“What if I promised not to throw the ball near the house?” Mikey said, worrying her bottom lip because she’d kind of been hoping to get a chance to practice for a few hours before tryouts on Monday. She’d considered staying home since her parents couldn’t come today, hoping that her dad would have time to help her practice but decided against it since that would have meant ditching Sebastian and she couldn’t do that, not when she knew how much he hated going to things like this.
“What happened last year when you decided to toss the ball around outside Fenway Park?” Uncle Trevor asked, dryly.
“I made a grown man cry,” Mikey said, struggling to bite back a wince even as she decided that perhaps it would be for the best if she focused on finishing her book.
Nodding, Uncle Trevor murmured, “You made a grown man cry and…”
Biting back a sigh, Mikey said, “And I promised that I wouldn’t throw near anyone that hasn’t been warned that one of my fastballs has the potential to maim someone.”
“And…”
“I promised not to throw the ball near anyone that wasn’t physically able to jump out of the way in time,” she finished, unable to help but pout a little at the end there.
“Good,” Uncle Trevor murmured before shifting his attention to the rest of them. “This is important to your Aunt Haley, so please be on your best behavior and try to be nice to her nephew. He’s not used to us yet,” Uncle Trevor said as he gestured for them to go inside.
Resigning herself to spending the rest of the day trying to get through this book, Mikey climbed out of the car and–
“Get off me, you little demon!” Cole, Uncle’s Jason’s oldest son who’d she’d like to point out was six feet tall, the captain of the J.V. football team over at Latin Scribe High School, and fifteen years old, yelled somewhat hysterically as a little girl, who couldn’t be older than six, jumped onto his back and took him back down to the ground with a vicious growl.
“Where’s my money, punk?” the little girl demanded only to pause in her vicious attack to push her glasses back up her nose before she continued.
“I don’t owe you anything!” Cole snapped back, carefully trying to dislodge the little girl off his back, but she wasn’t going anywhere.
“You owe me five dollars and eighty-five cents!” she snapped as she climbed onto his back and held on, refusing to let him go until she got her money.
“What the hell are you talking about? That lemonade was only supposed to be a dollar a cup!” Cole said in outrage.
“Consider it interest!” the little girl said with a murderous glare as Uncle Trevor took one look at the scene before them and shook his head with a resigned sigh as he reached into the back seat and grabbed the large box of food that her mother had sent over and headed inside.
“Wait! Where are you going?” Cole demanded as he watched helplessly while Uncle Trevor headed inside only to turn a panicked look at Aunt Zoe as she grabbed a large platter of cupcakes from the back and moved to follow her husband inside.
“Try to play nice, sweetie,” Aunt Zoe said with a warm smile as she stepped over Cole’s sprawled legs and went inside, leaving the rest of them to enjoy the show.
“Play nice? Are you serious?” Cole asked in disbelief as Mikey plucked Sebastian’s phone out of his pocket and began recording, “I really love this family.”
“Is someone going to help me?” Cole demanded as he turned his glare on them.
“No,” Mathew said as he helped himself to a brownie off one of the platters and settled in for the show.
“Make sure you zoom in if she makes him cry,” Jessica told Mikey as she plucked the brownie out of her brother’s hand.
“Sebastian?” Cole said, sounding really hopeful only to follow that up with a pained grunt when the little girl renewed her attack.
Mikey glanced over her shoulder to see if Sebastian was going to help him only to find him frowning down at her book, taking in the page where she’d left off with a sad shake of his head and a mumbled, “This just isn’t going to work for me.”
Afraid to find out what wasn’t going to work for him, Mikey shifted her attention back to Cole just as a teenage girl with blonde hair, glasses, and a panicked expression on her face came running toward them and–
Promptly tripped over her own two feet.
With a muttered, “I hate my life,” when she spotted them standing there. With a resigned sigh, she got back to her feet and pushed her glasses back up her nose as a blush crept up her neck as she forced herself to quickly make her way across the lawn toward Cole, who had somehow managed to roll over onto his back in the last thirty seconds, was forced to pull his arms free when the little girl grabbed hold of one of them and attempted to make him slap himself.
God, she really loved this family, Mikey thought with a heartfelt sigh as her attention returned to the other girl just as she reached them.
“Katie, you’ve got to stop,” she mumbled, blushing furiously as she glanced at Cole only to quickly avert her eyes when he narrowed a glare on her.
“He owes me, Chloe!” Katie yelled as she attempted to renew her attack.
“I owe you nothing, you little demon! That lemonade was watered down!” Cole bit out, earning an outraged gasp from Katie.