-f?” Zoey asked.
“Correct. R-A-L-P-H spells ‘Ralph’,” Ryan said.
“Thank you,” Zoey said.
Ryan’s eyes caught mine again before he nodded his head.
“Thank you for teaching me something new, Miss Gentry.”
“She teaches a lot of new stuff,” Benjamin said.
“She’s awesome,” Hunter said.
“Well I’m glad to have the approval of the men in the room,” I said with a grin.
“You don’t have my approval yet,” Ryan said.
“Good thing I don’t see you as a man.”
The kids in the room fell apartment in laughter as my eyes caught Ryan’s. There was a playful glint in them as a devious grin crept across his cheeks. I averted my gaze and swallowed thickly, then dug my phone out of my purse. When in the world was CPS going to get back to me?
Something buzzed at my side and I jumped. Ryan let out a bout of laughter as he got up from his chair and made his way for the door. He pressed a button and conversed with someone who I assumed was downstairs, then he stood by the door and waited.
“Is the pizza here?” Benjamin asked.