Page 29 of Charm and Conquer

Amelia stops with one leg over the bench seat of the picnic table, the other still on the ground, and twists to stare at us. She narrows her eyes. "We are not getting a puppy."

I chuckle. "I said nothing about a puppy. Relax, Amelia."

She doesn't relax, but she drops the bag of food onto the table and sits. "What did you promise her?" Amelia seems weary. Not just the dark circles under her eyes, which mean she's not getting enough sleep, but a full body and soul weariness like she can't take one more thing going wrong, one more thing on her plate.

How long has she been so exhausted? How long has she been doing it all alone when she should have had her brother to lean on?

"I told Harper she's staying with me this weekend."

Amelia's shoulders slump. "Why would you do that? Don't you have to work this weekend?"

I do have to work, but I'm willing to bet Russ will give me a couple days off if I ask real nice. "I meanyourweekend. I'll take Harper Saturday night and give her back to you on Monday night. I've got some days off coming up and I want to spend more time with my niece."

Amelia stares at me like I'm an idiot, but I can see the hope in her eyes. "Have you ever taken care of a three-year-old before?"

"Nope, but didn't you say last week that Harper's more mature than me? I'll just be right down the road and if I need any help, I'll call Mom and Dad."

"They're working those days," Amelia says.

While we've been discussing her future plans, Harper has pulled the food bag off the table and dug out a brownie. I didn't even think Amelia was paying attention, but her hand shoots out and she grabs that brownie without taking her eyes off me. "Eat your peanut butter and jelly sandwich first, Harp-Harp."

Harper screws up her face like she's about to protest, but glances at her mother, who's still staring at me, and seems to think better of it. Probably because she's excited for her peanut butter and jelly sandwich, anyway.

"Then I'll call in Grant or Russ or Ellery or—" I'm just listing the names of everyone I can think of.

"Miss Ellery?" Harper asks. She's dumped out the entire bag of food onto the table and is slowly squishing every package wrapped in white butcher paper, trying to figure out which one is hers.

"You know Ellery?" Amelia's so shocked she doesn't seem to notice or care what her daughter is doing this time. "She always helps Harper find books to read at the library."

"And she reads me books for story time." Harper holds up Amelia's wrap and starts trying to peel the paper from it.

I grab Harper's peanut butter and jelly sandwich from the pile, unwrap it, and hand it to her.

"We're old friends," I lie. Anything to convince Amelia to let me take Harper. "Come on, Amelia, when was the last time you had a weekend to yourself with no interruptions?" I unwrap Amelia's turkey wrap and hand it to her.

She takes it, but just stares at it for a long moment. "What about your girlfriend? I don't want a Weston anywhere near my baby and I definitely don't want you making out with some woman in front of Harper."

"Amelia," I say on a huff, getting annoyed. My sister seems to know instinctively exactly how to push my buttons. "Stop. Eat your sandwich and just think about it. You know I'm not going to make out with a woman in front of your kid."

"What's make out?" Harper asks, her cheeks smeared with grape jelly.

"It's the kind of kissing two grown-ups do when they love each other very much," Amelia says. She's always given Harper straight and age appropriate answers no matter the situation.

Harper nods solemnly. "Like Auntie Lissa and Uncle Damon."

I drop my burger back onto the wrapper I've flattened like a plate and gape at my sister. "You told me Melissa's single."

Amelia's mouth twitches, but she doesn't smile. "She is single now. But when she visited last summer, she had a boyfriend, and they kissed in front of Harper. It made a big impact."

"Auntie Lissa had her tongue in Unca Damon's mouth," Harper says, and takes a big bite of her sandwich.

"Which might be why I warned you against doing it in front of old eagle eye and bat ears over here," Amelia says.

"I'm not the twenty-one-year-old baby of the family. I'm the mature, capable, rational oldest brother." Melissa is our first cousin, but she's more like a sister to me and Amelia, since she spent every summer at our house growing up. Her parents, my mother's sister- and brother-in-law, live out in Arizona and couldn't afford childcare for the summers, so Melissa stayed with us.

Amelia laughs so hard her eyes water. I just eat my burger and pretend to be incredibly offended.

"Okay, fine," Amelia says when she's calmed down. "You can babysit Harper for the weekend. My friends have been asking for a girls' night out for months and I could really use the opportunity to get the house clean."