Page 66 of Where the Heart Is

He shook his head. ‘I’m good. But I’m guessing I’ll be helping the kids with their homework tonight?’

‘Considering when I held up two fingers a moment ago I saw four, I think that’s probably wise.’ She paused at the sink, kettle in hand. ‘Thank goodness Mick will be home late tonight.’

Sawyer stiffened, knowing it wasn’t his place to pry into his sister’s marriage, especially when he’d been lousy with keeping in touch, but concern driving him to ask, ‘Why’s that? Wouldn’t he approve of you having a few drinks?’

She rolled her eyes. ‘The running of the household is my domain, and he likes everything shipshape.’

Code for, he’s a controlling prick.

Treading carefully, Sawyer said, ‘He treats you well, yeah? And the kids?’

‘He’s a good provider most of the time. And he loves us.’ She turned her back on him, effectively shutting him out, as she filled the kettle with water. ‘But let’s not talk about my mundane marriage. You’re killing my buzz.’

Yeah, there could be problems in his sister’s marriage, and he hoped she’d confide in him by the time he left town. Then again, what could he do? He had a feeling Allison, like many women, had resigned herself to a lacklustre marriage for the sake of her kids and wouldn’t leave Mick, no matter how much of a bastard he was, sacrificing her sense of self to provide her kids with the illusion of a happy family.

That’s what his mother had done for him, and he blamed himself every damn day for tethering her to Henry for far too long.

A tooting horn, followed by loud voices yelling ‘bye’, heralded the arrival of Brett and Aimee. Alli’s face lit up in a way he hadn’t seen until now as the kids barrelled into the kitchen, dumping their bags at the back door and skidding to a stop when they saw him.

‘Hey, it’s Uncle Sawyer from our chats on your computer, Mum,’ Aimee said, eyeing him with blatant curiosity. ‘We haven’t seen you here before.’

‘Yeah, you’ve never visited,’ Brett muttered, his frown and puckering brow so reminiscent of Alli’s that Sawyer had to stifle a smile.

‘That’s my fault, kids. I’ve been too busy with work when I should’ve been making time to visit my favourite niece and nephew.’

He picked up the bags he’d stashed beside the dresser. ‘I’ve brought you something I hope you’ll like.’

He knew he’d gone overboard with the latest handheld video gaming console and two games each, but he felt bad for waiting so long to meet them face-to-face and hoped a little bribery might buy him forgiveness.

Both kids were rendered mute as they looked inside the bags, then back at him before peering into the bags again.

‘Wow,’ they said in unison, looking at each other with wide eyes like they couldn’t believe their luck.

‘What do you say?’ Alli prompted.

Aimee said, ‘Thanks, Uncle Sawyer,’ a moment before Brett did.

‘Perhaps once you get your homework finished, we can set up the systems and play a few games?’

‘That’d be awesome,’ Brett said, eyeing him with grudging respect. ‘Do you know how to play the games, though?’

‘You can show me if it’s too hard.’

He’d said the right thing, because Brett beamed, and Aimee said, ‘Let’s do our homework super-fast so we can play with Uncle Sawyer.’

‘Sounds like a plan,’ Sawyer said, casting a glance at Alli who nodded in approval.

‘Go wash your hands, get changed, then you can have a snack while you work,’ Alli said, already slicing strawberries, rockmelon, and watermelon and arranging them on a platter.

The kids scrambled from the kitchen so fast they jostled for position through the doorway.

‘They’re cute,’ he said, earning another smile of approval, this time from Alli.

‘They’re my world,’ she said, the simplicity of her statement underscored with love. ‘I’d do anything for them.’

Which virtually proved his theory: she was stuck in a dead-end marriage to a bastard for the sake of her kids.

‘I’ve made you a coffee even though you said you didn’t want one.’ She handed him a mug and placed a plate of choc chip cookies on the table, along with the fruit platter. ‘You’re annoyingly sober.’

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