Page 14 of Mr. McHunky

chapter

seven

Emory

I’m saved from having to answer his awkward question by three women yelling at us from the back door.

“Yay, you convinced her!” one yells.

Another one smacks Sofia. “It totally is her!”

“I told you,” Sofia says, then hits her sister back.

“Any chance y’all would pretend to be normal for one night?” Jude asks.

“Not a chance!” Sofia and the other one say in unison.

And for whatever reason that makes me laugh. All of a sudden I’m flooded with images of a younger Jude trying to wrangle three younger sisters. The third one, I’m assuming the youngest, comes down from the porch and kisses Jude on the cheek.

“Thank you for being the good one, Juliette,” he says. “I have enough trouble with those two.”

Juliette giggles then introduces herself to me.

“Very nice to meet you,” I say.

“You’ve already met Sofia,” she continues. “That’s Aria.” She points to the one currently poking a finger in Sofia’s ear.

I laugh. “Are they always like this?” I ask Jude.

“Yes.” He glances at me and sees me smiling and he grins right back. “They have their decent moments too.” He puts his hand on the small of my back and leads me forward.

“Oh look at Ms. Rosie!” Aria squeals. “I just wanna eat you up. Yes I do.”

“I promise you don’t have to stay long if you don’t want to,” Jude whispers.

I laugh. “I’m sure it’ll be fine. As long as she doesn’t actually eat my dog.”

Fifteen minutes later, after more official introductions, we’re all seated at their family table. In an actual dining room. With placemats. I’ve never eaten on placemats outside of restaurants, but those are usually made of paper.

The meal itself isn’t overly fancy, just spaghetti and meat sauce, but I’d be the sauce didn’t come from a jar.

“Everything is delicious,” I say.

“I made it,” Sofia says.

“You did not,” Aria argues. “You boiled the damn noodles. That is not the same thing as cooking.”

Jude rolls his eyes, but I find it all endearing. And, I realize suddenly, none of it feels awkward. I try not to examine that sentiment.

“Do you have a favorite of all of your videos?” Juliette asks me.

“Oddly enough, no one has ever asked me that before. I guess I’d probably say it’s the one where I got Rosie. I wasn’t expecting to adopt a dog that day or any other. But she just kinda picked me and that was that.”

“That was such a sweet one,” Juliette says. “I love with the one where you introduce Lola the best.”

I chuckle. “I think that’s everyone’s favorite.”

“Oh yes,” Juliette says. “Buck sounds like he was probably a total sweetheart.”