Page 104 of The Flirt

"You did, huh? You also have pictures?"

"Yes. The grans have everything on their phones."

I looked from Scarlett and Bella to the rest of the family. I’d been right. All of my brothers were already here. And by Julian’s and Anthony's smiles, they were well aware of the fact that Scarlett had been living with me this week. In fact, the only ones who seemed surprised were my parents, though Mom had a hint of a smile on her face too. Both sets of grandparents simply looked smug—especially Celine and Isabeau.

"I missed you, Scarlett,” Bella told her.

“I missed you too,” she replied.

The three of us walked farther inside the living room, greeting everyone.

"This is a nice surprise, Scarlett. It's very good to see you again," Mom said.

Dad seemed too stunned for words, so he simply shook Scarlett’s hand.

Celine was positively beaming. "Oh, darling. I knew that perfume would do the trick."

Isabeau sighed. "Celine, you're not supposed to say that out loud."

Then she glanced at Bella, who was already telling Scarlett and me about her favorite encounter—with Mickey Mouse. Grandfather David was looking at Julian with a suspicious glance, so I suspected that he was already in the know. But Felix was simply looking at Celine. He always claimed that her perfume theory was a lot of nonsense—so did I. But if it made Celine feel better, then who was I to disagree?

"All right, well, since we only just arrived and obviously didn't have time to cook, how about we order some jambalaya?" Isabeau suggested.

Scarlett straightened up. "I'd love to cook for you. I bet you have some rice and maybe frozen veggies and shrimp. If you show me the kitchen and your supplies, I can whip up a jambalaya."

"Scarlett," I said, putting an arm around her shoulders, "you will not cook."

"Darling!" Mom exclaimed, looking at Scarlett with a mix of surprise and warmth. "It’s very nice of you to offer, and we really appreciate it. But you spend enough time in kitchens as it is. In this house, you won’t ever step foot in it."

"Don't disagree with Mom," I said, "especially when it's about the kitchen."

"All right," Scarlett said, but she sounded a bit uncertain. "If you're sure."

"Why don't we all sit down?" Dad suggested.

They had a huge living area with couches and chairs, so we all took a seat.

Keeping my hands to myself around Scarlett was becoming more and more difficult, but I didn't want to confuse Bella by being overtly affectionate. It was a great start that she was so happy to see Scarlett here, but I wanted to have a proper conversation with her and explain everything. That would have to wait until we were back at home, though.

Bella came over and sat right in my lap, holding a phone and flipping through pictures.

“Oh, Cinderella is gorgeous,” Scarlett exclaimed.

“I know, right? But she was cheating. I looked at her shoes, and they were not made of glass. She was wearing sneakers!! No princess does that.”

“Well, even princesses get tired,” Scarlett said. “Especially if she’s on her feet all day.”

“Hmmm...,” Bella said, still sounding unconvinced.

She showed us nearly three dozen photos. I was beyond grateful that my girl had had such a great time, but I was a bit out of my depths regarding the characters. I didn’t remember most of them, but guess who did? Scarlett.

After Bella finished showing us all the pictures, she ran straight to Xander.

"Uncle Xander, you lied to me."

"I did no such thing," Xander said somewhat theatrically. "I never lie."

"You said Goofy was ugly."

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