Page 91 of After the Vows

She turns to me. “What do you think, Clo-Clo?”

“I’ll speak to your father.” I wink.

“Is there coffee?” Sophia says as she trudges inside and drops several bags at the bottom of the stairs. “Please say there’s coffee.”

I point to the counter. “Didn’t you have coffee at home?”

“We did,” Flynn says as he enters. “But it wasn’t enough.”

Sophia glares at him. “You’re the one who decided we should build a fort and watch movies.”

He shrugs. “I thought she’d fall asleep.”

“Instead, she sang every song in the movie.”

I giggle. “No one asked you to babysit. You kidnapped Natalia.”

Sophia salutes me with her coffee mug. “Was it worth it?” She waggles her eyebrows.

I feel my cheeks heat.

“Awesome,” she mutters.

“What’s awesome?” Natalia asks.

“Me,” I say. “I’m awesome.”

She gets a gleam in her eye and I worry I’ve just made a mistake. A big mistake.

“Awesome stepmoms take their stepdaughters toMermaid Mystical Gardens.”

Sophia bursts into laughter. “You walked right into that.”

I raise my eyebrow at Lucas. “What do you think?”

“It is Sunday and you did promise her we’d go to the amusement park the next time we both had off on the weekend.”

“YES!” Natalia squeals at the top of her lungs. “I’m going to ride the rollercoaster first. Or maybe the spinning teacup. I need to phone Piper. She’ll know what rides are the best.”

She sprints to the stairs but screeches to a halt and spins around before running to me. She throws her arms around me.

“Thank you, Clo-Clo. You’re the best stepmom in the world.”

She rushes away before I have the chance to thank her or tell her she’s the best stepdaughter in the world.

“Welp. I’m out of here before I get roped into joining you.” Sophia tags Flynn’s hand and leads him toward the door.

“You love the rollercoasters,” I holler after her.

She lifts her mug in response. “I’ll bring this back later.”

Lucas chuckles.

“What?”

“Have you ever taken a kid to an amusement park before?”

I shake my head.

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