“Are you okay?”
“Why do you have peas on your face? Is your eye all gross under there?”
One peeked under my T-shirt sleeve. “You have an owl on your shoulder! Ew, yucky bruise too.”
“Were you in a fight? Is that why?”
“Ronan was…wrestling,” Maryann said.
Instantly, the girls’ faces lit up, and they exchanged excited looks.
“Really?”
“No way!”
Maryann leaned into me. “They love WWE women’s wrestling. Just go with it.”
“Yeah, I was wrestling,” I said. “Practicing for a match.”
“That is so cool!”
“Did you do a pile driver? That’s my favorite.”
“I like it when they fly off the ropes.” Lillian glanced around with a frown. “I don’t see any ropes…”
Maryann held up her hands. “Okay, Cami, Lily. Let’s leave Ronan alone. Back to bed.”
They both sagged with disappointment. And so did I. A little.
The bag of cookies from Bibi I’d taken the other day was still on my kitchen counter, untouched. “Do you guys like chocolate chip cookies?”
Their little faces lit up again while Maryann shot me with aDon’t you darelook in her eyes.
I pretended not to see it.
“A lady made these,” I said, keeping the peas on my eye as I grabbed the cookie bag. “She’s a grandma, so you know they’re good.”
I handed the bag to Cami, who immediately pulled out a cookie, gave it to her twin, then took one for herself. “They look so yummy! Can we, Mommy?”
Maryann crossed her arms, shaking her head ruefully at me.
“They’re from one of my jobs,” I said. “Good people.”
She relented with a sigh. “Okay, but justoneeach.”
“Yay!”
“What do you say?”
The little girls flew at me, hugging me around my bruised ribs, though I hardly felt it. I held my arms up, not daring to touch them until they let me go.
“Thank you, Mr. Ronan!”
“Thanks a lot!”
“Okay, okay.” Maryann herded them to the door, shooting me a puzzled look over her shoulder. “Go back down, girls. I’ll be there in a minute.” She watched them descend the stairs to make sure they got in safe, then turned back to me. “They like you,” she said.
“Must be the wrestling.”