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“Uncle Eric?” Keiko’s face was angelic and absolutely filthy as pushed her half-finished cup of cocoa so close to Eric that it was inches from falling right into his lap. “Can I have more whipped cream?”
Rescuing the cocoa and his crotch, Eric looked across the small round cafe table and did some quick little kid calculus. Keiko blinked at him with Hyunjae’s eyes and pouted with her mother’s lips. Eric sighed and scratched his head. The derivative of “how much sugar consumed at the baking contest” squared by “amount of whipped cream smeared on her face” multiplied by Uncle privileges only had one answer.
“May I,” Eric corrected, reaching out with a napkin to wipe at least a tablespoon of whipped cream off her chin. “And yeah, sure, go ask Sunwoo if he’ll give you another splash.” He carefully wrapped her stubby little fingers around the mug and sent her off towards the counter, giving Sunwoo a smile and the universal two fingers close together signal for “ please, just a little.”
Sunwoo winked at him and welcomed Keiko behind the counter like the beloved small town princess that she was, sweeping his arm out and bowing. Eric’s throat burned from more than just the coffee as he told himself that it was not OK to ogle Sunwoo’s while he was babysitting his best friend’s daughter, even if he was doing the babysitting so his best friend could do some ogling and canoodling of his own.
Forcing his gaze away from nice men with nice backs, Eric watched the snow fall and wondered how many layers he was going to need to make it through the chores around the farm the next morning and hoped that Hyunjae was finally going to let himself be happy again. He hoped that Chanhee would be the one to help make it happen – that they would work out all their issues and that Chanhee would want to stay – but even if they couldn’t, Eric thought maybe it was enough that Hyunjae seemed ready to try. His money was on the whole thing working out like the plot to a dime store romance novel and he couldn’t think of a single person in their town who would want to bet against Hyunjae and Keiko’s future happiness.
While nothing was a sure thing, not in this life, Eric knew that the best he could do was to keep nudging Chanhee and Hyunjae in the right direction.
The direction of let’s be together-forever-and-ever, sickeningly sweet, second chance romance.
He took another sip of coffee, wincing as Keiko’s sugared up, wound-up shriek of happiness pierced the relative quiet of an ice cream shop in the dead of winter. He abandoned his snow-gazing for tracking down the source of Keiko’s giggling, swallowing down a shriek of his own at the sight of Keiko riding on Sunwoo’s shoulders with whipped cream all over her mouth.
“Horse, horse, horse!!!” Keiko’s laughter bounced off the walls and the windows. “Faster, faster, go faster,” her little voice broke into an almost whine as she pulled on Sunwoo’s hair and tried to get him to gallop around the shop, completely blissfully unaware that Sunwoo was one tug away from going forcibly bald.
From the first day he had moved into town, broke, but friendly, looking for work that he had claimed was going to be seasonal two summers and one winter ago, Sunwoo had always been a sucker when it came to having a good time. Keiko had probably scammed him into two extra squirts of whipped cream and into being her personal pony without even breaking a sweat. Hell, Eric thought, Sunwoo had probably even volunteered for the gig, never short on smiles, laughter or not so bright ideas.
From the first day he had moved into town, handsome and single and funny, Eric had always been a sucker for Sunwoo, even if he had yet to do a damned thing about it other than be grateful he had a Keiko shaped excuse to go to the ice cream parlor in the snow.
Eric stood up and wiped his hands on his pants, shaking his head and trying not to laugh at Sunwoo’s plight. “Come here, princess.” Eric put his arms out, arching a single eyebrow when Keiko tugged on Sunwoo’s hair one more time. “Don’t you know that we don’t ride horses indoors?” Keiko’s sigh was long suffering in the way of those blessed with childhood. She slipped off Sunwoo’s back and into Eric’s arms. “Say thank you to Mr. Sunwoo for the whipped cream and the piggy back.”
“Thank you,” Keiko mumbled, wiping her whipped cream mouth all over Eric’s second best shirt.
“Thanks,” Eric echoed, wishing he had a free hand to reach out and smooth down Sunwoo’s hair. “You didn’t need to do that.” He shook Keiko until a little giggle rumbled out of her. “This one is a real terror when it comes to shoulder rides. Believe me, I know.” He set Keiko down and let her cling to his waist, suddenly shy. “Almost six and she still doesn’t know her own strength. Or not to choke me around the neck when I’m carrying her.”
“But you would still never tell her no, would you?”
Sunwoo’s smile as he looked at Keiko and then looked at Eric was fond, so fond that Eric thought he was going to melt like a marshmallow in hot chocolate, just turn into a total pile of sugar and goo.
“What’s the fun in being an uncle if I have to say no?” Eric shuffled awkwardly, looking away from Sunwoo to preserve what remained of his sanity, only to lose a shred more when he discovered just how much whipped cream and chocolate was now smeared on his shirt. He sighed, long-suffering in the way of those blessed with watching children. “Even if I probably should.”
“Dude, you’re a good uncle.” Sunwoo clapped him on the shoulder, warm fingers squeezing gently. “And an even better friend.” Eric looked up at him, feeling his face flush from the unexpected praise from the one man in town he wanted to compliment him the most. Sunwoo leaned in close, close enough to whisper, close enough that Eric could smell waffle cone and vanilla. “I hope that those two work it out. Hyunjae deserves to be happy.”
“Yeah.” Eric stroked Keiko’s hair and met Sunwoo’s conspiratorial gaze, lowering his voice to match Sunwoo’s. “Chanhee, too. Even if he left before you moved to town, he’s a good guy. He deserves that happiness just as much.”
“You do, too, Eric,” Sunwoo murmured, looking at Eric through his long, pretty eyelashes. “Don’t forget about yourself.”
At that moment, Eric had forgotten anything but the color of Sunwoo’s eyes, only to be brought back to reality by little kid fingers digging into his gut and making him squirm like a newborn calf.
“Can we go home now?” Keiko whined, yawning and clinging to Eric like a vine. “I wanna see Daddy.”
Sunwoo took two steps back, leaving Eric with enough room and ability to think, well, not straight, but like an adult. He peered down at Hyunjae’s little one, taking in the smudges of exhaustion beneath her eyes, the way she looked just like she had when she was three years old and fighting a nap after a busy day, too afraid she was going to miss a single minute of something interesting and fun. He remembered the times she had fallen asleep on the floor, a toy still clutched in one hand, the sight of her sleeping face the only thing that had made Hyunjae smile during those hard days.
“Sure thing.” Eric peeled Keiko off just enough to heft her back into his arms, even though she was getting too big to carry like this because she was always going to be his favorite. “Say bye to Mr. Sunwoo,” Eric told her, nodding in Sunwoo’s direction, glad that she was too young to understand why his heart was beating so hard beneath the press of her little hand on his chest.
“Bye!” Keiko chirped, resting her head on Eric’s shoulder while he tried to pick up the jacket, scarf and gloves she had scattered around their little table for two. “You say bye-bye, too, Uncle!” Keiko said, kicking her heels and almost getting him square in the crotch.
“Ugh, bye,” Eric grunted, wondering if this is why Hyunjae had never bothered trying to date before Chanhee came rolling back into town.
Sunwoo, being a sweetheart, was kind enough to hide his laughter behind his hand, kind enough to help Eric wind Keiko’s scarf around her neck and slide her arms back into her jacket. “Come again soon,” Sunwoo said, pulling Eric’s collar up and pulling the edges of his beanie down to cover the tips of ears that Eric just knew were turning red. “It gets lonely in an ice cream shop in winter.”
“We’ll be back the next time the lovebirds need an empty nest.”
Sunwoo’s laughter followed them to the door, which he opened to make way for Eric and his armful of wriggling child. “You’re welcome anytime,” Sunwoo called out into the frigid evening air, his breath slipping between snowflakes to chase after Eric. “With my princess or without.” Eric stopped and looked over his shoulder to catch Sunwoo’s almost shy smile, feet sliding on a patch of ice when Sunwoo held his hand up to his face, pinky finger and thumb spread out. “Call me, I know you have my number.”
The ice cream shop doorbell tinkled as the door closed, leaving Eric alone with Keiko in her carseat giving him a curious look. “Your face is red and you smell like coffee.”
Eric tugged on her straps and asked himself for the thousandth time why he had never charged Hyunjae a dime for his suffering. “You’ll understand why when you’re older, sweetheart,” Eric grumbled, shutting her door and climbing behind the steering wheel.
“Why you smell like coffee?” Keiko’s feet kicked merrily into the back of his seat.
“That, too,” Eric answered, smiling at her in his rearview mirror. “There are some things that only grown ups do – like drink coffee and act a fool in front of men they like.”
“I don’t like coffee.” Keiko smiled back, cuddling her favorite plushy dog against her chest. Eric had always found it cute that the little girl who lived in the cat cafe carried around a raggedy old dog stuffy. “Neither does Barksy. It’s yucky.” She held up Barksy and did her best ear piercing bark, rattling the windows of Eric’s car and busting his ear drums. “But!” Keiko declared, folding Barksy back against her chest, “I do like Sunwoo. And Chanhee. And you.”
“Thanks, Sugar,” Eric said, reaching between the seats to pat her little knee. “I like you too. And Chanhee. And Sunwoo,” he finished, confessing for the first and only time, figuring there was no harm in telling someone who wouldn’t know the difference.
Keiko rocked back and forth in her carseat, almost too big now, teetering on the edge of needing a booster rather than the monstrosity that Eric had kept in the cramped backseat of his truck for years. He remembered how he had sweat bullets and cursed more than once the day he installed it, his eyes still red and wet with tears after finding Hyunjae curled up in bed, so grief stricken and lost, softly asking if Eric and his mom would take Keiko for a a few days – just a few days, until he could get back on his feet and remember how to live again.
“I like Daddy the most.”
“That’s good, honey,” Eric murmured, smiling at her once more as the memory faded, replaced now by happier times, by the promise of the present and a not so uncertain future. “Your daddy loves you the most, too.”
“More than you?”
Eric laughed and slapped the steering wheel. “Not even close. Your daddy loves his smelly old shoes more than he loves your poor Uncle Eric.”
Keiko’s voice was soft. “More than Chanhee?”
“Oh.” Eric’s heart ached, pierced by a sweet girl’s honest worry. He pulled the truck into Hyunjae’s driveway, taking off his seatbelt so he could turn to her and cup her cheek. “More than anyone in the entire world. Always and forever.” Keiko blinked at him with wide, innocent eyes – Hyunjae’s eyes – as Eric rubbed a thumb down her nose and then tweaked it. “You’re his baby girl.”
“I’m not a baby,” Keiko said, wriggling out of her restraints, ping ponging back to happiness in a way that only children could.
Eric thought she was probably the bravest among them all, still young enough to welcome love when it walked through her father’s front door, ready and willing to accept whatever the future would hold, not yet jaded enough to hide her feelings. Not for the first time, being with her made him want to be better, to try harder, to live with a child’s optimism and joy.
“No?” Eric climbed out of the car and opened her door and then his arms. “Then what are you?”
“I’m Keiko!!!” Keiko leapt at him, forty-two pounds of sweetness and light, giggling as Eric staggered back into the car-dirtied snowbank.
“You sure are,” Eric wheezed, laughing as he carried her to the front door. “Hold up, sugar pie.” Eric craned his neck around Keiko’s chokehold to peek through the window, counting to three before opening the front door and shouting at his best friend to get a room.
Hyunjae and Chanhee sprang apart so fast it made him laugh even harder, Keiko slipping out of his grasp and running to her father, chattering about having two daddies and how Sunwoo had given her more and more and more whipped cream.
“Oh yeah?” Hyunjae gave him the evil eye. “And were Mr. Sunwoo and Uncle Eric also volunteering to stay up with you all night?”
Eric gave him the evil right back. “Of course. How about we watch a Hallmark movie and make some popcorn and cuddle?” Eric threw his arm around Chanhee’s shoulders and dragged him in close. “Don’t you think that would be so fun, Keiko-baby, if we all hung together all night?”
“Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!” Keiko’s shriek startled the cats into hiding.
Eric laughed in Hyunjae’s familiar, dumb, loved face and pushed Chanhee back into his arms, taking advantage of the chaos to wander into the kitchen to make snacks and give the little trio time to canoodle, giving himself a pat on the back for truly being the best friend in the entire world.
~~
Hours later, he woke up on Hyunjae’s couch, with Hyunjae’s blanket and three of Hyunjae’s cats on his lap. The snow had finally stopped falling, but he was still cold and the house was quiet, everyone having gone to bed and left him alone. He hoped that Hyunjae and Chanhee were warm, that Keiko was dreaming sweetly and that if he picked up his phone and finally made that call, maybe just maybe, Sunwoo would answer and he could find his own love story to tell.