Next to You by Julia Gabriel

Author:Julia Gabriel [Gabriel, Julia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Serif Books
Published: 2014-12-17T18:00:00+00:00

* * *

“Uncle Jared!” Aidan and Emma launched themselves at him from the pool deck.

“Whoa, whoa,” he laughed. “Let me set down this tray or we’ll all be covered in ketchup. And your mom will put me in time-out.” He could feel the pool water leaching from their still wet swimsuits into each leg of his jeans. He placed the tray of hamburger buns and condiments onto the picnic table, then scooped his niece and nephew up into his arms.

“Mom never puts us in time-out. Only Dad does that,” Emma informed him.

“Yeah, I can see how that might be the case.”

Aidan and Emma regaled him with tales of their summer so far, until they all heard the soft laughter of Phlox behind them. The kids’ heads snapped around, their faces a mix of curiosity and suspicion at the stranger in their midst.

Jared set the two of them back down on the ground. “Guys, this is my friend, Phlox. Phlox, this is Aidan and Emma.”

“Phlox is a weird name,” Emma pronounced.

Jared shot Phlox an apologetic look.

“You’re absolutely right,” Phlox said. “It’s a totally weird name. I always wanted a normal name like Emma or Olivia.”

“What does it mean?” Aidan asked shyly, peeking out from behind Jared’s legs.

“Oh, it’s a flower.” She looked around Jake and Mina’s spacious back yard. “There’s some over there.” She jogged over to a mass of pink flowers tumbling over a boulder in the back corner of the yard. She snipped off a bloom and brought it back. “This is phlox. See?” She kneeled down to show Aidan, then Emma.

She was a natural with kids. Emma was a confident enough child to jump right into a conversation with her, but even Aidan let go of Jared’s leg and let himself be drawn into Phlox’s orbit.

Uncle Who? Jared smiled at the sight of the three of them, their heads together, gabbing away like old friends. Would she forgive his lies if she understood that Aidan and Emma were the reasons behind them? Right now, Aidan and Emma believed that their other grandparents had died in the same house fire that had burned their uncle. If Jared told Phlox who he really was, would she understand how important it was that Aidan and Emma not have a grandfather who was a murderer?

In retrospect, he should have faked his own death and moved to Lichtenstein or Nepal, some place where they didn’t worship socially awkward technology billionaires. Hindsight and all that. He was stuck now. As long as he remained out of sight, he remained mostly out of mind. Occasionally, a reporter would call Jake looking for him. Jake always told them that he was “out of the country at the moment.” If he reappeared, the media would start calling him for his comments on the technology industry, people would want him to serve on boards and shit, he’d get invited to speak at conferences and schools. And any time any of that got reported on, it would say, “Jared

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