He chuckles. My head turns when I hear the sliding door open.

   “Uncle Neville,” I say, smiling and giving my favorite uncle—okay, only uncle—a hug. “Long time no see. How have you been?”

   “I’ve been good,” he says, giving me a tight squeeze. “How about you? How’s work been?”

   Shit.

   “Ummm...” I trail off, not wanting to tell them the truth, but not wanting to lie, either. On the drive here, I knew I was going to have to tell Dad about being fired, but thinking about it and actually doing it are two different things. I don’t want him to worry, but I don’t want to disappoint him either. I know he was very proud of me for having this job and would tell all of his friends how his daughter was a private investigator.

   My dad picks up on my hesitation straight away. “What’s happened? Did you get a bad case or something? I can help if you’re in any trouble.”

   He is always there for me and has my back no matter what, which I really do appreciate, but sometimes it gets a little suffocating. I need to work things out for myself.

   Sighing, my shoulders hunching, I decide to just get over it and tell them. “Actually the business is struggling, so Nadia had to let me go.”

   “Why didn’t you tell me?” Dad asks, brow furrowing. “Do you need money? I can transfer some to you.”

   “I’m telling you now; it only happened the other day. And no, I don’t need any money. I want to figure it out on my own,” I tell him. I hate that I’m keeping things from him. Between this and the possible hysterectomy, I’m breaking our promise to be honest with one another. I know I should just tell him, but I don’t want him to worry or to have to think about the fact that he might never be a grandfather. At least not biologically. It already breaks my heart that I won’t be able to carry my own child, and I don’t want to share the misery. Not yet, at least.

   “If you’re looking for a job, I know a place that’s looking for someone,” Uncle Neville pipes in, his amber eyes kind. I’ve always loved the color of his eyes, whereas Dad and I missed that gene and got dark brown instead.

   “Where?” I ask, perking up. “No one seems to be hiring now. I’ve been submitting my resume for the last few days and there’s been nothing so far.”

   He nods. “It’s at a custom motorcycle shop. They had someone lined up for the holidays, but she bailed, so they’re looking for someone new. All you have to do is man the cash register, answer phones. Typical admin work. What do you think? Something you might be interested in? I know they would pay pretty well.”

   I’m not opposed to doing any admin work, and anywhere is a start. It’s not the type of place I’d usually apply at because I know nothing about their business, but beggars can’t be choosers, and I really just want to get a steady income coming in again. Working behind a desk would probably be better than a bar, and I won’t have to deal with drunk idiots every day, too. Is this a good idea? I don’t know yet. But an opportunity has presented itself, and I’m going to take it.

   “Yeah, very interested. I can do that. I know nothing about motorcycles, though.”

   “You can learn,” he replies, shrugging as he slides his phone out of his jeans pocket. “I’ll call them now and let them know.”

   “What? Just like that? I don’t have to do an interview or anything?” I ask, frowning. “Who owns the shop?”

   He’s a very mysterious man—there’s more than meets the eye with him. He has terrible taste in women, that I know, but luckily he and Georgia, his former wife, are over now. I don’t know much about what happened with them, but I think she left him or something.

   “Some friends of my daughter,” he says casually, watching my reaction.

   I glance between him and my dad. “Daughter?”

   What? As far as I know, Neville only has a stepdaughter, Skylar. We’ve hung out a couple of times, and she is a really cool chick. But we’ve been busy and haven’t had a chance to catch up in a while.

   “Did you knock someone up since we last talked? When did all of this happen? What else have I missed?”

   Dad stands next to me and wraps his arm around me. “He didn’t know about her until recently, and no, she’s not a baby. She’s around your age. Her name is Abbie. I saw a picture of her; she has Neville’s eyes.”

   My mouth opens and closes. I don’t even know what to say right now. “Who is her mother? How did you find out? I think I’m going to need a stiff drink.”

   So I have a cousin on my dad’s side. I mean, I have Skylar too, but it’s different since we never spent that much time together growing up. Her mom never really allowed that; maybe because we aren’t blood related she didn’t think it was important. But now Uncle Neville has a daughter we all didn’t know about, and now she’s about to hook me, the cousin she’s never even met, up with a job.

   Wonderful.

   I’m sure she’s going to have a great first impression of me. I haven’t even met her and I’m already calling in a favor.

   I’ve always wanted that family connection, and ever since my mother died, I’ve only had my dad and my uncle. There’s never been anyone my age, or any female influence around me. The thought that I could have that closeness now with Abbie makes me feel hopeful.

   We all head outside and I say hello to everyone else, all my dad’s good friends who have been around our family since I can remember. Plate of food in hand, I find a quiet spot in the corner and sit down when my dad finds me.

   “You all right?” he asks, tone gentle. “I’m glad you came here today.”

   “I’m fine,” I reply, looking down at my plate. “And me too. I’m a little bummed about my job, but you know these things happen. And I’m still processing the whole Abbie thing.”

   “Aren’t we all,” Dad murmurs. “He’s going to bring her around soon, so if you could be here, that would be great. She really wants to meet us, but couldn’t come today because she had something going on. She doesn’t have much family.”

   “I’d love to meet her. How do you feel about having a niece?” I ask.

   I’m still in shock about the whole thing, but in a good way. I’ve always wanted a bigger family, and now I have someone around my age. I hope the two of us will hit it off and be close. I’ve always wished I had a sibling, but it’s not like that’s going to happen, so a cousin is second best. It will be nice to have someone else I can call cousin.

   “I feel...good. And I haven’t seen my brother this happy in a long time, so it’s really nice to see,” Dad says, smiling to himself. “He’s always been the best big brother to me, and he deserves the world, so it makes me happy to see him so happy. I always thought he’d make a wonderful dad.”