Page 16 of I Knew He Was Trouble
Evie runs back over and hugs my legs. “Sorry, Uncle Ty. I missed you too. Love you.” She turns her head to look at her mom. “Nowcan I go see my room?”
I laugh. Tess glares at me. When her gaze moves back to her daughter, she sighs and waves her hand toward the door in defeat. “Go ahead.”
As soon as Evie is out of sight, Tess smacks my arm. “Way to back me up there.”
I hold my hands up innocently. “Hey, I’m just the funcle.” I grimace as soon as the word is out.
She frowns. “Please don’t ever say that again.”
“Yeah, I don’t plan on it.”
“Good.” She pats my arm. “Now, be a doll and go put your muscles to use.” Tess throws me her car keys and heads inside, leaving me alone with her car full of bags.
I shake my head and unlock her car. There’s not a chance I’d have let her carry a single bag inside anyway. It takes me a few minutes to get Evie’s stuff inside. It practically fills my entire living room.
“Is she moving in forever?” I call out to my sister, knowing she’s around here somewhere. There’s no way all of this will fit in the guest room.
My sister pokes her head out from the built-in reading nook in the hallway between the living room and kitchen. I don’t have much time to read, but Tess and Evie would kill me if I ever got rid of this hundred-year-old feature.
She shrugs. “I’m just preparing you for parenthood. But, oh wait, getting to that stage would require you to date someone.”
“Tess,” I draw out her name, the edge in my voice serving as a warning. If I let my sister, our great-aunt Darla, and my receptionist Nadine have their way, I would be out on blind dates every single night. “Like I’ve told you a million times, I don’t want to be set up.”
She joins me in the living room and gives me her best puppy eyes. “But Evie’s teacher is sweet and single, and I showed her a picture of you. She thinks you’re cute, so I really think you should reconsider.” Tess pulls her phone out and shows me a picture of a pretty blonde who barely looks old enough to have graduated college.
“Tess,” I growl, and she rolls her eyes.
“What is it this time?” She pokes my chest hard, and I wince. Is it possible to strengthen one’s fingers? I feel like I should know this as a doctor. “Are you not into blondes? Do you not appreciate teachers?”
I shoot my sister a look.
“Okay, fine. You’re a big hotshot pediatrician, so you probably appreciate other occupations that work with children.” She crosses her arms. “What is it, then? Why won’t you let anyone set you up?” I open my mouth, but she cuts me off again. “And don’t even think about lying because I know you’ve turned down Aunt Darla trying to set you up too. How you can tell that sweet old woman no is beyond me.”
I wait a moment and then say, “Are you done now?”
She shakes her head. “Not unless you’re going to tell me the real reason. Otherwise, I have a lot more fight left in me.”
I barely refrain from rolling my eyes, knowing she’ll tell me they’ll get stuck that way and I’ll end up cross-eyed. When we were kids, I was thoroughly convinced she was telling the truth. “It’s stupid.”
Tess settles on my plush gray sofa, cuddling one of my cream throw pillows on her lap. “Try me.” I glance toward the stairs, and she waves her hand like she knows what I’m thinking. “Evie won’t hear you. She’s setting up all her stuffed animals just how she likes them, and that takes her forever.”
With a sigh, I sit on my matching gray recliner. “Call me crazy, but I’ve always wanted to meet someone the old-fashioned way.”
“That’s perfect.” Tess claps her hands together. “People were set up by their families often in the olden days.”
No amount of restraint can stop my eyes from rolling this time.
“You know your eyes are going to get stuck that way,” she quips.
“They haven’t for thirty years, so I think I’m good,” I bite back, falling into our easy sibling banter. I love Tess more than life itself, but she can get under my skin better than anyone else. Well, maybe anyone elseexceptKelsey.
“I’m not talking about being set up by family. I mean a run-in at the grocery store when we both reach for the same tomato.Or we’re both at our favorite singer’s concert, and our eyes meet across the crowd. Or we grab each other’s coffee orders and exchange numbers by the time we leave the shop.”
Her face pulls into a happy pout, and I know I’m in for an earful. “Aw, I never would’ve guessed you to be a hopeless romantic.” Her mouth turns up into a scheming grin. “You go grocery shopping on Saturdays, right?”
“Yeah…” I stare her down, trying to figure out what she’s getting at. “Why?”
She pulls out her phone and starts tapping quickly on the screen. “Oh, nothing.”
