Mannies Incorporated by Michael, Sean (phonics books .TXT) 📗

Maggie frowned, came to him, arms up. "Unca Slayde?"

"It's cool. He's just goofing off."

"I wouldn't steal your cookies, Maggie. That wouldn't be right. Stealing is wrong and if I did it I'd have to arrest myself."

The little girl frowned down at Drake, then started to tear up.

"Hey. Hey, stop that, now. Uncle Drake is a nice man." He held Maggie, patting her while Jenny and Christian looked at their sister like she was crazy.

Drake looked like he was facing down the worst thug imaginable.

"We're a little sensitive."

"About cookies or cops?"

"Cookies. Spiders. Dogs. Cats. Birds. Balloons. Semi trucks. Caterpillars…"

"Huh." Drake gave Maggie a smile. "I don't bite, honey. I swear."

Maggie hid her face in Slayde's neck and he rolled his eyes. "Snack, and then we can have cartoons and playtime until supper."

"Well, I guess two out of four's not bad." Drake bounced Jenny gently on his knee.

Christian sat and ate, talking to Drake like the man was familiar. Maggie stayed with him, clinging, so he sat, got some milk in her.

Drake just ignored him and Maggie, playing with Jenny and listening to Christian. He supposed that was better than upsetting her more by trying to interact with her.

"Honey, do you want to go watch cartoons?"

She shook her head and he sighed. It was hard to deal with her like this.

"I could go lie down in the playroom and you could play on me like a jungle gym. Christian used to love to do that last time I came." Drake grinned at Christian. "Maybe you still do."

"Let's go!" Christian bounced up, grabbed Drake's hand, almost upending Jenny.

Drake lifted Jenny up out of harm's way in one arm. "Okay, okay."

Slayde chuckled. "Have fun."

As soon as everyone cleared out, Maggie relaxed, sat in her chair and ate her cookies, smoothing the hair of Jenny's left-behind baby.

Soon there was the sound of laughing and shrieking and roaring. The occasional thump.

"You want to go see?" he asked.

Maggie shook her head.

"Okay, you don't have to."

There was a loud thump and an, "Ow."

He waited, listening for crying. A moment later the roughhousing started up again, Jenny's happy giggles joining Christian's laughter. Oh, yay.

"So, you want to watch SpongeBob in the living room while I clean up a little?"

Maggie nodded, blonde curls bouncing.

"Good deal." He took her hand and they went into the living room where he turned on the TV and started picking up.

A while later, Drake came out from the family room. "Still not liking your Uncle Drake, kiddo?"

She looked at him, so distrustful. "SpongeBob."

"You like him? I like his friend Patrick."

Maggie looked over at Drake, clearly not ready to accept him yet. "Uh-huh."

Slayde held the chuckle back. It had taken three months before she would even look at Jenny when Mindy had brought the baby home.

"I bet you like Sandy the squirrel."

He had to give Drake points for trying.

Maggie came to him, whispered in his ear and Slayde nodded. "Yes, baby girl. Sandy is a Texan, like you. Uncle Drake grew up in California with your momma."

"I'm your Momma's brother, like Christian is your brother."

Maggie frowned mightily. "Brothers are little."

"Not when they grow up. Your momma used to be little like you and she grew up into your momma."

She looked to him and Slayde nodded, sat and she climbed into his lap. "He's right. Momma was little once. A baby, like Jenny."

"No."

Drake laughed. "Yes."

Jenny came in and crawled up onto the couch, butt in the air, eyes on the TV.

"Hey, little one." Drake kissed the top of her head.

Christian watched the TV for about two minutes, then wandered back off to the playroom. Slayde held Maggie, eyelids so fucking heavy.

"You look three quarters asleep, man. Why don't you go have a nap or something? I should be able to handle the rugrats for an hour."

"I'm…" He yawned as Maggie grabbed his shirt. "I'll just hang." The last thing they needed was a meltdown.

Drake rolled his eyes. "Okay, whatever."

"Uh-huh." He patted Maggie's butt. "You're okay, baby girl."

Drake shook his head, but didn't say anything.

He listened to the TV, dozing off to the sound of SpongeBob's horrible laugh. He really needed to get to Austin and get laid. Soon.

***

Well, Jenny and Christian were happy he was here, Drake thought, anyway. Maggie clearly didn't trust him. Slayde even less so. He wasn't sure what he'd done to either of them.

Slayde had fallen asleep with Maggie in his lap and she didn't look like was going to warm up to Drake any time soon. Sighing, he headed for the kitchen, feeling maybe like he'd made a mistake coming here. He opened the fridge, staring in it.

Christian appeared under his arm. "Whatcha doing?"

"I'm gonna make supper. You wanna help?"

"Uh-huh. It's pizza night. We help every time. I know how."

"Pizza night?" That sounded promising. "Where do we start?"

"Crusts."

"I didn't buy any." Shit, had they even been on the list?

"No. We make them from the freezer."

"Yeah?" Drake closed the fridge door and opened the one above it. "So, I'm looking for round flat things, right?"

"Uh-huh."

Christ, this freezer was insane. Everything was labeled and dated and in perfect containers. Man, talk about anal.

The crusts, or at least what he assumed was crusts, were already rolled out flat rounds.

"How many do we need?" Because he could eat one of these all on his own.

"One for Uncle Slayde and Jenny. One for me and Maggie. One for…Who do you share with?"

"I think I can probably eat the whole thing by myself." He patted his belly. "What do you think?"

Christian looked at him. "You could prob'ly eat a whole elephant."

"I bet I could!" He laughed and held up his hand to give Christian a high five.

Christian slapped their palms together, bouncing.

He laughed and pulled out three pizza crusts. "So, whadda we do now?"

"We make sauce and put out all the yummy stuff for the top."

"Sauce? I take it there's not a bottle for that?" Damn, was all the food from scratch?

"A bottle?" Christian looked totally confused. "The baby doesn't take a bottle anymore."

He chuckled. "Good job. So