“No, not at all. My date went great, actually. I really liked Lacey and I hope to see her again soon,” I tell Miranda.
“Oh, yay,” she says, perking back up. “Tell me about it!”
“We went to dinner and then out to the lake for a while. Laid out under the stars talking for a bit. It was really nice, not a lot of pressure and no interruptions.”
“Ohh, baby brother, pulling out the romantic stops on the date,” she coos.
“That wasn’t my intention. I wasn’t ready for the night to end after dinner, but didn’t think going to a bar, movie or bowling would have given us the ability to talk and get to know one another like being out at the lake did.”
“Definitely the best choice. Plus, last night was so nice. Josh and I sat out on the deck with a couple drinks after the kids were in bed and enjoyed the evening.”
“Nice. He around today?” I ask.
“Yeah, he’s in rocking Ivy to sleep for her nap.”
“Ah, good man.”
“Did you need him for something?” she asks.
“No, was just going to see if he wanted to grab a beer, shoot the shit.”
“Shit,” my nephew repeats, clear as day. I give my sister a deer in the headlights look, ready for a beat down that I cussed around him and he repeated it.
“Noah, we don’t say that word. That’s not a good word,” she calmly tells him as he colors away.
She stares me down with her perfected mom look, and I cower under it. “Sorry,” I say under my breath.
“He’s repeating everything,” she says, exaggerating everything.
“I see that. Note to Uncle Garrett, no cussing in front of the little ones.”
“Don’t worry, it isn’t the first cuss word he’s repeated. He did it to Josh the other day and we had the hardest time not busting out laughing when it happened. Just try and be careful. I don’t need my kid going to daycare cussing up a storm.” She chuckles.
“Got it,” I confirm.
“You’re welcome to head inside and see if he’s gotten her to sleep yet. Noah and I will come back inside in a little bit and get things pulled out to grill for lunch.”
“If you want to stay here with him, I can pull things out and help Josh get the grill going.”
“Sure. Everything is already prepped in the fridge.”
I head inside my sister’s house and find my brother-in-law already pulling things out. “Hey, man,” he greets. We slap hands, pulling each other in for a hug and back smack—guy style—before releasing each other. “How’s it going today?” he asks.
“Can’t complain. Busy week, but it ended on a good note,” I tell him before filling him in on meeting Lacey and our date last night.
“Miranda told me about going to Sweet Valley and checking out her bakery. She seemed to like her cousin and her when they briefly met.”
“Yep, she told me all about that visit.”
“Are you guys going out again?” he asks.
“Hopefully. She was going to text me, hopefully today, once she knew when her parents could watch her kids. She’s got a little boy and girl. I offered for us to do something with them, but she wants to take things slow.”
“Probably a good idea,” he states.
“Yeah,” I agree. “The kids don’t bother me one bit, but the distance between us is going to be a bitch.”
“I’m sure if it is meant to be, it will be. You just have to give it time,” he assures me.