Tempest (Royce/Winston)

073

Jacob's P.O.V.

"Jacob!"

I knew Aspen had been asking about me a lot since Winston and I took our break from one another, and I knew she liked me, but I was still surprised to see her running up to me. She wrapped her arms around my legs, giving me a hug.

"Where have you been? It's been forever since you've been here".

I smiled a bit because Aspen had drawn out the word forever. I didn't know what to say, she didn't need to know about why I'd been away for a while. She was too young to understand, and I'm pretty sure she would forget all that I would tell her before the day was over anyway.

"I'm here now, that's all that matters, right?" I asked, looking down at her.

"Yeah, I guess so".

My eyes scanned the foyer and I noticed Winston had managed to walk a few feet in front of me. He was standing there with his arms folded across his chest, gazing at Aspen expectantly.

"Aspen, Jacob can't walk with you hugging onto his legs" he stated. "Can you let him go, please?"

"Fine" Aspen groaned, letting go of me. "Why are you here Jacob?"

"Winston invited me, is that okay?"

"Yeah!"

I offered Aspen my hand to hold and she happily took it. Her smaller fingers gripped my larger ones and I noticed that her nails were painted a bright yellow.

"Your nails are pretty".

"Thank you! Winston painted them for me".

I looked at Winston and walked up to him. He took my other hand in his and guided me and Aspen into the kitchen. Winston's mom, Mrs. Daniels, was waddling about, a bowl of something in her hands. She smiled brightly when she saw me.

"Hi, Jacob. It's nice to see you again, how are you?"

"Hi, Mrs. Daniels, it's nice seeing you too. I'm okay, how are you?"

"I'm good, sweetie" she answered as she placed the bowl down onto the counter. "Do you like sugar cookies? I've just finished making the dough. Aspen wanted to decorate sugar cookies today".

"I like sugar cookies".

Aspen smiled at my answer, she seemed quite pleased with me. I took a seat at the table and watched as she joined me. Winston decided to help his mom spread out the dough onto a large cutting board. He carried the cutting board with the dough on it and placed it down on the table. Mrs. Daniels set down different shaped cookie cutters and hummed in satisfaction.

"Alright, I'll leave you all to it then" she said, placing a hand on her lower back. "Think it'd be best if I sat down now".

"Everyone in the family says you need to sit down, mom" Winston stated, "you never listen".

"I read on the internet that moving around can help induce labor, Winston. I'm trying to get this baby out of me!"

"She's comfortable in there" I said, eyeing Mrs. Daniel round stomach.

"You bet she is, she's nearly a week late. I love being pregnant, but I'm ready to meet the baby that's been giving me morning sickness and strange cravings".