“Finished,” Jane said, sitting back to reveal the chalk drawing she’d made on the sidewalk.
Kyle set aside the sketch he had drawn of Jane and leaned forward to look at her work. It was a picture of her family: Jim, Susan, Howard, herself. And her Uncle Hal (wearing a brown jacket). And a black-haired figure next to Hal. “Is that me?”
“Of course it is,” she said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Kyle smiled at the idea that Jane considered him part of the family. He didn’t get to spend a lot of time with Hal’s family, being on Oa most of the time. But the kids were staying with Hal while their parents were away for a few days at a friend’s wedding, so Kyle was watching them while Hal was at work.
Jane gathered up her chalk, putting the pieces into her backpack. She zipped the pack closed and studied her drawing for a moment. Then she looked up at Kyle. “Are you going to marry Uncle Hal?”
Kyle blinked, completely blindsided by the question. Though it was something he had thought about. He’d bought a ring for Alex and proposed to Jen twice after all—marriage appealed to him. But he knew the whole idea terrified Hal and they had so far avoided the subject. He wasn’t sure what to tell her. “Um… I don’t know. Maybe?”
Jane got a huge grin on her face and Kyle knew he was in trouble. Maybe it was time to change the subject? “Let’s go find Howard. Uncle Hal will be home soon, so we need to order the pizzas.”
They found Howard across the park, throwing a football around with a neighbor kid, then headed back to the apartment building. Jane was practically bouncing when she got into the elevator. She turned to Howard. “Uncle Kyle is going to marry Uncle Hal!” She looked up at Kyle, eyes wide and pleading. “Can I be the flower girl? Pleeeeease?”
Kyle winced. “I said maybe, Jane. Maybe.”
“Okay,” she sighed, with a perfect imitation of her uncle’s pout. “But when you do, can I be the flower girl?”
“Jane—”
“Oh! And you can have one of those really huge cakes with a fountain in it. I saw it on a TV.”
Kyle looked at Howard. But Howard just shook his head and shrugged, in the universal male gesture of Dude, I don’t understand women either.
Back in the apartment, Kyle put in a Harry Potter movie and ordered the pizza and hoped that Jane would get so caught up in the movie that she would forget about planning his wedding. But of course he couldn’t be that lucky.
As soon as the door opened, Jane was up and running to greet her uncle. “Uncle Hal! When you and Uncle Kyle get married, can I be the flower girl?”
Hal looked at Kyle, eyebrows raised.
Kyle sighed. Well, so much for avoiding the subject.