“Finding places for everything is going to be a challenge,” I said.

“Mommy doesn’t like our room to be messy.” Noelle, who still believed her mother was coming home soon, sounded worried.

I waited for the inevitable, which was Holly telling Noelle to be quiet—or worse. But Holly seemed less worried these days, and while she still refused to talk about her mother, she was less apt to force silence on her sister, too.

“We’ll make sure we keep everything neat.” Fully awake now, both girls unbuckled their seat belts and scampered to the front door clutching some of their favorite new treasures.

“Forget what I said about sleepy. Looks like you have some night ahead of you,” Teo said, stepping down from the driver’s seat to join me.

“Stay. We can get them in bed after they calm down, and the rest of the evening might be ours...” I flashed my dimples and stopped just shy of wiggling my eyebrows.

“You think you’ll get them in bed anytime soon?”

All right, it was doubtful. The birthday party had started with caterers flipping sliders and hot dogs on my parents’ outdoor grill. After lunch and before the mermaid birthday cake, a pack of poodles wearing silly bathing suits had arrived to entertain. Finally, each of the two dozen guests had gone home with a sand pail painted with her name containing a colorful beach towel, rhinestone flip-flops and a blow-up beach ball that read “Thank you for coming to my birthday party.”

Both Holly and Noelle had been too excited to be sad that their parents weren’t there. My overachieving mother had known exactly how to manage their special day.

Unfortunately, she’d left tonight in my incapable hands. Now I pretended I knew all about children. “I’m going to wrestle them into pajamas, and they’ll go right to sleep.” I linked my arm with his. “But really, I’ll understand if you want to leave.” I grasped his arm tighter, so moving would be a challenge. “You already went above and beyond the call of duty.”

“I might have enjoyed a moment or two.”

He had loved the whole thing, laughing and dodging water balloons, even pretending to be a pirate when one brave little girl asked about his leg. He was a natural, an experienced uncle, and sometimes, at heart, a kid himself.

I pulled out all the stops. “You might enjoy a moment or two of the upcoming evening, too. Besides, there’s a dog inside who’s dying to see you.”

“Maybe I’ll come in for a little while.”

Successful, I disentangled myself and went to open the back of the car. “I’ll get an armload.”

Weighed down like a pack mule with board games, a fancy spa set, a fairy garden and two American Girl paperbacks, I made it to the front door, noting the predictable demise of TropiSanta, once again a sad vinyl puddle. “Key’s in my front pocket,” I told Holly.

She fished it out and eventually all of us, plus the loot, made it inside. The girls divided the spoils and started hauling them upstairs. I turned on schmaltzy Christmas carols and flipped a switch in the great room so the tree lights sparkled.