The Mrs. Degree (Accidentally in Love 2)

My body sags with relief. “It won’t always be this way, Davis. I promise I’ll get my shit together and become an adult someday. Unfortunately for me, Skipper is the more mature one of the two of us sometimes.”

Juliet laughs. “Oh, come on. I’m sure that’s not true.”

“Certainly feels like it.”

I take more bacon, then grab a plate and load it with scrambled eggs and a slice of toast. I make a small plate for Skipper when she comes downstairs. She’s sleeping late this morning but is due to come tearing down the stairs in a matter of minutes, making a fuss and a ton of noise.

“I love you guys.” I push the food around my plate. “And I love this bacon. And I love these eggs.”

“Hey now, you’re not allowed to declare your love for bacon. Only people.”

“Blah, let me eat in peace.”

He leans against the counter, resting on his elbows. “So what did happen last night?”

Ugh, why are brothers so relentless?

“Well.” I swallow the eggs I had in my mouth. “Jack did come over after the barbecue. I invited him over to help get Skipper ready for bedtime. I gave her a bath, and then he read her a story.”

“Which story?” Davis wants to know.

“One of her Rainbow Dash stories.”

“Ah,” he says knowingly. “Ponies on Parade, Dash’s Big Dream.”

I’m stupefied. “How do you know this?”

“Because I’ve had to read it eight hundred times. I suck at the voices, or so I’ve been told.”

We all suck at the pony voices. “It’s hard to compete with a cartoon.”

“Right.” He pauses. “You’re stalling. On with the story before Little Miss Nosy Rosey Skipper crashes our party.”

I inhale a breath, letting it all out as I say, “So he puts Skipper to bed, and I can hear them talking. I obviously stood outside the bedroom door listening. And she compared their hands and corrected him a few times as he was reading. They came up with a secret handshake.”

“Aw.” Juliet sighs. “That’s so adorable.”

“I know. Melted my heart.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Davis isn’t impressed. “A secret handshake, big whoop.”

“Babe, don’t be jealous. You’re still her favorite uncle.”

He gives me a pointed look. “Go on.”

“After he tucked her in, he came downstairs, and I had glasses of wine for each of us, so I invited him to stay. We sat on the couch and talked a bit. Then he invited me to Colorado.”

I leave out the kissing parts, but Juliet isn’t letting me off the hook.

“That’s it? You just talked?” She looks unconvinced and disappointed. As well she should. Juliet squints at me.

“No fooling around, just talking? Why don’t I believe you?”

I set my fork down. “Fine. We kissed.”

There, I said it.

“Who kissed who first?”

“I don’t actually remember. I think we just…leaned into each other at the same time?” He was caressing my face, and I was touching his thigh, and one thing led to another, and we were kissing.

“And?!” She is so impatient for more details. “How was it?”

“Good? Fine? I don’t know—great?” My toes curled inside my socks. That’s all I know. But my brother is standing here drinking in every word, and I’m not about to say this to his face. He’s annoyed with me as it is. He doesn’t need to hear about me sucking face with a man he just found out is Skipper’s father.

Dig that knife farther into his back? No thanks.

“And he wants to reconnect?” She uses air quotes around the word reconnect, grinning. “This is great news. Very, very good news.”

I thought so, too. “Next weekend, he has a game on Sunday. Sunday night football, and he was hoping I could fly in Saturday so we can spend the whole day bonding or whatever. Then Sunday I would go to his game, and Monday I’d fly home.”

Davis is nodding. “Solid plan. Do you want me to take Skip? We can do the waterpark or something. Juliet, should we?”

“Yeah, that would be fun. Skipper and I haven’t done any bonding lately.”

She and my brother haven’t been in a relationship long, so she’s still getting used to the fact that Davis is Skipper’s sole male role model, and he spends a lot of quality time with her. Juliet hasn’t joined them on many of their outings, but she’s a teacher and loves children. Skipper is becoming one of her favorite kids of all time.

I see a future favorite aunt in the making.

“Good, then it’s settled.” Davis nods. “I’ll get Skipper from school and take her on Monday. Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.”

Lord, I am so blessed. “Thank you.”

I'm not sure if it’s the mood or the alcohol in my glass, but I love them so damn much that I want to jump up and hug them and give them a million kisses.

Now if only my boss were this easy.