Page 6 of Minted

“Back from Spain?” I ask.

“France,” he says. “Better pastry, worse seafood.”

I frown. “Does France really have worse seafood?”

Bentley shrugs. “Who knows? I hate seafood.”

Classic Bentley. He’s more of a meat and potatoes kind of guy. “So are you going back to Europe again soon?”

He shakes his head. “Actually, I was only there for five days this time. Earlier this year I hired someone to take over most of the travel for me. I only fly for really big meetings at this point.”

“I bet that guy’s not cheap,” Seren says.

“The good people never are,” Bentley says. “But in this case, it’s a woman. She’s a real battle-axe, and blessedly, she loves traveling.”

“I thought you liked traveling,” I say.

He shrugs. “I used to, but I’m getting older, and I’m kind of sick of it. I shouldn’t have to leave again until January at the soonest, unless something goes wrong.”

Something occurs to me, then. Maybe I could ask Bentley to be my plus one. Not as a date, but as a shield. He’ll be around. He’s an old friend. And he’s not at all embarrassing. . .

He’s rich, brilliant, handsome, and successful. That might actually be enough to offset the fistful of cookies in the elevator, at the very least. Now I just have to find the right time to ask him for a favor. . .

3

Bentley

Dave’s family has always known me as the uncle who gives the perfect gifts. Since I’m going to Killian’s fifteenth birthday party, the pressure is on. And right after that comes Christmas.

Ugh.

When I was fifteen, all I wanted was a car. Of course, I couldn’t get one. Even back then, you had to be sixteen to drive. But he can get his permit soon, so maybe a car related item would go over well?

With their first kid, Emerson, it was pretty easy to think of things. That kid’s always been a nerd, and he’d never had anything in his life. The bar was set pretty low. I think I brought him a scientific calculator for his thirteenth birthday, and he was giddy. Fourteenth was a microscope. Then a telescope. And when he could drive, I bought him one of those cop-detectors.

But they’ve raised Emerson, Beatrice, Jake, and Ardath. I had to find gifts for each. It was fine. I did it. But now it’s Killian too, and with five kids to find presents for every birthday and Christmas, finding something unique and meaningful just gets harder and harder. Poor Killian has a birthday right before Christmas, so it feels even worse. I have to come up with two decent things back-to-back.

To make matters worse, whatever I buy can’t outshine his parents. I learned that one the hard way, when I bought Bea a car. Whoops. Now I have to spend a moderate amount and yet still get something cool. What was fun feels almost tiring.

Maybe it’s me. I haven’t really found the holiday spirit yet this year.

I’m about to head over to their place when I start to second guess myself. My assistant told me that teenagers love headphones, so I did what I always do—ordered the most expensive option I could find. In this case, I ordered the Meze Elite Epoch headphones. They’re limited edition and they look like something the Jetsons might have worn, so I figure that’s good. They might cost more than whatever Seren and Dave buy him, but who would know? Headphones aren’t something that seem super high dollar, so I should be fine.

But what if he hates big headphones? I’ve never seen him use any.

Is that because he doesn’t have any, but wants them? Or is it because he just doesn’t like the feel of big headphones over his ears? The whole idea starts to eat at me, so on the way to the party, I stop at the Apple store and grab him a pair of the new AirPods too, just in case. At least if he doesn’t like either item, he can regift them, right?

Or, wait. Would he sell them or trade them for drugs? No, right?

Teenagers are hard, but foster kids are even harder.

In my experience, Dave and Seren have to do the hard work. I’m pretty much fine to just buy the kids’ love with extravagant gifts that Dave wouldn’t buy. He has to worry about building character and maintaining authority. I don’t need to do any of that. It’s the reason I can take Killian out to shoot up a bunch of two-liter bottles, or take him for a driving lesson in my sports car. We usually just spin donuts, but as the cool uncle, that’s fine.

The idea of being a dad is terrifying. Thank goodness I’m only the uncle.

When I arrive, no one’s home. That doesn’t bode well for a party.

Thankfully, they explain the kids are out back, pretending they’re unsupervised. That means it’s just Dave, Seren, and Seren’s best friend Barbara in the house. I’ve known Barbara as long as I’ve known Seren, and it’s always nice to see her. As a bonus, I no longer have to pretend to like her ex-husband now that they’re divorced. I never like the guys she dates—she has atrocious taste—but that guy was the worst of all.

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