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A chuckle rumbles out of my chest. It’s a little higher-pitched than usual and I’m relieved no one is around to hear it. After paying the twenty-dollar fee for the ad, I hit submit and they send me a confirmation number and the date the ad will run, which is tomorrow morning. Friday will be perfect, seeing as she won’t be able to call and dispute the ad all weekend since they’ll be closed.

Having roosters next door will be annoying… but knowing how much she loves sleeping in, they’ll annoy her way more than they will me. I’m up early, anyway.

There’s a chance that no one will pay attention to the ad, but hopefully a few will be dropped off.

I can’t wait.

Cleaning up the table from my rooster research, I pull up the link for my FaceTime meeting with a client who just started a non-profit in the form of a coffee shop. Helping entrepreneurs is my favorite part of this job. I love the challenge the larger companies bring, of course, but there’s something about like-minded small-business owners that makes me love what I do.

I open the link and my client, Tom, pops up on the screen. He’s a younger guy, probably mid-thirties, with red hair and green eyes. He’s wearing a black t-shirt that has the logo of his new coffee shop on it.

“David! So glad we could meet so fast.” He chuckles as he uses his hands to put air quotes around the word meet.

“You too, Tom. How are things going at Bean There, Roasted That?” I grin; it’s impossible to say the name of his coffee shop with a straight face.

He ducks so I can see the view of the coffee bar behind him. “Great! Things are really taking off. But I’d feel better if I could get a grasp on these state nonprofit taxes. You think you can give me some kind of estimate on how much to put aside once tax season rolls around?”

“I’ll do my best.” I pull up a new spreadsheet and get started.

That evening, I pull up to Drew’s house—er, Drew and Sophie’s house—for my first training session with my beast of a brother in law. Drew is waiting in the large garage gym he built with a big smile on his face. He looks way too excited for this, and that makes me dread it all the more.

But I like being prepared, and this is something I can do to make this Peruvian expedition more tolerable.

I park in the driveway behind Drew’s Bronco and step out of my Land Cruiser. Drew meets me in the driveway but stops in his tracks as he takes in my clothing.

“What the hell are you wearing?”

I look down at my v-neck tee, linen shorts and leather loafers. “What’s wrong with it? This is the most casual outfit I own… besides swim trunks.”

He groans and motions with one of his muscular arms for me to follow him inside. “Come on, I’ll let you borrow some gym shorts.”

Reluctantly, I follow him inside, where my nieces attack me with love as soon as they see me.

“Uncle David!” Penny yells and runs to me before throwing her arms around my waist. I smile down at her and ruffle her dark-brown curls.

Samantha is never far behind her new big sister and hugs my legs. “Hey, Sammy girl,” I say.

Sophie comes around the corner and giggles at the sight of the girls embracing me. “Hey, David.”

Drew walks past her down the hallway toward their room and smacks my sister’s butt as he passes her. She bites her bottom lip as she swats him away but he just chuckles as he disappears into their room.

“You guys are disgusting.”

She looks slightly abashed and shrugs. “Newlyweds. Sorry.”

Brooks bursts through the front door without even knocking. “Where are my two favorite girls?” he bellows.

Penny and Samantha run toward him giggling, and he picks both of them up in a big bear hug. When he sets them down, I notice he’s wearing sneakers, red gym shorts, and a Vote Madden Windell t-shirt that he’s cut the sleeves off of so you can see his arms and way too much of his armpits.

“Why are you here?” I ask. It’s obvious he’s here to work out, but he wasn’t invited.

Drew reappears from the hallway and throws me a pair of black gym-shorts. “I saw Brooks at the store earlier and told him you were coming over to work out—"

“And I invited myself along. I couldn’t miss out on the free entertainment,” Brooks interrupts.

With a groan, I take the athletic shorts into the bathroom to change. The girls decorated the bathroom in a unicorn theme and the bathtub is filled with Barbies… and Barbie hair. Gross.

I slide off my linen shorts, then fold them neatly and set them on the bathroom counter. As soon as I step into Drew’s gym shorts, I can tell they’re going to be huge.