Page 19 of A Game Of Love

Brody chuckles. “Which one is mine?”

Bennett’s eyes light up. “The biggest one, in the back.” He points. “I picked it out.”

“Holy shit.” Brody’s eyes widen when he sees it. “That really is massive.”

“Right!” Bennett grins. “I thought you could carve Batman and Robin on it. It has enough room for both.”

“Now, I like that idea.” Brody muses his hair. “Let’s get these inside.”

Once all the pumpkins are outside in the backyard, I join Mom and Rain in the kitchen.

“Hey, Lillypad,” my mom, Ellie, greets, bringing me in for a hug. “How was your day with the boys?”

“Actually, it was pretty fun. The twins weren't too bad. They’re lucky they even got to go, though.”

“What do you mean?” She frowns.

“They were giving Bennett a hard time earlier.”

“What!” Mom grumbles. “I swear, those boys are going to be the death of me,” she huffs out.

“It’s okay, Toby handled it pretty well.”

“Good,” Mama Rain says, just as the twins walk by. “But the next time you mess with your brother, no more games for a week.”

Their eyes widen in horror. “No!” Isaiah shouts. “That's not fair.”

“I’ll show you what’s not fair,” Jax says, grabbing Isaiah and throwing him over his shoulder. Isaiah laughs as he spins him around before putting him down. “Now, what's this I hear about you bugging Bennett?”

“We just wanted to see what he was saying to his boyfriend,” Isaiah pouts.

My brows rise. “Boyfriend?” Is he talking about Easton? As far as I know, they’re still on the outs.

“It’s none of your business who your brother talks to,” Mom sighs. “Boys, we need to respect each other's privacy. Would you like it if your brother did the same to you?”

“We don’t have phones,” Raiden huffs, crossing his arms.

“And it’s going to be a long time before you do if this is how you're going to act,” Theo joins in.

Raiden’s eyes widen. “No!”

“Then what are we going to do?” Theo asks.

“Leave Bennett’s phone alone,” they both say at the same time.

“Good, now go help Toby and Bishop with the pumpkins out back,” Theo says, the boy's eyes lighting up. “But don’t touch anyone else's pumpkin.”

The boys take off running, laughing as they go. Theo sighs. “I’ll be surprised if they don’t end up dropping theirs.”

“Could just play it off like last year.” I grin.

“Don’t remind me,” Mom groans. “I’m still annoyed with Chase for that one. So much pumpkin to clean up.”

Last year, Raiden dropped his pumpkin when he was trying to move it to the front of the house. Of course, he was upset and crying. In swoops Daddy Chase with the bright idea to make them zombie pumpkins, and his was just a zombie we had to destroy. Raiden loved the idea, and so did Isaiah. Next thing you know, the twins were taking their T-ball bats to all the pumpkins, screaming about having to kill the zombies. Only good thing was that half of us didn’t start on our pumpkins, wanting to get the kids done first. So, at least we didn’t spend hours working on designs.

And in good old Chase fashion, he loved every moment of it. Joined in, too.

Sometimes, my dad is more of a child than the kids are. But I wouldn’t change him for the world.

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