Like Ivy said, I was the boss.
Or one of them.
“That was very nice of Morina,” I said softly to Ivy but was looking at the woman I hadn’t seen in days.
Her wavy hair was, as always, a mess that somehow worked around her face. She wore a tank top that was much too loose, with a picture of a hand making up a peace sign. She’d paired it with a blue sports bra that left little to the imagination. Her ripped jeans fit over her ass much better than I remembered and she glared at me with a face I found I was starting to really like.
I set Ivy down and motioned for her to go play with Cade. He swooped her up into his lap and they started playing a game on his phone.
“Sorry for the visitors today.” I slid my hands in my pockets, not sure how to approach this awkward phase we’d stumbled into.
“I like tiny visitors actually.” She smirked toward Ivy who looked up and wiggled her fingers at Morina, always half listening. “Ivy kept me company for a little bit while I made grilled cheese. The chef had the fridge stocked with lots of different cheeses, I’m guessing after they found out I eat that.”
“Right.” I cleared my throat. “We’re going to head over to the amusement park first thing in the morning. Run her around there and then she’ll be going back home.”
Cade’s head popped up. “Not today?”
“Cade, you can’t go to the park in the middle of the day. There are rides that take hours to get on and even if you hack every fast pass system, we still won’t see everything. You want to start your time at the park with a half-tired child and with the knowledge you won’t get to show her everything?”
Ivy nodded and looked at Cade with big puppy eyes. “I want to see everything, Uncle Cade.”
“Of course you do.” He hopped off the bar stool with her. “Guess we need to go mess up Uncle Bastian’s house then. We need to build a fort for our movie night.”
“Yay!” Ivy screamed, but instead of skipping over to me to give me a high five, she skipped over to Morina. “You’ll watch a movie with me, right?”
“Um…” She glanced at me and then back at Ivy. “Sure. I think. I just...” She wrung her hands together. “I have to go take care of some dogs first and then I’ll be back to watch whatever you want.”
I swear Ivy’s whole body, even her curls straightened at the mention of dogs. I shut my eyes in defeat and Cade slapped a palm to his head. Morina mouthed “What?” to us over Ivy’s head.
“I want to see the dogs you take care of,” Ivy announced.
Scratching the scuff of my five o’clock shadow, I waited to see how Morina would navigate this one.
She glanced at me like she was caught between a rock and a hard place.
Yes, woman, you did this to yourself.
I looked away and ambled toward the fridge. She could figure out how to tell the cutest thing in the world no.
“Um… well, I think your uncles probably want you to stay with them.”
“Oh, they will come with. Uncle Bastian, you have a car to drive us right?” She turned those misty eyes toward me and I didn’t even hesitate.
“Of course I do, monster.”
Morina’s jaw dropped. “You…you can’t come.”
“Why can’t we all come, Morina?” I blinked real big like a little kid.
“I mean… I guess if you want to hang out, but you haven’t wanted to hang–”
“Yay!” Ivy cut her off and barreled into Morina’s thighs to hug her.
She patted the child’s back awkwardly and then side eyed me. “I’m just going to change. I guess we can get going in ten minutes if everyone’s ready. I have to do a quick sweep of the kennels. I’m not going to be there long.”
“But there’s going to be dogs for me to pet, right?” Ivy asked, a tiny little pointer finger up in the air as if she needed to be clear.
“Mmhmm.” Morina started down the hallway to her room. When Ivy followed, Cade glanced at me and I shrugged.