“Yes.”
“Then I’m on everybody side.”
Nicole laughed so hard she had to grab the stove handle.
“See?” I said. “Extortion.”
“That’s your niece.”
“That’s a future negotiator.”
Noah chose that moment to walk into the kitchen holding one block and half a cracker.
“Auntie Tal.”
“Yes, baby?”
“Look.”
He held the block up like he had invented architecture.
I bent to his level immediately. “That is very impressive.”
Nicole smiled into the pot without looking at me. “You are so easy for them.”
I rubbed Noah’s head lightly and straightened. “In small doses.”
That was the truth of it.
I loved them fiercely. Immediately. In that auntie way that made me reach for extra snacks at Target and remember shoesizes and keep children’s Tylenol in my bag just because. But I also loved giving them back at the end of the evening and driving home to my own quiet with music playing and nobody climbing me like furniture.
I thought about that while I reached for the plates and Nicole started dishing pasta into bowls, the kind with butter and parmesan and a little garlic because Monday had no business asking more of anybody than comfort.
“You know what I think it is?” Nicole said.
“That you enjoy hearing yourself talk?”
“No.” She slid a bowl toward me. “I think you like him because he doesn’t feel like work.”
That stopped me.
Nicole caught it, of course.
“There it is,” she said softly.
I set the bowl down and leaned against the island. “That is not why I like him.”
She lifted one shoulder. “Maybe not all the way. But it’s part of it.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but she was already shaking her head.
“No, listen. You’ve been like this.”
“Like what?”
“Like you don’t know how to leave nothing alone till you understand every part of it.” She pointed the spoon at me. “When you were thirteen and got that science fair kit for Christmas, every other kid poured the stuff in the little tubes and called it a day. You had the dining room table looking like a tiny lab for two weeks because the instructions wasn’t enough. You needed to know why it worked.”
I laughed in spite of myself. “That is not the same thing.” Besides, if you’re going to do something—do it right.