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He gestures in the air. “And yeah, maybe there were times in the beginning where things felt a little weird. I thought for sure there had to be something going on between them. Hell, everyone did. But they swore up and down it was nothing. I even intentionally dropped by unannounced multiple times, trying to catch them in the act.”
“The act?” I laugh, and he joins me.
“Okay, well, not that act.” He makes a face at me. “Just in any act, I guess. Kissing, holding hands, whatever. But eventually, I gave up on the whole thing. It really did seem like they were the same old Emily and Chase. Only this time, there was a baby involved.” He stops talking and lifts a bulky shoulder in a shrug before crossing his arms in front of him.
“Were you ever jealous of them?”
“Of Chase and Emily? No. But there have been times over the years when I’ve been a little jealous of the relationship Chase and Willow have. Let’s be honest, though, he’s a way better father than I ever could be. Hell, I don’t even have a dad of my own. What do I know about being one?”
“You seem like a pretty doting uncle to me. I think you’d make a great father someday.”
“Yeah,” he says, staring off at Olivia again. “Maybe someday.”
* * *
“You can’t do that,” Olivia says. She swats at Drake’s hand.
“Owe!” he whines, dropping the green Uno card back onto the discard pile. Willow snickers beside me. “Why can’t I? You haven’t even gone yet.”
“Once you let go of a card, that’s it,” she tells him. “You can’t pick it back up.”
Drake turns to me at his right. “Addison, back me up here.”
I shrug, tapping my hand of cards on the table. “Sorry, I agree. Once you discard, that’s it.”
Drake groans and reaches across the table to Willow, a pitiful look on his face. “Willow, please. I need you to tell these two that they’re wrong.”
Willow’s grin nearly splits her face as she giggles and shakes her head. Drake sits up and swivels his body in his chair, facing where Chase is leaning against the kitchen counter, beer in hand.
Chase holds up a hand. “Don’t even ask me to disagree with my daughter and my woman, man. I’m not stupid.”
Drake turns back to the table, grumbling under his breath.
Indira sighs dramatically. “He has always been a poor loser. You should see him play Monopoly.”
Drake rolls his eyes, fixing the discard pile on the table so the cards are lined up perfectly and then turning to Olivia. “Your turn, milady.”
I catch the look of fire in his eyes and see it transfer to Olivia’s cheeks. I raise my eyebrows, but she doesn’t meet my eye, so we go back to playing with little incident. After a few moments, Chase returns to his chair between Willow and Olivia, setting a giant bowl of popcorn down in the middle of the table and a small bowl of Cheetos in front of me. I smile and thank him, and he drops a kiss to my lips.
“I’m gonna go hang out with Emily for a bit,” he says. “I want to give her the album.”
“What album?” Willow asks.
“I’ll show you tomorrow,” Chase replies. “Don’t stay up too late since you’re going out with Nana and Pops tomorrow.”
“Okay,” she agrees.
“We’ll head upstairs after this game,” I assure him. “Olivia said she’d do Willow’s nails tonight, so we’ll have some girl time.”
Drake scoffs, a hand flying to his chest. “You guys are just going to kick me out?”
“You want me to paint your nails too?” Olivia asks.
“Only if you have hot pink,” he replies.
Willow giggles. “I’m getting purple!”
Drake tips his head at her. “You don’t say.”
