Page 61 of The Body in the Backyard
“I literally can’t wait to see what the surprise is,” Nick whispered to Riley.
Giggles and cheers erupted from the kitchen. “Mr. Gabe!” Riley’s nieces exclaimed in unison.
River smiled up from her crayon drawing. Rain and Janet abandoned the carrots they’d been sword fighting with and raced to hug Gabe around his tree trunk legs.
Riley’s sister, Wander, looked up from a pot of something that smelled horrendous on the stove and beamed like a lighthouse at the man she’d recently seen naked.
“Something…uh…smells,” Riley said.
“It’s a lentil and mung bean soup. I sprouted my own mung beans,” Blossom announced proudly as she ruffled River’s hair.
“You hear that, Rye Bread? Your mothersprouted her own mung beans,” Roger said, enunciating each word.
“I did indeed hear that. Very impressive,” Riley said and patted the pocket of her jacket.
“Hey, Bloss, didn’t you want to get that thing out of the basement?” Roger asked.
Blossom frowned. “What thing?”
“You know. The thing that you talked about. It sounded important. Maybe if you go down there, you’ll remember,” he prompted.
“Oh, all right. But then I’m showing everyone my surprise,” she said.
The second Blossom disappeared down the basement stairs, Riley produced the cheeseburger she’d hidden in her coat pocket and handed it over to her father.
“You’re my favorite,” Roger whispered before making a mad dash into the TV room. She was fairly certain he was talking to the burger, not her.
Wander floated over and gave Riley an incense- and aloe-scented hug.
“We have a lot to catch up on, don’t we?” Riley teased.
Wander’s smile was like looking directly into oncoming LED high beams. “Maybe. Speaking of, would you and Nick mind watching the girls Sunday evening?”
“I don’t know about Nick, but count me in,” Riley said.
Nick wrapped his arms around her waist from behind. “I’m an awesome babysitter,” he insisted.
“Really?” Wander and Riley said in unison.
“Just because I’m not a seven-foot-tall human jungle gym doesn’t mean I don’t know how to entertain kids. My niece, Esmeralda, used to spend every other Friday night at my place until my sister found out about our ice cream dinners.”
“As long as it’s sustainably sourced, dairy-free ice cream, I have no problem with that,” Wander said quickly.
“Hear that, kids? Ice cream dinner with us Sunday,” Nick said.
Riley’s nieces abandoned Gabe and threw themselves at their favorite aunt and uncle. “Yay, ice cream dinner! Thanks, Uncle Nick,” Rain said, hurling herself at Nick’s knees.
He picked the six-year-old up and held her aloft. “Uncle Nick. That’s better thanMr.Gabe,” he said pointedly.
“Why must everything be a competition?” Gabe asked.
“Nothing’s a competition because I win everything,” Nick insisted, tossing Rain over his shoulder and catching four-year-old Janet with his other arm as she jumped at him from the kitchen chair.
At eight, River was more dignified than her sisters and hastily added another smiling stick figure to her crayon drawing and labeled itUncle Nick. She frowned at it for a beat and then added three red slashes to his face. Riley cocked her head over her niece’s shoulder, but before she could ask any questions, Burt drew her attention with an excited yip.
Her dog was already planted at the sliding door, nose to the glass, hot doggy breath fogging it up.
The basement door flew open, and Blossom returned to the kitchen. “Well, I went down there and stared at the BowFlex for a full two minutes and still couldn’t remember for the life of me what I was supposed to be down there for. I swear it happens at least once a week. And when I come back, it always smells like red meat. It’s the darndest thing,” she said, putting her hands on her hips.
