Page 91 of The Foul Out

Well, fuck me. I clearly understood the longing in the three-year-old’s tone. But those boxes were loaded full of sugar and all the red dye numbers that were forbidden. Harper would kill me if I brought them home. But I was a sucker, and I couldn’t say no to Sam.

“Mom always says no.” He looked up at me, those golden eyes round and sad.

Shit.

“Kyle,” Cam warned behind me.

“Wouldn’t it be fun?” Sam asked.

Hell yeah, it would be. If we could make it work. If I could find alternatives to all the junk Piper couldn’t have. My brain started to puzzle out ideas.

“Let’s do it,” I announced.

“Yes!” Sam cheered, jumping a foot in the air, one fist pumping.

Cam groaned.

“We’re going to have to stop at Trader Joes and Whole Foods on our way home.”

Building gingerbread houses at Christmastime was a tradition every kid should take part in. And I could make that happen. Both for Sam, who could have some of the sugar, and for Piper, who shouldn’t.

It took another forty-five minutes, so I had to text Harper while we were in the middle of Whole Foods to let her know we were going to be late.

She hadn’t even started the chicken yet, so that gave me hope that she wasn’t too mad. Although the look in her eye when we walked in with four grocery bags didn’t give me warm fuzzies.

“I can explain,” I promised.

“We got gingerbread houses.” Sam announced.

“And I modified them,” I promised before Harper could say no. “Look.” I pulled out the gluten-free graham crackers, gluten-free sugar-free granola balls, green grapes, golden berries, dye-free gluten-free sugar-free fruit O’s, no-sugar-added blueberry ropes, tiny broccoli florets, dairy-free cream cheese and yogurt, gluten-free pretzel rounds, and tiny tree crackers.

“Piper can do this. We can do this.” I beamed.

“Wow.” Harper gaped at all the shit I put on the counter. “You deserve a medal or something.”

“I can think of a prize.” I leaned in and kissed the side of her neck, barely getting a peck in before she pushed me off with a chuckle.

After we were done building the houses, after an hour of smiles and laughter and fun while the kids decorated their gingerbread houses—and after I fixed the doorknob so Harper didn’t have to stress—I didn’t feel like I needed a prize. It felt like I’d already gotten one.

Crabby: You are 36. I can’t believe you have never done that before.

Me: Excited you get to pop my cherry?

Crabby: GIF of an eye roll

Me: What do we want for tonight?

Crabby: Probably a string or two of colored lights and some hooks. I never keep the extras and then we are always short.

Me: I meant food-wise. Since you’re getting the tree boxes up from storage, I figured I can handle dinner.

Me: But I’ll get that other shit too.

Crabby: Oh oops. Can we do Gio’s pizza?

Me: Can Sam have pepperoni with regular cheese?

Crabby: Yeah, just do the gluten-free dairy-free for Pipe and me.

---