Holiday Sparks

Ben looked down at her. “I thought we’d surprise you. I forget that she talks your ear off.”

Darcy smiled. “It’s okay, I like her.”

“Good. It’d be really handy if my two favorite girls liked each other.”

They broke out the food and Brittany told her all about Ben’s more colorful clients at the tattoo parlor. Ben blushed but seemed to get into the swing of things with his niece.

She wasn’t sure what was wrong with Ben, but he’d been off since that morning.

“The best was when Uncle Cesar put up this huge skull off the sign in the shop. It had red glowing eyes that he made with laser pointers. I love to give him ideas. Uncle Ben says I’m going to give him an ulcer someday.”

Ben shook his head. “Not someday, squirt. Already.”

She laughed as Ben stood and gathered their papers. “I need to use the men’s room.”

Darcy looked at Brittany. “Do you need to go?”

“I’m good.”

Ben paused at the door. “I’ll be right back.”

“I think she’ll be fine with me for a few minutes, Ben.”

“Right.”

Brittany turned to her. “You like my Uncle Ben, huh?”

Darcy crossed her arms over her stomach. “Yes. Is that a problem?”

“No, I think I like you. You’re much nicer than any of the other girls that Uncle Ben has dated. They’re usually nice to my face, but I hear them talk about me with my uncle when I’m out of the room. I mean really, don’t they think I have ears?”

Darcy laughed. She knew that kids overheard things all too well. The things she’d heard through the thin walls of the small apartment when she was a kid would make a prostitute blush. “Some women don’t like to share their time with kids.”

“I get that. They want to do adult stuff.”

And knowing Ben’s particular gifts, she imagined most women did not want to deal with a child taking time away from his…talents.

“My dad thinks Uncle Ben is a bimbo magnet. But he says they’re hot babes at least.”

Darcy laughed. “It must be interesting to have men around all the time.”

“They sometimes forget they shouldn’t say stuff in front of me. Then my dad gets all red in the face and tells me to go to my room. Like it’s my fault he said stuff he shouldn’t.”

Darcy couldn’t stop smiling at the girl. Precocious didn’t even cover it. “He was probably just embarrassed.”

“Yeah, probably. Wanna see a picture of him?”

“Sure.”

Brittany dug an iPhone out of her pocket. “I got Dad’s old phone when he got a new one. It’s pretty cool. Not as cool as the new phones, but better than the ones my friends have,” she explained as she swiped it on.

She handled the phone better than Darcy knew how to use hers.

“Here. This was at Christmas last year.” She swiped quickly. “And my birthday, and here was at Uncle Ben’s opening of Luna Hart.”

She went through the pictures so fast, Darcy barely got a chance to see, but she stopped and held the phone out with Ben and her father mugging for the camera with the sign behind them.

Darcy frowned. She’d never forget that face. “Brittany, what’s your dad’s name?”