Michael: Yes, but I also know men, and trust me, he doesn’t want to be babied any more than you want to baby him.
Jeff: Is that true? Cuz, I gotta say, I’d really like it if a woman came over and played naughty nurse for me.
Liam: That’s because you’re immature and don’t know what it’s like to have the love of a woman.
Jeff: Thanks for rubbing salt in the wounds.
One of you, pretend to be a man and help your sister out!
Liam: Sorry, I have to take out the garbage.
Michael: I’m still mad at him. He can suffer.
Then you’re dooming me to starvation as well.
Michael: Not really. You can still get away.
Jeff: Fine, fine. Being the only normal brother, I’ll do the respectable thing and get you groceries.
Thank you!
Jeff: And you promise to do me one gigantic favor upon further notice.
Fine. Whatever. Just get me food. And not just chips and cookies!
Jeff: On it.
The phone kept buzzing, but I didn’t pay attention to it. They were probably just bickering, and I didn’t have time for that. Not if I was going to make this place clean enough for a house guest.
I bit my lip as I looked around the big house, trying to picture another person living with me. That is, if I could convince him that life here with me was worth living. And right now, I felt like I was losing that argument by a mile.
The bitter windgushed into the house the moment I opened the front door, but Jeff was not the one holding the groceries.
“Lizzy, what are you?—”
“Take the baby,” she said, shoving Willa in my face, along with several cloth bags.
“What are you?—”
“Are you just going to stand there, or are you going to get her inside where it’s warm?”
Oops, I hadn’t thought about that. I carried my niece into the living room, standing near the fire to keep her warm. Once I had cleaned up the house, I was actually able to light the fire without risking burning the whole house down.
Willa made some cute baby noises, gurgling and cooing as I held her close to my chest. Pulling the hood back from her head, I stared down at my perfect niece with her gorgeous blonde hair that smattered over her perfectly round head.
She was absolutely adorable in every way.
“Holy crap, it’s cold out there!” Lizzy said as she stomped through the house with bags of groceries.
“What are you doing?”
Willa whimpered a little, startling me.
“Shh! Do you want to wake her?” Lizzy hissed.
I wanted to point out that she was practically yelling when she walked into the house, but then I would probably start a fight and wake up Willa.
“Lizzy,” I hissed. “What is going on?”