Page 58 of Small-Town Secrets
I glanced at Laurence as he lowered another plate into the dishwasher while I wiped the counters after breakfast. We'd decided to clean up the kitchen together while the kids were being entertained by the cartoons on TV. It was Saturday, so we didn't have to worry about rushing them off to school. "You're right," I said, considering Laurence's words. "But you might have to give me some pointers on what to do. This might come as a shock to you, but I've never had kids before."
The only experience I had came from being with my niece, and I suspected that being an uncle was at least a little different from being a father. Maybe I could take cues from my own dad, but I hardly remembered being seven, or what I did with my dad when I was. He’d spent a lot of time at work.
"You'll be fine," Laurence claimed. "Just take them out with you when you walk the dog."
"The dog?"
"They love dogs so you have something to bond over. And then when you get back you can show them some kick-ass karate moves to show them how cool you are, since you don't get that time at the gym with them anymore." That was true. Mr. Henderson had fortunately recovered from his injuries. But still...
"Wouldn't they rather spend the day out playing with their friends?" It had snowed the night before and I imagined snowball fights happening all over town later in the day.
Laurence's face fell with his hand on another dirty plate. "They haven't really been able to make friends."
"That's a shame."
"I know. But at least they have each other. Even though they fight a lot and it's been a ton of work raising twins, I'm glad they're never really alone with... all of this." He gestured vaguely.
"I get that." I swallowed hard, thinking about all the things the children—my children—had already been through in their young lives. It wasn't fair. They deserved to have some friends, or at least, another chance to make them. "You know what, I'm going to call my brother and ask him if Maddie wants to come over. We can have an impromptu karate lesson in the family room, maybe build a snowman after."
"You think they'd get along?"
I shrugged. "They're the same age, and they're cousins, even if they don't know it yet."
"All right then." Laurence gave me a soft smile. "I guess we can try. But you're still taking them out with you when you're walking the dog. You're not getting out of that one."
"Wouldn't dream of it." I smiled back at him because I loved seeing him so assertive. It meant he was comfortable with me.
And besides, how hard could it be to take a walk with the twins?
* * *
At first, the twins were on their best behavior, and I thought our walk in the park would literally be a walk in the park. Then everything changed when I offered to let them take turns at holding Sarge's leash.
"I want to go first," Tyler insisted when I held the leash out to Chris without thinking much about it.
"But I was born first," Chris pointed out. "So I get to go first." Irrefutable logic to a seven-year-old, I was sure.
Only Tyler didn't seem to agree. "That's not fair!" He looked at me. "Tell him that's not fair!"
It really wasn't, was it? The twins had no influence on who of them was born first, and besides, I couldn't think about that too much or I'd only start regretting the fact that I hadn't been around for the event.
"You can play a game of rock, paper, scissors to decide," I suggested, because honestly, it was cold out and I didn't want to stand around and freeze my ass off while the twins argued forever. Sarge was already shooting me impatient glances either. Some dogs loved snow, but not Sarge.
"Okay, we'll play." Chris turned to Tyler. "Ready? Winner gets to go first."
"Okay."
They played. Chris showed scissors, Tyler chose rock.
"Two out of three," Chris demanded.
"No, I won!"
"You cheated."
"Did not!"
"You were slower than me!" Chris claimed. "Cheater!"
