Chapter Nine
Lennon
A knock at the door stirs me awake. I roll over and glance at my phone.
Seven.
I hear Amiya’s door open, followed by her feet padding down the hallway to the back door. Five seconds later, my door swings open, and a whirlwind of bouncing curls hurls itself at me at full speed.
“Ugh.” I close my eyes and groan as Leia’s weight lands hard against my chest.
“Good morning, Uncle Lennon.”
I open one eye, and a set of huge baby blues is staring at me.
“Morning, munchkin.”
“Mommy said you are in charge of me today.”
Last night, I offered to keep Leia, so Avie, Amiya, our mothers, and Nana could go to Avie’s last dress fitting in Raleigh while Sebastian manned one of the charter boats.
“Good. Crawl in so we can go back to sleep,” I mumble before closing my eyes again.
Two tiny fingers come up and pry open my right eye.
“Uncle Lennon, you have to get up and get dressed, silly. It’s morning.”
“I thought I was in charge?”
She huffs out a breath. “We can’t sleep all day. You have to make me breakfast.”
Avie appears in the doorway. “She’s already had pancakes and bacon.”
Leia’s head turns to her mother. “Shh, Mommy, don’t tell him, or he won’t get up,” she whisper-yells.
I grab her by the waist and hoist myself up to sit against the headboard.
“Tell you what. If you will sit and watch some cartoons while I take a quick shower, you can choose what we do first today,” I say as I tap her on the nose.
Her eyes grow round, and she grins. “I can choose whatever I want?”
I start to nod when Avie catches my eye and starts furiously shaking her head.
“Um, no?” I say, but it comes out as a question.
Avie walks in and sits beside us on the edge of the bed. “You can choose something within reason, and if Uncle Lennon says it’s not possible, you will be a big girl and not whine.”
Leia makes a show of bringing a finger up to tap her chin.
“I think we should fly kites,” she declares.
“Kites, huh? Do you have a kite?” I ask.
She shakes her head.
“Looks like we’ll have to go buy some kites, then,” I say.
“They have them at the store down at the wharf. It’s beside the ice cream shop,” she announces.
I cut my eyes to Avie. “I think I just got hustled.”
Avie reaches up and pats my shoulder. “Yep. Sure did.”
Amiya steps out of the other bedroom door. She’s dressed in a casual, fitted, flesh-toned sundress, and she’s braiding her damp hair over her left shoulder.
“Ready?” she asks.
Avie stands and looks back at us. “The fitting is at eleven, and we’ll probably grab a quick lunch in the city before heading home. Shouldn’t be later than five, but if we are, Sebastian can swing by to get her.”
“Take your time. We’ll be fine,” I assure her.
She kisses Leia, and Amiya mouths, Good luck , as they leave.
“All right, kiddo. Let’s find you some cartoons so I can get ready.”
We walk out of the wharf’s gift shop with two kites, a Nerf football, a bag full of candy, and a remote-controlled boat before stopping at the ice cream shop.
“Bubble gum and grape,” Leia requests.
The boy behind the glass display case fills the waffle cone with two large scoops, wraps it in paper, and passes it to me before fetching my cup of butter pecan.
I hand the cone off to Leia, and she carefully carries it outside to the bench facing the water while I pay the cashier.
Sebastian and Gramps should be finishing up the first charter of the day soon, and Seb can take an hour to eat lunch with us before he has to go back out.
It’s a beautiful spring day. Great for fishing. The surf is calm, and there is a light breeze coming in off the water.
Leia regales me with tales of dance classes and her excitement at starting kindergarten this year while we enjoy our frozen treats. She reminds me so much of Sebastian at that age.
When I receive a text that the boat has docked, we walk over to the pier to find Sebastian and Anson tying off the vessel.
Seb takes one look at us and chuckles.
“You know you aren’t allowed to have ice cream before lunch,” he says to Leia, whose mouth is stained an incriminating shade of blue.
Her head immediately snaps to me. “Uncle Lennon, you weren’t supposed to tell him,” she reprimands.
“I didn’t. He must be psychic,” I say.
Her nose wrinkles. “What’s psychic?” she asks.
“It means he just knows things,” I explain.
She nods. “Like Mommy.”
“Yep, just like Mommy,” Sebastian says as he scoops her up into his arms and pokes her tummy. “Think you have room in there for some chicken nuggets?” he asks.
She rubs her belly. “Maybe a little bit.”
“Tell you what. If you eat at least three nuggets and a couple of bites of salad, we won’t tell Mommy you cheated and had ice cream before lunch. Deal?”
“Deal!” she agrees.
Once they have the boat secured, the four of us head to the snack shack for lunch. We order three club sandwiches with fries and chicken nuggets with a side salad for Leia.
Anson and I grab one of the tables on the patio while Sebastian and Leia take our paper cups to the fountain station.
“Sebastian tells me you’re rooming with Amiya at the cabana,” Anson says as we take a seat.
I nod. “Yep.”
“Four weeks of cohabitation with a tornado should be fun for you,” he quips.
“Tornado?”
“Yeah, Amiya can be a wild one,” he notes.
“And that’s a bad thing?”
He shrugs. “Not necessarily, but knowing you and how particular you are, I can see her driving you mad,” he says.
“Did she drive you mad?” I ask.
His brow furrows at the question. “Frequently. But I can handle crazy women better than most men.”
“Who are we talking about?” Sebastian asks from over my shoulder.
He sets a paper cup in front of each of us before helping Leia up into one of the wrought iron chairs.
“Amiya,” Anson replies.
“Auntie Miya isn’t crazy,” Leia says as her eyes narrow at Anson.
“I didn’t mean bad crazy, kiddo. I meant fun crazy,” Anson clarifies.
“She’s the mostest fun,” Leia agrees.
“And a little bad crazy too,” Sebastian says under his breath.
Our number is called, and Sebastian goes to collect our order from the window.
“You two are close, huh?” I ask Anson.
“Who, me and Amiya?” he asks as he adds more sugar to his sweet tea.
“Yeah.”
He nods. “We’re pretty good friends, I guess.”
Pretty good friends.
“Ah, I got the impression from Seb that you guys were more.”
He laughs, but before he can elaborate, Sebastian returns with our meals, and the conversation turns to my and Leia’s afternoon plans.
On the way back to the boat, Sebastian asks if Leia can spend the night with me and Amiya at the cabana.
“Avie and I haven’t had much alone time lately, and things are about to get hectic, so I’d like to plan a romantic night for her on the houseboat,” he explains.
“Naomie doesn’t want a night with her grandchild?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “She’s going with Mom and Nana to bingo down at the eastside pier. I’m sure she’d be willing to skip it if I asked, but—”
“No need. I’d be happy to host a sleepover,” I cut him off.
“You sure?”
“Yeah. How hard can it be to entertain a five-year-old? Besides, Amiya will be there if I run into trouble,” I assure him.