gone for a walk if Dash had boots and a good jacket, but not now. He seemed to have spent the morning trying to get Dash to eat with various degrees of success.
Jensen heard a car pull up and glanced out of the kitchen window hoping it was the groceries which would give him something to do. His heart sank when he saw the white SUV. Jensen loved his sister to death, but he wasn’t ready to answer the nine million questions he knew would be forthcoming, and then he realized the other problem as Ellie went around to the car and opened the door for Abigail to climb out. The way she reached in and undid her seat belt made him groan audibly.
Abigail obviously wasn’t at work and in full little mode. She was cute and friendly, and he completely got it, he really did, but now? How the hell could he explain to Dash what was going on?
“What is it?” Dash asked, worry coloring the question. He’d quite clearly heard the groan. “It’s my sister, Ellie, and her wife.” Where did he even start? Ellie took Abigail’s hand and hoisted a diaper bag onto her shoulder. Jensen closed his eyes in horror. Could it get any worse?
But Ellie had rung the doorbell before he’d even thought about how to explain what Dash was about to see, and Jensen walked to the door wishing he were somewhere else. Anywhere else.
“Jensen.” Abigail nearly shrieked and immediately let go of Ellie’s hand and flung herself at him. Jensen umphed with the force but hugged her back just as fiercely.
He let go and gave Ellie a hug and turned to introduce Dash. “Ellie, this—”
“Hi, Dash!” Abigail didn’t give the poor boy a chance to so much as breathe as he got the same exuberant welcome Jensen had done. “Mommy said we could come and visit, and I have coloring or we could watch cartoons?”
Dash shot Jensen a frantic look, but Ellie beat him to it. “Abigail, what did Mommy say when we got here?”
Abigail suddenly seemed to find her shoes fascinating. “That I had to be gentle and polite, and…share my cookies?” At the last part, the little minx winked, and Jensen had to laugh even though he wanted the ground to swallow him whole.
“Abigail, I don’t think—”
“I don’t mind watching cartoons,” Dash said just about audibly, and Abigail beamed and snagged his arm, taking him with her into the lounge. Ellie snickered and put her finger under Jensen’s jaw, closing his mouth which had dropped open. Dash had looked ready to bolt until Abigail had started talking. Jensen shot an alarmed look at Ellie, but she was having way too much fun.
“Really?” he hissed in desperation and took a step into the lounge. Ellie grabbed his arm just as the TV came on, and Abigail squealed in delight.
“Trust me,” she whispered. “In fact, I can be bribed with your coffee to tell you what I know.”
Jensen took one look at Dash, who had curled in a corner of the sofa. If he’d looked panicked or worried, Jensen would have intervened, but he just looked curious. “Let me,” Ellie said and went to the fridge. Jensen followed her curious himself. She poured two glasses of juice, grabbed some napkins and a small bag of obviously homemade cookies from her tote bag, and followed Dash and Abigail into the lounge. Jensen heard her tell Abigail she was allowed three as a special treat. Then Ellie was back.
“Three?” he asked weakly and grabbed the condensed milk out of the fridge to make Ellie the Vietnamese coffee she loved.
Ellie shrugged. “They’re only small, and my health-conscious nut of a wife eats like a commercial for every health magazine you ever heard of. When she’s little, I can spoil her with pizza and cookies.”
“Okay,” Jensen said in as stern a voice as he could muster. “How did you know he was here? And what made you think this was a good idea without giving me chance to warn him?”
“Because we’ve met.”
There wasn’t many times his sister left him speechless, but this was one of them.
Ellie arched an eyebrow. “I was a regular when Jean Simmonds owned the store and you were off building a business empire. We often shared recipes and ideas. I saw Dash a couple of times, but more importantly he saw Abigail both when she called on her way to work once to order a birthday cake for her mom, and when she