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Maybe.
“There’s the man in charge,” Cooper, still wearing his uniform, called out as he walked toward him. Everyone else in the wedding party turned in their direction, and he found himself eagerly searching out the one woman he’d been waiting all week to see.
“Is everyone here and ready to get started?” Even as Drew asked the question, he could see that she wasn’t there.
He shoved his hands into his pockets, feeling the band he’d been carrying in the left one. Was she purposely avoiding him?
“Kylie’s running late,” Maxine said. “But don’t worry. She’s been in so many weddings, she could do this in her sleep.”
Or with a drunk stranger in Reno.
“Okay, well, then, let’s begin.” Drew directed everyone on how to walk down the aisle, where to stand and what to say. He couldn’t believe this was the way Cooper was making him repay the pen pal favor and he actually had to perform this ceremony. Unlike the absent redhead, he was no wedding expert. But he was a researcher and a perfectionist and had studied enough online videos lately to get through this rehearsal blindfolded.
Maxine’s son, Hunter, handed over his PlayStation to the twins so that he could walk his mother down the aisle. But the boys, both overly eager to take their turn at playing, fought over the small device, each one grappling and scratching to get control of the coveted possession.
Drew was about to head toward his nephews to break up the fight, but Kylie strode into the room at that exact moment, confident and oblivious to the childish skirmish going on nearby. When he saw her, he froze, waiting for her to see him.
She looked poised and completely unflustered—until she glanced in his direction. Her smile faltered, but otherwise, she gave no outward sign that she was uncomfortable in his presence. She also gave no sign that she was going to slow her stride long enough to talk with him.
Which was unfortunate, because if she had, the small video game console that had just been launched into the air wouldn’t have hit her right in the face.
“Ouch!” she yelled, her hand flying to her right eye. “What in the hell was that?”
Caden, who wasn’t used to hearing adults swear, began giggling, while Aiden made a fast getaway toward the restroom—probably to escape the pending chaos he’d helped cause.
All of the women ran toward their startled friend, asking if she was okay and trying to soothe her. The men went in the direction of the children, breaking up the video game party, while Hunter ran to his toy, which had landed with a pop and then immediately suffered the wrath of Kylie’s spiked heel when she’d blindly stepped on it.
“My new game is totally broken!” Hunter cried.
Drew grabbed Caden by the shoulder and marched him toward the restroom, where he’d seen the boy’s brother run for cover.
The twins had yet to see Uncle Drew at his boiling point. Really, nobody had seen the calm counselor lose his cool in quite a few years, but the two eight-year-olds were about to get a peek at what he’d successfully held under wraps for so long.
“You guys not only broke Hunter’s game but also seriously hurt that poor woman out there. And all because you were fighting over whose turn it was. You’ve both been acting selfish and wild since I picked you up from Grammie and Pop’s, and I refuse to allow things to continue like this.”
Drew was livid and the boys finally looked remorseful.
“Are you gonna send us away to live with someone else, Uncle Drew?” Aiden had fat tears trickling down his chubby cheeks.
The emotional pressure had been building all week and, with the combined stress of the Kylie situation, Drew was at his wit’s end.
In the bathroom mirror, he caught sight of the vein pulsing along the right side of his neck. He took a deep breath, trying to come up with the best way to take control of this derailed mess.
“Nobody’ll take us.” Caden stared at his scruffy sneakers, refusing to meet his uncle’s eyes. “Nobody wants us.”
“Why would you think something like that?” asked Drew.
“’Cause Dad is always going off on assignments and Grammie and Pop said their new motor home isn’t kidproofed yet and wouldn’t take us on vacation with them.”
“Guys.” Drew tried to find the ideal thing to say to ease Caden’s fear, but the perfect words were escaping him. “Just because they’re not here doesn’t mean they don’t want to be with you.”
“Yeah, right,” said Aiden, sniffing back a tear of his own. “Even Aunt Hannah ditched us.”
What did Drew’s sister have to do with this? “Aunt Hannah is doing important work teaching at an orphanage.”
“So? Me and Caden are practically orphans. Why’d she have to go all the way to Africa for that unless she was trying to get away from us, too?”
The throbbing in Drew’s neck lowered to his heart and became more of a dull ache. His poor nephews were dealing with something bigger than just a lack of discipline. He sighed before easing himself to the tile floor. “Listen, boys. You are not orphans. You have a big, wonderful family that cares so much about you. And nobody ditched you guys. It was my turn to get a chance finally to spend some time with you because I love you and I want you. But you guys have to love me, too. I need you to start acting as if you want to be with me. When you misbehave and don’t follow the rules, it tells me that you don’t respect me and that you’re not happy being with me.”
“But we do like to be with you.” Aiden was still sniffling, but at least the tears had subsided.
“Then, you guys need to show me. I want us to have a fun summer, but we need to work together as a team, okay?”
“Okay,” the boys agreed and Drew pulled them in, making it a three-way embrace.
“Good. Now you’re going to go out there and apologize to the nice lady who got hit in the face. And then you’re going to apologize to Hunter for breaking his video game. After that, you’re going to behave for the rest of the night. Starting tomorrow, both of you will do chores around the cabin to earn enough money to pay for a new system to replace the one that broke. Got it?”
Both boys nodded, but neither one looked happy about their future plans. Frankly, thinking of the injured woman out there and her refusal to call him all week, Drew wasn’t feeling too optimistic, either.
He escorted the twins back outside and, seeing that Kylie and several of the women were no longer there, he walked his nephews over to Hunter, who was still cradling the broken PlayStation in his hands.
“We’re sorry for breaking your video game.” Caden was the first to apologize, and Drew had to nudge the other boy to follow suit.
“Yeah. I’m sorry my brother wouldn’t let me finish my turn and grabbed it out of my hands.” Aiden, the one who’d been the most sorrowful looking, was now the one acting the least remorseful.
Just as the boys began to argue about who should be more sorry, Chief Cooper knelt down to talk with them. As he did, the former marine and current police chief reached into the back pouch on his utility belt and pulled out a pair of stainless-steel handcuffs. He snapped the cuffs open and closed as he spoke quietly to the boys.
As far as scare tactics went, his buddy’s methods were effective. Cooper definitely had the twins’ attention. And since his friend seemed to have everything under control, Drew decided to seek out the woman he’d wanted to talk to for the past five days.
She was coming out of the ladies’ room, a linen napkin–covered bag of ice over her right eye. Damn—that looked bad.
“Kylie.” Drew started toward her. “I’m so sorry. They were overexcited and haven’t had a lot of discipline and, well, there’s no excuse for what they did.”
“Drew, it was an accident. It wasn’t as if they threw that thing at me on purpose.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, but before he could talk to her about everything else that needed saying, the boys ran up, stumbling over their own apologies.
Drew was glad that both of them seemed sincere in their contrition. His nephews might be wild, but they weren’t malicious.
“Wow, does that hurt?” Caden asked when Kylie lowered the ice pack and revealed the bruise that was already turning a deep shade of purple around her eye.
She knelt down to talk to them, and Aiden reached out his finger to touch her bruise. But Kylie’s reflexes—even with only one functioning eye—were quicker. “It only hurts when something touches it.”
“Well, we really are sorry,” Aiden said sincerely.
“We’re gonna do chores to earn money to pay for Hunter to get a new video game,” Caden added. “And Chief Cooper said he would put us to work at the police station so maybe we can make enough to pay for you to go see a doctor. Uncle Drew is a doctor and starts work at the hospital soon, so he can take you with him if you need a shot or anything.”
“Thank you, boys, but I don’t think I need to see a doctor or get a shot just yet. And I forgive you as long as next time you promise to try to do a better job of sharing.”
“We will,” they chorused.
Drew didn’t realize he’d been holding his breath, waiting for her to yell at the kids. Even though they deserved a scathing reprimand, he was glad to see she was giving them grace instead.
“Now,” she said, standing and tossing her ice pack on a nearby table before taking both boys by the hand. “I have a very important job for both of you.” She walked with them outside and toward the grassy area where the ceremony would be held.
As Drew watched her leading his nephews around, talking to them as if she didn’t think they were little monsters at all, he was overwhelmed with appreciation. She was being more than forgiving, considering the fact that by this time tomorrow, she’d be sporting a shiner of epic proportions.
If he could convince her that the twins weren’t so terrible, maybe he could convince her that he wasn’t the type of person who usually acted so recklessly with women. Not that he should have to prove himself, but if he was going to be living in Sugar Falls for the summer, it would be nice to know a friendly—and beautiful—face. Besides, he needed all the help he could get, and Kylie seemed to have a talent for reining in the boys. Which gave him an idea...
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