At Dinner

Robert soon answered when we rang his bell. He was dressed elegantly and awaited us with a big smile.

"Ann, Ashley, Liam! It's good to see you, please come in."

"You're very well dressed, Robert, " said my mother.

"I don't even have to tell you how stunning you look today, Ann. You always manage to look more and more beautiful"

"Oh Robert, always with that silver tongue" Mother replied as she blushed lightly.

"What about me, Uncle Robert? How am I?"

"You're the most beautiful little thing in this neighborhood, surely you and your mother could stop traffic!"

Ashley laughed and set out to hug him and give a brief peck on his lips.

I haven't seen you react so cheerfully in a while. I confess I was happy to see her come out of the emotional shell for a while. Robert always had that effect on people, he was that guy who could make a complete stranger tell his innermost problems in ten minutes of conversation. God knows how he and my dad became great friends, since my dad was always a quiet and reserved guy.

About the kiss, don't be surprised. As I said, Robert is for her as a second father, so sit on his lap and kisses became normal while Ashley was growing up. Dad was a little more reserved, but equally loving.

"And there you are, Liam. More and more like your father, eh?"

"Thank you Robert, hearing this from you is a compliment"

"Anyway, let's go straight to the kitchen, please feel at home, as always!"

I don't know if Robert had cooked or ordered, but on his table there was seafood, which was not defined as my favorite dish. I can't say the same for girls, since they love it.

The dinner took place without any problem, Mom and Robert talked a lot about memories they have of all of us growing up and Ashley listened intently to each story. After dessert I set out into the room to watch sports and left them talking about whatever they're talking about right now.

"Fuck, when that motherfucker's going to learn to cross a ball, I can't believe the team paid $10 million on that shit."

After stressing out enough with football, I went back to the kitchen, but to my surprise there was no one there. But I could hear Ashley's delicious laugh coming from the other room of Robert's house.

I believe I've mentioned it, but Robert got very rich after winning a lawsuit against the hospital that his wife and daughter died. Instead of him moving in, he decided to renovate his house, so on the outside he had a common suburban house, but inside he owned a real multi-room mansion.

Arriving in the room I came across Ash playing on Robert's lap, while they all broke down in laughter. She jumped very fast in his lap and imitated cowboys while laughing.

“Hop hop, huu, hahahaha”

“Hahahaha Uncle Rob”

It was really quite comical to remember the old days, when Ashley used to play with Dad, riding his back until he got tired, so she'd go to Uncle Robert's lap to play "upa-upa" until he exhausted the two of them. Ash has always been energetic.

They kept joking until at one point Robert lifted his leg too much, causing Ash to goes a little higher than before, this scared her a little and caused her to fall further into Robert's lap, and in the process quickly showed off her pink panties.

Mom apparently didn't notice, since it all happened so fast. They continued to laugh like crazy until Robert asked Ashley for mercy and she came out of his lap with a triumphant smile, though a little rosy. Robert took leave right after and said he had to check some emails on his cell phone quickly.

Ashley sure wore him down, making him walk funny up to his room.

"Did you have fun, Mom?"

"Yes, Liam. It was really nice to get out of the rut and Robert is certainly a good friend."

"You should come here more often, you know. It's not like he lives on the other side of town... he literally lives next door. I'm sure you'd have more fun."

"I think you're right, darling."

We took advantage that Robert wasn't in the room and we started moving the dirty dishes. With our current condition it is always a blessing to take advantage of this kind of refined food, since it does not fit in our budget. Robert certainly has maids to clean up the mess tomorrow (and certainly he would get us out of the sink), so we didn't bother to start laundering them.

We went back to the living room and Ash was lying on the couch, looking a little sleepy.

"Do you want to go home, dear?" Mom asked.

"It is a good idea, Mom" Ashley replied yawning. "I'm just going to wait for Uncle Rob to come back and say goodbye to him."

Robert returned after a couple of minutes, wearing a shorts instead of the elegant pants he wore. Our eyes crossed and he must have perceived my expression of curiosity.

"I decided to stay a little more casual, since we're all close, isn't it"

"Of course Robert, we don't need all this formality" Mother soon agreed with him.

"Certainly Robert"

I just thought it was weird that he didn't change the top of his suit, just the bottom.... It must be the custom of very rich people.

"Uncle Robbie, all our play has made me a little sleepy. We're going home," Ash said, going to meet Robert and giving him a hug.

"You sure wore me out, Ashley! Hahaha"

"Thank you so much for the fantastic dinner, Robert. We should do this more often, but next time it's on us."

"It will be a pleasure Ann, you are certainly priorities on my list!"

And with that, we all went back to our house, Ashley hugged and gave him another peck on his lips while my mom gave Robert a goodbye hug.

Coming home was that I could see how happy they were with this time out of the routine. Uncle Robert certainly needs to get more involved in our family, for their sake.