The weeks after Uncle Finn and Aunt Phoebe's wedding had been... different. She knew the exact moment things had changed because she had been upset that she wasn't allowed to go to the party along with everybody else.

'It's only for grownups this time, baby,' her Mama had told her and she remembered how that made her feel a little bit angry because she was almost six years old!

The morning after the wedding it had been Uncle Sonny who made their breakfasts. It hadn't been the first time of course. Uncle Sonny visited them all the time and as long as she could remember but usually he would go home after a few hours. But this time, he stayed. He brought over big suitcases and bags with his stuff and put his clothes in Mama's wardrobe and all his cooking gear in the kitchen.

The first few days were great. She had loved the extra attention she was getting from Uncle Sonny and although she had asked when Siena would be back to watch them after school, she hadn't really missed her babysitter that much.

Uncle Sonny would make them breakfast and dinner. He would also pick Billie up from daycare and herself from kindergarten practically every day. They would spend days off together with the four of them and he took them to the playground, to the zoo, and even to an art museum once, but she wasn't sure if her Mama was interested in that too much.

So far, so good. It was nice and she was grateful for Uncle Sonny. She loved him to bits. But there was something else too and she found it hard to describe. It made her feel a little bit lost and confused. Things at home had changed. Before, it had been just the four of them: Mama, Billie, Frannie and herself. 'Us girls against the world,' Mama would say sometimes. Now, it felt like Uncle Sonny had moved in and taken up some of her space. She could tell, because Mama would always get a little giddy and really silly with him. At those moments, it was like it was just the two of them in the room and they didn't even look at her anymore. They would laugh together about jokes she didn't understand and whisper things in each other's ears like they were sharing secrets she wasn't allowed to hear. And then there was all the kissing. Yuck! Adults who kissed on the mouth like that were gross.

Yes. Things had changed since the day her Uncle Sonny had decided to stay.

See? There he was again, waiting at the school gate. Billie was already clapping her hands enthusiastically upon seeing her and her uncle sent her a little wave. 'Hi Uncle Sonny, where's Mama?' she asked while giving him a hug.

'Your Mom has been called into work, so she asked me to come and pick you up.' He looked at her for a second. 'What, huh, not a good surprise?'

She made sure to make the raised eyebrow as suspicious-looking as she could, but she shook her head. 'No, it's okay. I like the surprise.'

He looked a little puzzled at her response. 'Good Jess, that's good.'

He took her and her little sister grocery shopping. 'We're going to make our famous spaghetti tonight, so we'll need some tomatoes for the sauce. Jess, can you pick five from over there?'

She exactly knew what to look for by now, being Uncle Sonny's sous-chef for super long. He had taught her that the best tomatoes for their pasta sauce were the big and bright red ones, so she went over to the vegetable section of the store and put the best five ones in the shopping cart. 'Do we also need the green little plant leaves?' she asked curiously, proud to know exactly what ingredients they needed.

He nodded. 'Yes, we always add basil and parsley to our sauce, right? But I think we still have some of that at home, so we don't need to buy it today.'

'Our home, not yours,' she mumbled under her breath.

'What's that?'

'Nothing.'

'Billie too, Billie too!' sounded from the stroller.

She rolled her eyes. Of course, her little sister wanted to pick something too.

Uncle Sonny pushed the stroller towards the aisle with all the different types of pasta and pointed towards the pack of spaghetti, which was conveniently situated on the same level as Billie. 'Can you get that for me, Billie? That's the one we'll need.'

Her little sister took the pack with both hands and gave it to Uncle Sonny, who had already been right next to her to catch it in case she would drop it. Jesse watched Billie look up and beam with pride at what she had just accomplished and she could only snort at that.

She wasn't liking this new competitor coming into the mix. She was Uncle Sonny's sous-chef and no one else. She was the one responsible for collecting all ingredients and helping with the sauce. Accompanied by a dramatic sigh, she crossed her arms in front of her chest. The hand she felt on her shoulder didn't calm her down. Not this time.

Making dinner that evening was another disappointing experience for her. Uncle Sonny let Billie help too and even though it was a task as simple as adding the grated cheese into their pasta, she felt a ping of jealousy. 'Not that much!' she yelled at her sister who clearly hadn't learned yet how to properly divide the cheese evenly over the three plates. 'You're doing it all wrong!' She noticed the tear that had sprung in her eyes and quickly wiped it away so that Uncle Sonny wouldn't see her cry. Crying was what babies did, not something an almost-six-year-old would do. She kept looking between her sister and Uncle Sonny and was sure he would be very upset with the little brat. But instead, he just took the bowl of grated cheese from her and showed her how it was supposed to be done. He didn't even tell her off for how rubbish she'd been at her assigned job. She shook her head just when an unpleasant scent reached her nostrils.

'Jesse, the sauce!' Uncle Sonny warned.

She'd been so focused on Billie that she'd totally forgotten to keep stirring the sauce. Quickly she continued performing her duty, but Uncle Sonny was already right next to her and grabbed the ladle from her.

'Let me take a look, I think it's a bit burned and now stuck to the bottom of the pan. Why did you stop stirring?'

That was it. This was the last straw. She jumped off the kitchen counter and ran off to her room. How could Uncle Sonny be so mean to her while Billie could do everything she wanted? She slammed the door shut and jumped on the bed, putting her face in her pillow so that no one would hear her cry. Everything was so unfair!

First, it was Mama and Uncle Sonny who suddenly acted super weird and wouldn't even look at her anymore when they were together and now, Uncle Sonny had apparently also taken sides with her younger sister?

All kinds of scenarios ran through her mind. Maybe her Mama didn't love her anymore and didn't want her anymore? Maybe Mama was going to sell her to other parents, while she would create a family with Uncle Sonny and Billie instead? They sometimes do that, she knew. Grown-ups called it ''adoption''. A boy in her class was also adopted and that meant that his parents had sold him to other parents. That was probably what her Mama was planning on doing with her too. The more she thought of it, the more certain she was of it to be true.

'Jess?'

She hadn't heard the door open.

'Jess?' Uncle Sonny's voice came from closer this time, but she wasn't planning on replying to him. Her face was still in her pillow and her hands clasped the edges of her duvet when she felt his hand on her back. Her immediate reaction was to shrug him off.

'C'on, talk to me, Jess. What's wrong?'

'Nothing.' She didn't like how her muffled crying voice sounded but it was too late now to stop it. The tears were free-flowing.

'What's that? I can't hear you?'

It didn't matter anymore. She turned around and looked up at him. This was his worried look but she didn't understand why he'd still be worried about her if the plan clearly was to get rid of her.

'Hey, there you are.' He wiped away one of the tears that had run down her cheek and rested the palm of his hand on her chin.

She noticed how it calmed her breathing and she blinked a few times to make sure she'd stopped crying.

'Can you tell me why one of my favorite girls is so upset?'

'I'm not one of your favorite girls anymore,' she retorted, her eyes firmly focused on him.

'Of course, you are, why would you say that?' He helped her sit up straight and put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer to him.

'Because it's true. You and Mama are going to sell me to other parents. Just like the parents of David did when he was a baby.' The waterfall of words came out all at once and she couldn't stop it.

'We're what? Woah Jess, what do you mean?'

Of course, he knew exactly what she meant, so it made her even more upset when he asked her that question. 'You and Mama don't like me anymore. You moved in here and now I can't stay.' She started to doubt only a little when she saw his shocked expression.

'What? Oh honey, no that's absolutely not true. You're not going anywhere, your Mama loves you so very much, she always tells me. And I do too.'

She didn't understand. 'But why are you and Mama acting so silly all the time and why are you not upset with Billie? She's taking everything from me. And you and Mama don't see me anymore.' She noticed the weird bump in his throat move, so she knew he swallowed. Just like she would do if she almost had to cry but wanted to stop it.

'You know, sometimes, when two people like each other very much, they can act a little silly.'

'Like you and Mama?'

Now he even laughed a little. 'Yes, like your Mama and I. But because we act a little silly together doesn't mean that we don't love you or love your sister any less. Even if it looks like we're a little distracted, nothing about that has changed. Nothing about that will change.'

She felt tired and laid her head against his side. 'Even not with Mama?'

'Mama loves you and Billie unconditionally. Do you know what that means?'

She shook her head. She didn't.

'It means that nothing in the whole wide world can make her love you two any less.'

'Not even when I do something naughty?' She felt his chest go up and down when he let out another laugh.

He lifted her chin with his finger and looked into her eyes. 'Not even then. Not ever. And I love you unconditionally too Jesse Rollins. You've grown on me!'

It felt good the things he said to her, but there was still something else she didn't understand. 'But why does Billie get to help you with everything now and you don't even get upset when she does something wrong?'

He explained how now Billie was getting older, she was able to help with more things and that making mistakes was only helping her learn. 'There's no need to get upset with someone if they make a mistake that isn't on purpose. I don't get upset with you either when I know you didn't mean to say or do anything wrong, right?'

She thought back to the moment she'd forgotten to stir the sauce earlier and realized he was right. He hadn't sounded angry with her, just surprised.

'Look, you were my first and only sous-chef and the sauce is your specialty. Billie just gets to help me with other things.'

She slowly nodded as she was trying to understand everything.

'Hey, I'm sorry we made you feel this way, Jess. We should've talked with you about it. I sometimes forget how big you're getting already.'

'I'm almost six!'

'I know you are. Practically grown-up!'

'Hmm hmm,' she replied agreeingly.

'Uncle Sonny, I am hungary!' Billie stood in the doorway of their room and ran up towards them.

Before he turned his attention to her sister, he pointed at Jesse and back at himself. 'You and I, we're good?'

'Yeah,' she replied and wrapped her arms firmly around him. 'I love you, Uncle Sonny.'

'I love you too, Jess.'

'I lof you too, Uncle Sonny,' Billie mimicked her and put her tiny arms around them.

She moved her arm a little so that Billie could join and she noticed that Uncle Sonny was doing the same.

'And I love you, Silly Billie. Now, who's hungry again?' he asked and looked questioningly between the two.

'ME!' They both yelled at the same time but were brutally interrupted by the hands of Uncle Sonny who started to tickle them.

'I can't hear you, what did you say?'

The girls giggled and tried to repeat that they were hungry, but couldn't form whole sentences while being the victims of the tickle attack.

Then, another voice entered the scene. 'I am quite hungry actually. Did I hear that my three favorite people made spaghetti together?'

'Mama!'