Chapter 6 #2
“Okay, their weights have been recorded, their temperatures are within a good range, and it looks like they’ve relieved themselves.
” I looked at Crow, who was leaning against the counter beside me, and tried very hard to ignore his bare chest again as I talked to him, but just like before, it was nearly impossible.
Since I’d just helped him give them another round of milk, I said, “They didn’t seem to be very hungry.
I hope that’s because they’re full and not for any other reason. ”
“So, we keep trying every fifteen minutes?”
“Let’s see how it goes.” I worried my lip with my teeth as I thought about it and then said, “Let’s move them to every thirty minutes instead.”
“You’re the boss.”
I shook my head before I told him, “I am not an expert by any means. I’m flying by the seat of my pants here.”
“I’m doing a helluva lot better than I would be without you.”
“I’m happy I can be of help,” I assured him.
Suddenly, a little girl came sprinting into the house through the open patio door, followed closely by a young boy I didn’t recognize. Shuffling behind them was Griffin, and when he saw us watching him, he said, “They think they know where the snacks are, but I hid them earlier.”
“So did I,” Crow boasted. When Griffin looked at him in shock, he said, “I might be inclined to share after dinner, but we’ll see.”
“How did you find them?”
“I realize that you are the smartest person I’ve ever met, but you’re still a novice when it comes to devious kid shit, Griff. I will admit that you’re getting better, but you’ve still got quite a journey before you ever get as devious as me.”
Griffin’s shoulders drooped, and he sighed before he said, “Hawk said almost the same thing when he found my stash of Twizzlers.”
“Go ask your mom if she’s ready for me to order the pizza,” Crow ordered.
Griffin lifted his arm and talked into his watch for a second, and after Brighten’s voice came through asking him to please tell Crow yes, with a completely straight face he said, “Brighten said that it’s time to order the pizza.”
I managed to hold it together until the boy was out of the room and then leaned forward to rest my head on the cabinet in front of me before I laughed quietly. “The look on your face was priceless.”
“That’s the look of a man who wonders how he got here and why in the hell he hasn’t run for the hills yet,” Crow grumbled as he started typing on his phone. “Just for that, he’s not fucking getting any snacks from me after dinner, but I’m gonna eat mine while he’s sitting right beside me.”
“What kind of snacks are we talking about here?”
“Little Debbie is my kryptonite. I’d sell any of my siblings for a case of Oatmeal Creme Pies.”
“Just a case?” I asked. “That seems pretty cheap.”
Crow’s gorgeous eyes met mine for a second before he said, “You haven’t met them yet. You’ll understand once you do.”
◆◆◆
“We’ve gotta go,” Phoenix said as he walked over to toss his empty beer bottle into the trash. “Lyric has an appointment bright and early tomorrow, so I need to make sure she washes off at least the top layer of dirt before she goes to bed.”
“I’ll walk Koda home,” Crow’s sister Raven offered. “Do you have a spare leash handy?”
“He chewed through the last one,” Crow replied without even having to think about it.
“Human constraints can’t contain a man like me,” Koda boasted.
“Griffin, I think you’re rubbing off on him. That sounded very un-Koda-like,” Hawk teased.
“I’m sure he’ll forget by the time he walks out the door,” Griffin said drolly.
Koda reached out and smacked Griffin in the back of the head. I was surprised when Griffin lunged out of his chair and tackled Koda to the floor, and none of the adults did anything. As a matter of fact, Phoenix, Crow, and Hawk just leaned to the side so they could see the fight better.
Brighten acted as if there was nothing going on, consolidating the remaining pizza into one box as the two little boys grunted and growled at each other a few feet away.
I glanced over at Raven and saw she was smiling, and when Lyric ran back into the room, she jumped into the fray and grabbed the hair on the top of each boy’s head before bursting into maniacal laughter.
“You guys are traumatizing poor Darcy,” Brighten said loud enough to be heard over the fighting kids.
“You’re just gonna ignore the fight?” I asked, resisting the urge to pull the kids apart.
“They’re not really fighting,” Brighten informed me with a straight face.
Hawk never took his eyes off the kids as he said, “They’re just explaining how much they’ll miss each other until the next time they’re together.”
“See?” Phoenix asked. “Lyric’s hugging them.”
I looked over to find Lyric with a boy under each arm, choking them as they tried to squirm away.
“Alright, that’s enough,” Crow said calmly.
The kids instantly let go of each other. Lyric swiped her hair off her face before she smiled at her dad and said, “I’m ready to go now.” She smiled at Crow and said, “Thank you for dinner, Uncle Crow.”
“Anytime, sweetheart,” Crow said as he leaned to the side so he could accept a kiss from the little girl, who I had thought was a darling angel until about three minutes ago.
“Peace!” Koda said as he held up two fingers.
Raven laughed as she walked out behind him, followed by Phoenix and Lyric as they called out their goodbyes.
“That class is working out great,” Crow said cheerfully. “They’re nailing peaceful conflict resolution, don’t you think, Bright Eyes?”
Hawk burst out laughing when Griffin asked, “What’s peaceful conflict resolution?”
“Something that the Forrester spawn haven’t quite grasped yet,” Brighten snapped. In a nicer tone, she offered, “If you need someone to tag in and help feed the puppies, just give us a call.”
“C’mon, Hawk! I want to show you the book we got for me to read on the way to the lake,” Griffin said as he tugged on Hawk’s hand. With his other hand, he waved at Crow and said, “Good night! Take care of my brothers and sister!”
“Don’t get your hopes up, Griffin! I never agreed to keeping all three.”
“But you didn’t say no either!” Griffin called back from the porch.
Brighten waved as she left, and I looked around in shock, surprised at how quiet and peaceful the house suddenly seemed.
“It takes a few minutes for your ears to acclimate to the silence, and the twitching should stop in about ten minutes.”
“Is it always like that?”
“You’ll have to be more specific. Every day is an adventure with the people in my family.”
“Loud? Crazy? Six conversations happening at once, and then bloodshed instead of dessert?”
“Nobody was bleeding,” Crow corrected. He winced before he asked, “You think we’re all crazy, don’t you?”
“No! I loved it!”