At 32 years old, I was enjoying the bachelor life, living in Greenwich Village, just a few blocks away from NYU, where I worked as a researcher, since my graduation from there, eight years ago. I had a genuinely nice loft apartment, with plenty of room to spare for whenever I had friends over, or when family came into city for a visit.
Usually, the only one to visit me on a frequent basis was my Mom, whenever she had the need to get away from my asshole of a stepfather. They lived in Brooklyn, so when she came to visit, I would have her stay the night. Occasionally, my older sister, Carrie, and her family would visit, but that was becoming a lot less frequent since her and her husband were busy running their consulting business, in Jersey City.
It was a beautiful mid-August, Saturday morning and I had just got back home from the coffee shop, with a coffee in one hand and a bag of pastries on the other. I came into my place and sat the bag down on the table when my phone rang. It was my sister, Carrie.
"Hello?"
"Hi Adam, it's Sissy."
"Hello weirdo," I said in a mocking tone. My sister and I were forever teasing one another, so this was nothing unusual.
"Listen, shithead, don't make me come over there and kick your ass," she said playfully.
"Whatever, you couldn't fight your way out of a paper bag," I laughed as I said that.
"Ya, you might be right, but what do I need to fight for when I have a young strapping little brother to fight for me," she quipped.
We both laughed and she then got really sweet and asked, "Adam, I have a really huge favor to ask you. You know that Kimmy, is going to be starting her first year there at NYU this fall, and things are just a bit tight for us now. Do you think it would be okay if she stayed with you for a semester until we got caught up on a few things?"
Kimmy, now 18 years old, was my sister's oldest of three children that she had. She was a beautiful young woman now, and wickedly smart, earning several scholarships to attend NYU. Unfortunately, those scholarships did not cover the full expense and my sister and her husband would still have to fund a sizeable portion of her expenses, and Kimmy was planning to get a part time job for spending money.
Kimmy was not my brother-in-law's real daughter, but he had always been a real standup guy, when him and my sister had gotten married, and treated Kimmy as if she was his own child. My sister had the misfortune of getting pregnant by some punk kid, she dated in high school, but he ran off, leaving the area shortly after finding out Carrie was pregnant.
I did not hesitate to answer Carrie and said, "Sure, she can stay here, I have plenty of room. I have some stuff stored in the spare bedroom, but I can have it cleared out by the time she comes. It's just some boxes of stuff that I've been wanting to get rid of anyway."
"Thank you so much, Adam! I really appreciate this and I am sure Kimmy will be so happy to hear it when I tell her. She was really hoping you would say yes, especially with you being her favorite uncle and all."
I half laughed and said, "I'm her ONLY uncle, you weirdo, and you are welcome. You know I love you guys and would do anything for you after all the help you gave me in the past."
"What is family for, right? Anyway, she is wanting to get situated soon, so is next weekend too soon for her to come?"
"No, not at all, Sis. I'll have the room ready and cleaned up for her by then so just bring her on over."
"Awesome and thanks again, Adam, you are a lifesaver!"
"You're welcome, Carrie. Give my love to the rest of the family and see you next weekend."
"Okay, see you then," Carrie said, then hung up.
I smiled as I put the phone down, then looked around my place, seeing that it was going to need a good cleaning if I was going to have my niece living here with me. As a bachelor, I was not the best housekeeper. I kept the place neat and tidy from clutter, but I knew it would need a good deep cleaning.
I called up a friend of mine, who owned a cleaning service, and contracted a couple of her girls to come this week and clean, while I got rid of the boxes I had stored in the spare bedroom. I bought some new sheets for the bed and a pretty comforter set. Then, I picked up a nice desk at used furniture warehouse, a few blocks away, and had it delivered. I cleaned it up nice and hoped Kimmy would feel welcomed, and at home, when she arrived.
That following Saturday came and Carrie and Kimmy arrived at my place, with suitcases and a laptop computer in hand.
"Hi guys, come on in! Here, let me help with those bags," I said as I quickly took two of the suitcases from Carrie and set them down.
"Hi Uncle Adam! Thank you so much for letting me stay here," Kimmy said excitedly as she threw one arm around me in a hug, while the other held on to her laptop bag.
"Yeah, thanks again, Adam," Carrie said with a smile.
"Ah, you're welcome! Let's take your stuff into your room, Kimmy," I replied picking up the suitcases and leading her and Carrie into the spare bedroom.
Carrie and Kimmy were both blown away by how nice I had set up the room, with the new comforter on the bed and the desk all polished up with a small vase of silk flowers on it.
I just smiled as I looked at Carrie, who was beaming and had tears in her eyes. She mouthed the words, "thank you," just as Kimmy said, "Oh my gosh! This is so nice, Uncle Adam! Thank you so much!"
Kimmy came over and gave me a hard, rib crushing hug. I wrapped my hands around her and gave her a kiss on the head, and said, "Think nothing of it, I'm happy to have you here, Kimmy."
Kimmy had grown into such a lovely young woman now, with her short blonde pixie style hair, fashion model long lean body, pouty lips, and a gorgeous smile. She honestly had fit the story of the ugly duckling that turned into a swan, to a T. She was always so skinny and bony growing up but had filled out just enough in the right places that you could clearly tell that she was a woman now, and not a gangly flat chested kid.
I ordered up some lunch to be delivered for us, and the three of us had a few laughs talking about Carrie and I growing up while we ate. Soon afterward, Carrie announced that she had to head back to Jersey, so she gave Kimmy a hug, then hugged me, thanking me once again. I pinched her on the butt, out of Kimmy's line of site, then winked at her grinning face when she pulled back from our embrace.