I plant myself between my sister and my living room, trying to look as casual as possible. Andy stands beside her with his backpack strapped on his shoulders and a wide grin on his face.

“Hi, Uncle Will!”

“Hey, buddy,” I say. “What’s going on?”

Sara gawks at me. “I asked you to watch him, remember? I have to meet with the P-A-R-T-Y committee to finish arrangements for his B-I-R-T-H-D-A-Y in the S-Q-U-A-R-E today.”

I blink through the mess of letters. “That’s today?”

“Yes — a fact I could have reminded you of last night but you hung up on me. Did you even read my texts?”

“Sorry,” I say, stepping to the side. “Come on in, Andy.”

Sara releases his hand and he rushes in while she scans over my shoulder. “Did you have company?”

I glance behind me at the empty pizza boxes and beer cans. “No, just a rough night,” I say quickly.

She squints. “Yeah, I heard about your little date with Jovie. It didn’t go so well, did it? Not that I’m surprised…”

“No, it did not.”

“Well, you’re better off without her.”

I ignore it. “When are you picking him back up?”

“A few hours...” She lowers to a whisper. “The party is at noon. Be there by eleven-thirty, please.”

“Cool.” I nod.

“Who are you?”

I spin around, hearing Andy’s voice in the hallway and my chest tightens. “Hey, Andy, buddy… come on back in here…”

Sara brushes past me and I exhale as she charges through my living room to catch up with him. I close the door and follow them as Sara crosses her arms in disappointment.

“Hey, Jovie,” she says through her teeth.

“Hello, Sara.”

Jovie lets out a soft chuckle from my bedroom doorway. She’s fully-clothed, thankfully, but there’s not a damn thing to be said to convince my sister that was always the case.

“Who are you?” Andy asks her again.

“Oh, I’m just…” she gestures at me, “I’m just an old friend of your uncle’s.”

I nudge his shoulder. “You remember Jovie, right?” I ask him. “The nice lady from the toy store?”

Jovie nods. “That, too. You might not recognize me without the very flattering red smock.”

Sara glares at me. “And what is she doing here?”

I go blank but awkward moments were always Jovie’s forte.

“I dropped by on my way to work,” she says, raising her hand to hold up a CD from my shelf. “I loaned him this years ago and he never gave it back.”

I follow her lead. “Well, you didn’t exactly leave a forwarding address, Jove.”

“Uh-huh,” she says, stepping forward. “Anyway, I guess our stuff is square now.”

“I guess so,” I say, furrowing my brow.

She passes by us. “Bye.”

“Bye.”

Sara stares her down, barely blinking until the front door opens and closes again. Once it does, her eyes shift in my direction like armed missiles preparing to strike. “Andy, go back to the living room, please,” she says to him.

He obeys her and jogs off to plant himself in front of my television.

I take a deep breath in preparation as Sara’s eyes flash red.

“She dropped by to claim a CD?” she asks.

“Yeah,” I answer.

“Oh, please. Even she’s not too broke to own an iPod. What was she really doing here?”

I shake my head. “Nothing you haven’t already made up your mind about.”

She lets out an annoyed grunt. “Well, don’t let her drop by while Andy’s here. I don’t want her around my son.”

“That’s fine.”

“That’s fine?”

“You’re the parent, aren’t you?”

Her brow arches. “And you should stay away from her, too.”

“Sara, you’re Andy’sparent. Not mine,” I argue, keeping an even tone. “You have every right to say how you want your son to be raised and to tell me what not to expose him to while he’s under my care, but that’s where the line is. You don’t get to tell me what to do or who to spend my time with.”

She adjusts her purse strap higher up her shoulder. “I can hear her tone in your voice already,” she says, turning away. “She’s not dropping by the party today, is she?”

“She’s working. So, no.”

“Good.” She walks away, pausing over her son to kiss his head on the way to the door. “Andy, have fun. I’ll be back in a few hours.”

“Okay, Mommy.”

The door slams behind her. Andy stands up and peeks out the window and I join him to watch as she climbs into her car.

“Is she mad?” he asks me.

“A little.” I nod. “Not at you, though. She’s mad at me, so don’t worry about it.”

“Why?” He stares up at me. “What did you do?”

“Well…” I lower to his level by leaning down with my hands on my knees. “You know the nice toy store lady?”

“Yeah.”

“She and I have a complicated history together and your mommy is a little scared that we might repeat it.”

“Why?”

“Because I didn’t handle the fallout well last time,” I explain. “You’re too young to remember this but when you first met me, I wasn’t doing so hot.”

“Why?”

“Because breaking up with Jovie was a mistake that I never quite got over.”

“Why?”

“Dude, you saw how pretty she is. Girls might be full of cooties to you now but give it a few years and you’ll probably have a Jovie or two under your belt. Trust me.”

His head tilts. “Can we watch shark attack videos again?”

I smile. “You’re pretty hardcore for a four-year-old, you know that, buddy?”

Andy nods.