“But I know that’s what you got me.”

The last time he’d seen her, she’d asked him very seriously to buy her a bright pink L.O.L. Surprise! Cottage for her birthday. He had mad respect for her because she’d chosen her mark well. She’d known he was good for it.

She reached up and twisted the hair at the back of his neck around one of her fingers. How long did he have before she’d stop doing that? Another year? Two? It hurt to love children who kept insisting on growing all the time.

“Can we play fighting horses?” she asked him.

He didn’t want to play fighting horses. For one thing, he didn’t like fighting horses. For another, once they started that up, they wouldn’t be able to stop until all the Coleman grandkids had a turn.

Unfortunately for him, he was more likely to quit his job than he was to say no to Hadley Jane.

“Anything for you,” he told her.

A few more minutes of the concert droned past.

“Is it almost over?” she asked.

“One never knows.”

As soon as Eugene finished and took his false-humble bows, Hadley Jane grasped Sebastian’s hand and Ben’s hand and pulled them toward the family room.

“Are we playing fighting horses?” Ben asked Sebastian, correctly reading the situation.

Before Sebastian could reply, Hadley Jane yelled, “Fighting horses!” loud enough to alert her cousins.

“Had I known to expect this, little girl,” Sebastian commented, “I’d have brought my knee pads.”

“Exactly.” Ben lowered onto all fours. “Fractured kneecaps weren’t really part of my weekend plans.”

“If anyone’s going to fracture their kneecaps, it’s going to be me. You only weigh a buck fifty.” Sebastian went to his hands and knees a few feet from Ben.

Ben laughed. “Unlike some people, I’m fit.”

“Thin isn’t the same thing as fit.”

“Heavy isn’t the same thing as fit, either.”

“It’s a good thing for me, then, that muscular is.”

Hadley Jane climbed onto Sebastian’s back and commanded her little cousin to run and go get two pool noodles out of the hall closet.

Two of the boys tried to climb onto him behind Hadley Jane, who protested loudly. Three or four other kids all rushed to beat the others onto Ben’s back. They ended up getting there at the same time and entering into a king-of-the-mountain-type struggle, which turned into a wrestling match. Sebastian and Ben tickled the kids and, at the same time, attempted to prevent them from hurting one another.