“I’m sorry, Honey. I try to behave, but sometimes I just can’t help it.” I talked in a sad voice.
She sat down on my lap as our daughter pushed her paper toward us. Izzy didn’t have stick figures, but I could tell she was drawing people. One of the bodies was wearing something with two dots next to one another on the shirt. “What did you draw, Sweetie?” Miranda asked.
“This is you and Daddy.”
Miranda pointed to the dots on the body. “What’s this? A fancy shirt?”
“No silly, it’s your boobies, cause you and Daddy sleep naked.” Two little kids filled the room with laughter while Miranda sat wide eyed on my lap. Lucy was over at the stove beside herself, while I just sat there waiting to be slapped again. After a few seconds the air wouldn’t stay in my mouth any longer and I just burst into uncontrolled laughter.
Miranda got up and grabbed the little girl’s art work. “Isabella Mitchell, you do not draw people without clothes ever again. Do you understand me.”
Izzy put her head down and started to cry. “I’m sorry, Mommy.”
This was where Miranda and I disagreed, in fact, it was the only time we disagreed. I grabbed my daughters hand and kissed it, as I handed her another piece of paper. While Miranda’s head was turned I leaned in and whispered in Iz’s ear. “Mommy isn’t mad. She is just upset you told Lucy we were naked. You can’t tell people private stuff, okay Sweetie?”
She shook her head and I kissed it. When I sat back down I saw Miranda shaking her head at me. I shrugged my shoulders like I couldn’t help myself. She could punish me later and I was definitely looking forward to it.
To get the subject dropped for the time being, I assisted Lucy with breakfast. By the time Van and Colt showed up with the baby, everything was ready to eat. It felt weird sitting at my aunts without her being around. In fact, it seemed so quiet without Conner and the ladies.
Little Christian was the cutest thing ever. She was only a few months old, but her little smile was just perfect. She loved hearing the kids talking and would turn her little body toward where the sounds of them were coming from.
“Did you hear the women are leaving us with the kids for the day?” Colt laughed while taking another bite of his food.
“Yeah, Savanna informed me last night. I think we can manage. I have a whole roll of Duct tape in the garage.”
We both laughed while the girls sat there with their mouths open. Of course, the first thing that came to mind for me was the ABC party that brought Miranda and I together. I looked over to where she sat and got a quick reaction from her. It made me smile just knowing she got me so well. I threw her a wink and mouthed the words ‘I love you’ toward her.
A gagging sound caught my attention. “Don’t do that while I am trying to eat.” Van gave me a disgusted look. I picked up a roll and threw it toward her, causing her to scream because she was so shocked I’d actually done something like that.
“I think the children are being better behaved than the adults this morning,” Lucy teased.
We all settled down and tried to set a better example for our kids, but even Lucy knew us adults had caused commotion at the table since we were Izzy and Noah’s age.
Colt and I hung out and helped Lucy clean up breakfast while Van took everyone else to their house. The house got quiet without the kids there. Once we finished we met them at their place. I should have been expecting retaliation from Van, but my dumbass forgot to keep my guard up. Colt walked into the house and I followed behind him. As I grabbed the screen door, I felt something wet hitting the front of my body, followed by a loud machine coming on and then just an explosion of something white hitting me.
As I opened my eyes and tried to assess what the hell had just happened, I realized I was completely covered in flour. I wiped my eyes and looked at Van, who was hunched over laughing her ass off. “What the fuck?”
“Language!” Miranda corrected me.
“I think I can say it this one time.”
A leaf blower was still in Van’s hands. Miranda held the container of flour, while the kids giggled at my feet with two empty glasses in their hands.
“You were all in on this? You all suck!” I was laughing the whole time. This was, by far, Van’s best prank yet. She was learning. I liked it.
I ran toward her, chasing her into the kitchen until I cornered her and wrapped my body around hers. She giggled and screamed at the same time, trying to free herself. “Ty, get off of me. You’re getting me all gross.”
“Say you’re sorry and I will let you go.”
She tried to fight me, so I held her tighter. “Let me go. Come on, you are messing up my clothes.”