Page 15 of Play For Me

The table clears out after that. River goes to help his wife wrangle their three kids. The other Littles decide to jump in thepool before lunch is ready. I think about joining them, but my nephew Theo comes barreling over to the table, flinging himself at me.

“Hi, buddy.” I pull him up into my lap, enjoying the brief moment he’ll let me snuggle him before he starts squirming. The kid is an unstoppable ball of energy. No wonder my brother Will always looks so tired these days.

“You smell good,” I tell him, kissing the top of his head.

Theo giggles. “You smell stinky.”

I gasp in mock-outrage then start to tickle him. “I don’t stink! You stink!”

“You stink like farts!” he squeals in between yelps and giggles.

I can’t help but laugh as I look over his head to Will. “I didn’t realize having nephews would be like having annoying brothers all over again.”

He grins at me. “Please. Just because you were the only girl doesn’t mean you weren’t annoying.”

“You wereallannoying,” Wyatt says, collapsing into one of the vacated patio chairs, his one-year-old daughter curled up asleep against his chest.

Will scoffs. “Dude, you put a live snake in my underwear drawer when I was in kindergarten.”

“It was a garter snake,” Wyatt scoffs, then winces. “And I got grounded for like, two weeks for that.”

When I laugh, they both turn slightly narrowed eyes on me. “The little princess over there wouldn’t know anything about that,” Wyatt says. “You never got punished for anything, even though you were definitely the worst one.”

“Spoiled,” Will agrees.

I shrug. “I can’t help it if Mom and Dad loved me more than you.”

As expected, Theo decides he’s had enough of cuddling with his auntie. He starts wiggling in my lap, tugging at my hoodie strings. “CeCe play soccer?” he asks.

“We can play soccer after lunch, buddy.” Will says. “We’re going to eat in a few minutes. Why don’t you go find Poppy?”

That’s the magic word—Theo is obsessed with his older cousin Poppy. He immediately slides off my lap and runs off in search of her.

“It’s so weird,” I say, watching him go. “All these babies running around.” There are six, so far, in the newest generation of Ransomes. Three of them come from our branch of the family tree—my brother Will has two kids, Wyatt has one.

“You’re just jealous because you’re not the youngest anymore,” Wyatt says, tugging on the end of my braid. Then his face grows more serious. “What’s this I hear about you getting into a brawl at some football party?’

I roll my eyes. “It wasn’t a brawl. And it was a frat party, not a football party.”

“Oh, that makes a huge difference,” he says.

“We already went over all this. Uncle Reed was pissed, Dad thought it was hilarious.” I shrug. “We can drop it now.”

Wyatt ignores me. “Why’d you punch this kid?”

“I didn’t punch him. I kneed him in the balls.”

Wyatt laughs. “Fuck, CeCe. You’re nuts, you know that?”

I hold up my hands. “He was cheating on Violet,” I snap. “And saying horrible shit. What was I supposed to do?”

Will narrows his eyes. “I didn’t hear anything about him talking shit. What’d he say?”

I scan the patio, not wanting to get into this with any of the dads around. They’re super sensitive about this kind of thing. “He said he was only sleeping with her to meet Uncle Daltrey,” I say softly, anger flashing through me once again. “I should have kneed him in the balls twice, honestly.”

Something hard has come into both of my brother’s eyes. “Maybe you should tell us his name,” Will says, voice dark. “And we can go have a word with him.”

“I took care of it,” I say tightly. “He won’t bother her again.”