“Easy, tiger.” Ira tightened his hold on Theo as the boy gave a happy kitty-induced squirm; it really wouldn’t do to drop one of Staas’ children right now. And in spite of how easy it was going to be for that poor girl to misinterpret Theo’s words, he kept a straight face and didn’t add anything to that. The things he did for Staas’ amusement, honestly. Even if it was slightly awkward considering the other man’s past history, but Staas was smiling too widely at the moment for Ira to worry much about it.
Ira smiled at her, started to shift Theo to one hip, but decided that it was too risky to wrangle that beast of a little boy with one arm and hoisted him delicately to the ground. As Theo darted for his father, Ira offered a handshake to the teacher, a cheerful, pretty young woman who the kids obviously adored. He liked the look of her immediately, and said with sincere politeness, “Hi, Miss Emi. It’s nice to meet you.”