Page 74 of Own the Eights Maybe Baby
“We’re epically sorry,” Simon added with a slash of purple marker across his cheek.
Georgie pasted on a grin. “Don’t worry. Jordan and I will be fine. But you two need to get moving to make it to the museum in time for the lecture.”
He nodded as a puppet soared through the air, followed by a tiny shoe. “Yes, we’ve got this. You guys better head out.”
“Do you want me to get Becca? She’s up at the register talking to—” Talya began when a cluster of heat-seeking crayons rained down on them.
“Go! Get out while you can! Things are about to get way past epic,” he ordered, using their epic teen verbiage to convey the urgency of the situation.
Not waiting to be told twice, Talya and Simon grabbed their backpacks and made a mad dash for the front of the store.
“At least we got them out relatively unscathed,” Georgie said, watching the teens disappear.
He checked his watch. Twenty-four minutes left before the parents would return to claim their hellions. The miniature masters of destruction had already ransacked the art area and the puppet theater. But he could not allow them to discover what was in the far corner. If that area was breached, there was no telling the level of destruction.
“We can’t let them open the LEGO bins,” Georgie said, reading his mind.
Three large bins teeming with the plastic building materials sat untouched. They couldn’t allow them to get scattered all over the floor. If even one of those tubs got tipped over, they’d spend the next decade finding the tiny blocks. And, there was nothing worse than stepping on a LEGO.
But these little humans could smell their fear, and, like a pack of wild dogs, three of them broke off from a group who were pulverizing crayons and headed for the bins.
“I think it’s too late,” Georgie said as a roaring sound rose from behind them.
“Show me how you move like a tiger!” came a man’s pseudo-surfer growly voice.
The toddlers, who were headed for the bins, stopped in their tracks and turned. It was like in those sci-fi movies where evil robots are about to ravage a city, and then, suddenly, the hero intervenes, and their beady robot eyes change from evil red to passive green, halting the destruction that had once seemed imminent.
Jordan turned, ready to greet this toddler whisperer and saw…
“Brice Casey?” he exclaimed.
“Hey, dude!” the man answered with Becca by his side.
“What are you doing here?”
“I’m pretending to be a tiger,” the guy answered, crawling into the center of the room as the children gathered around and joined in, all roaring and clawing at the air.
Georgie gasped. “He’s like the Pied Piper ofToddlerville.”
“How did you know what to do with them?” Jordan called.
“Casey Pest control has contracts with a bunch of different childcare locations. Sometimes, they invite me to play along. These little dudes are awesome.”
Georgie lowered her voice. “Becca, why is Brice here? Is there a pest control emergency? Oh, my God! We don’t have spiders, do we?” Georgie finished, going pale.
“No, he’s not here for a pest control appointment,” the woman answered, then glanced at Brice, who had sucked in his cheeks, pretending to be a fish while a school of toddlers copied him.
Jordan looked between Becca and the toddler wrangler. “Are you and Brice dating?”
“Yep,” Brice answered, able to both entertain toddlers and engage in conversation, which he’d never realized was such a huge accomplishment until today.
Georgie turned to Becca and lowered her voice. “You guys are together?”
“Since we hooked up at your wedding,” the man answered before Becca had a chance.
Becca blushed, but she didn’t deny it. Unfortunately, Georgie had cocked her head and crossed her arms, going into surrogate big sister mode.
“You guys hooked up at our wedding, and now you’re together?” his wife whispered-shouted as if she were cross-examining the woman.
