He pulled out his phone and dialed his sister, his fingers drumming on his leg until she picked up.
“Hey Elliot, how’s it going?” Cher said.
He exhaled, relieved she’d answered. “Not great. I ran into Oz’s sister at the pool. She had a bit of a panic attack and then passed out from heat exhaustion.”
“Oh my gosh, is she okay?”
“Yeah, the doc said she’d be fine. She woke up long enough to get some fluids in her, but she’s resting in my room right now.”
“Good thing you were there! Is Tyler with you?”
“Yeah.” Elliot turned his back and walked to the other side of the room so Tyler couldn’t hear him. “Can you guys come get him?”
“Sorry, bro. Oz and I are meeting with the minister in ten minutes.”
Elliot’s stomach twisted. “But… I don’t know anything about kids. What am I going to do with him?”
Cher laughed. “He’s just a kid, Elliot, not a rabid wolf. Give him a snack and put a movie on for him or something. He’ll be fine.”
“Yeah, but…”
“He’s a little…on the precocious side. Really smart. Just talk to him. If you get him going on something he likes, he can talk forever.”
“Great.”
“Oh, stop.” Cher sighed. “Talk about cars. He likes cars.”
“Cars, huh? Okay. But what—”
“Oh, the minister is here. I’ve got to run. If the doctor isn’t worried, I’m sure Lena will be up soon. Play with him. He’s a good kid. Talk to you later!”
The phone clicked off before Elliot could argue more. “Shit,” he muttered.
He turned around to find Tyler sitting on the floor in front of the mini-fridge, surrounded by all the contents.
“Tyler! What are you doing?” He’d taken his eyes off him for one minute. How did he get into so much so fast?
“You said a bad word,” Tyler said, clutching a mini-bottle of champagne in each hand.
“Ah! Give me those.” Elliot lunged for him, but Tyler dropped the bottles and moved on to a mini-bottle of vodka.
Shit. Lena was going to kill him. He’d been alone with Tyler for sixty seconds, and the kid was juggling booze.
“I’m hungry,” Tyler said.
What the hell do kids eat? He glanced at the pile of food on the floor. “Here,” Elliot said, tossing him a bag of chips.
Tyler tore into them with a look of pure ecstasy on his face. Elliot took advantage of the reprieve to gather up the remaining anti-kid snacks and drinks to hide them in a high cupboard. When he turned back around, only the back half of Tyler was visible. The other half was buried in the entertainment center.
“Whoa, little dude, what are you doing?”
“Can we play?” he asked, pulling out an Xbox controller.
Relief flooded through Elliot. Finally, something he knew how to do.
“Sure!”
Tyler’s face lit up like Elliot was his new best friend. “Yay!”
“What do you want to play?”
Elliott pulled out a stack of games, shuffling through them and discarding them just as quickly. He always made sure he had a hotel room that came fully stocked with some entertainment, but he’d never had to worry about having kid-friendly stuff before. The only game he had that wasn’t rated M was Minecraft. And that was probably a bit advanced for Tyler.
“How old are you, kid?”
“Six and a half.”
Elliot raised an eyebrow. He would have guessed younger. Then again, he’d never been close enough to an almost seven-year-old, so what did he know?
“You want to play this one?”
“Sure! All my friends play that one.” Tyler bounced up and down on the couch.
“Okay, okay. Settle down. Here, go grab yourself some of those snacks while I get everything hooked up.”
“Yippee!” Tyler scurried down and snatched up an armload of chips, cookies, and soda and plopped back down on the couch.
He’d consumed half of it by the time Elliot had everything ready to go. Wow. And Elliot thought he could eat. This kid could chow him under the table.
“That good?” he asked as Tyler shoved a barbeque chip he’d dipped in a jar of Nutella into his mouth.
“Super yummy. Wanna try?” he asked, holding out another interesting specimen.
“Um, no thanks. Do you even know what that stuff is?”
Tyler shrugged and jammed it into his mouth. “No, but Mommy says it has good protein and vitmins.”
“Vitamins?”
“Yep.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“I know lots of stuff.”
“You do?”
Tyler nodded, sending his blond curls flopping all over and a shower of crumbs onto the couch. “Yup. Especially about sharks. I know lots about them.”