Page 15 of Bride Games

Emma reached for Lucy’s hands. “I know, honey. Are you excited?”

Lucy rubbed her belly. “My tummy feels funny.”

“Oh, no.” Emma’s brows furrowed. She bent down and felt her daughter’s forehead. “I hope you’re not getting sick.”

Lucy shook her head so hard her curls bounced. “It’s the but-flies. Mr. Hansen said I have but-flies in my tummy.”

Emma bit her bottom lip to keep from chuckling. She nodded. “I see. Well, I used to get butterflies in my tummy before school started too.”

Eyes widening, Lucy asked, “You did?”

“Yep. But you know what? The minute I got to my classroom and saw my friends, the butterflies flew away.”

“Where did they go?”

Emma chuckled this time. “They went dormant until I was an awkward teen.”

“What’s awk-ward?” Lucy drew out the word in an impressive attempt to pronounce it correctly.

“It means, uh, being a little uncomfortable.” Emma kissed Lucy’s cheek. “But the first of school—or anything new—is always much worse in our mind. It’ll be fine. Try not to worry, sweetie.”

Eli stepped into the room and cleared his throat. Obviously overhearing their conversation and sensing Lucy’s jitters, he said, “I have an idea. Why don’t we have an end-of-summer barbecue. Get our mind on fun things.”

Lucy clapped her hands together. “Can Mrs. Woberts come?”

Emma loved their neighbor, Mrs. Roberts, who was always an angel about watching Lucy at the last minute. “That’s a great idea. Go ahead and invite her for dinner. I’ll go to the store and pick up hot dogs, buns, baked beans, and corn on the cob. Any other requests?”

Eli shoved a hand in his pocket. “I remember something about an ice cream sandwich cake you mentioned in that big pile of cookbooks you have. “If it isn’t hard to make, that sounds like a perfect dessert.”

“Ooh. Great idea.” Emma stepped toward a shelf in the kitchen that held her beloved cookbooks. She plucked one out. “I think it’s in this one.” Once she found the recipe, she took a photo of the ingredient list and reached for the keys. “Text me if you think of anything else. Lucy, when I get back, we’ll make the cake together, okay?”

“O-tay. Bye.” The screen door slammed shut as Lucy raced to the neighbor’s house. Emma wrapped her arms around Eli’s waist. “You’re the best, you know that?”

“No, you are.” He patted her behind. “I’ll make sure we have everything set for grilling.” Eli planted a kiss on Emma’s lips. “I can almost taste that cake.”

She faked a pout. “I thought you were going to say something else. See ya soon.”

After Emma put the groceries away, she called Mrs. Roberts to formally invite her and asked that she send Lucy over to help with dessert.

“I’d love to come, dear. What can I bring?”

Emma put her cellphone on speaker mode. “Just yourself. You’ve helped me out so much over the past year, this is the least I can do. Why don’t you come by in an hour.” She glanced up when the screen slammed and told Lucy to wash her hands. Once her daughter joined her in the kitchen, Emma got a glass casserole dish out and glanced at the recipe. “This is going to be a fun recipe, Luce. It has ice cream sandwiches in it.”

“Goody.” Lucy stood on a bar stool beside her mom.

Emma led her to the kitchen table. “Let’s work over there.” She began by handing Lucy ten ice cream sandwiches. “Unwrap these, please.”

“O-tay.” Lucy began unwrapping the ice cream sandwiches and placed them cattywampus in the dish. Emma straightened each one in proper rows before unwrapping more. Once the bottom layer was complete, she added Cool Whip and handed Lucy the chocolate syrup. “Drizzle this over the top.”

“What’s drizzle mean?”

Emma took the bottle and demonstrated swirly lines across the cake. “Like this.”

Lucy reached for the bottle and immediately squirted chocolate syrup in a huge blob. “Uh oh.”

“It’s okay, honey. There will be another layer of ice cream sandwiches on top.” Emma got up to get an icing spreader. “I’ll spread this out.”

“It’s like fingerpainting, Mommy.”

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