Chapter 5
Holden
“Uncle Holden, Uncle Holden. Again!”
I crawl around my sister’s den with my little niece on my back, playing runaway bronco. She bursts into the biggest fit of giggles each time I rear back, a great way to spend time together.
Stuffed to the gills with Turkey and three kinds of pie, I’m the last one here. Our parents and siblings all went home, so it’s just me left.
“Bailey, honey, why don’t you give Uncle Holden a break from being a bronco?”
She grips me tightly. “You don’t need a break, do you, Uncle Holden?”
I am not about to deny those cute brown eyes anything, so I remain quiet. I know better than to get in the middle of this battle.
“Go up to your playroom for a little bit and have some quiet playtime.”
Bailey tumbles off my back. “Quiet time is dumb.”
“Baily Renée!”
“Yes, ma’am.” She trudges off to the playroom, shoulders hunched. It takes less than a minute before she starts humming and playing with her toys in the other room.
It’s obvious my sister wants to talk to me. My brother-in-law, being a wise husband, takes the hint and moves to their bedroom to finish watching the game.
I sit on the couch opposite Tiffany. “What’s up, sis?”
“It’s really good to see you, Holden.”
I squint my eyes. “Whoa. It’s good. Yeah, we see each other.”
“Not lately, not really. I have to chase you down on the phone to get you to come to your niece’s dance recital. You haven’t been to the last two Thanksgivings or family Christmases, and you skipped the Memorial Day cookout.”
“Labor Day. I was laboring.”
“Everybody was there, Holden. Everybody but you. Bailey misses you. We all do.”
“Are you visit-shaming me right now?”
My sister laughs. “In a way. It’s just really nice to see you. I don’t get it. You used to be around us all the time, but you’ve turned into a workaholic.”
“Hey, that’s not fair. You and Scotty own your own business. You know how it is.”
“Yes, that’s true, but we still make time for our family. What’s it all for if all you do is work? What’s the point of any of it?”
I don’t answer because I’m not really sure what to say. That I’m always at work because I want to be with Atlanta, an employee that I can’t have? That I’m trying to build the business so that she’ll want me? Because even as I say it in my head, I know how ridiculous it sounds. So I say nothing.
But her wise-owl, older-sister look tells me Tiff knows she’s hit the mark.