Sitting at the island in the Cunningham kitchen, the twins are on either side of me, bickering about one of them stealing the others leggings. Jacob's pulling out a pan of chocolate chip cookies from the oven and I focus on that instead of the twins.
Jasper thought doing homework was more important than his dad's chocolate chip cookies. They're close to being better than Lucy's cupcakes. Well, close to a tie. I don't think anything would ever beat Lucy's cupcakes.
He slides the cookies onto the spatula and serves them on a giant plate. Once they're slid in front of us, the twins stop and Joey comes running into the kitchen with Jonah tailing him. Joey pulls on the hem of my skirt and I smile as I bow to pick him up and put him on my lap. "Careful, they're hot," I tell him.
Joey tugs on his hat to fix it and timidly grabs a cookie.
Jacob grabs a few cups, filling them with milk before passing them to us. "Thank you," I say and it's my turn to get a cookie. Joey's already dipping his and munching on it.
"Where's Jasper?" Jacob asks while putting the rest of the dough into balls on the pan.
I snort. "Where do you think?"
Jane laughs. "We're all used to it by now. It's like pulling tooth and nail to get him out of his room when he's in study mode."
"Geek mode," Jayda comments.
Jacob sighs. "Well he's missing out on some great cookies."
"As always," I murmur.
Once Jacob gets that pan in the oven, he sits on the other side of Jonah with his own glass of milk and takes a cookie.
Joey turns in my lap to face me, his mouth full and chocolate covering his mouth. He tries talking through the food, but fails and waits until he swallows the bite. "Do you wanna play pirates, Ella?"
"Maybe later," I tell him. "Definitely before I leave."
He perks up a little. "I'll let you be the captain."
"What?" Jonah says from the other end. "You never let me be captain."
Joey's bright gaze moves to Jonah. "Ella's pretty," he whispers. "All the other pirates will listen to her."
My smile widens.
"You know," Jane starts, "I like the way this little one thinks. People should be afraid of us."
"Pirates," Joey corrects.
That causes Jayda to roll her eyes. "Same difference. But I agree. Girls are taking over and boys should be afraid."
Jaylen strolls into the kitchen and says, "But every princess needs a prince." He snatches a cookie and takes a giant bite.
That causes Jane to laugh out really loud. "No they don't," she says. "I would be perfectly fine running a kingdom on my own. Without a king."
"Or a ship," Joey adds.
"Thank you!" Jane announces.
Jaylen just grins.
"Jay's scared of pretty girls," Joey tries to whisper to me. "So is Jathper."
I watch Jaylen blush. "In my defense," he says. "at least I can talk to a girl without tripping over my own two feet."
YOU ARE READING
Best Kept Lies (Best Kept #3)
Romance"Everything has changed, I wanted more." * * * Ella's life can be described as an organized mess. She knows school, books, animals, and that her mom left her without a word three years ago. Her dad is around, but not as much as Ella needs. Now...
