Page 46 of Broken Chorus

“Why you not tell him?” she asked with a stomp of her little foot. “Now I no have sprinkles!”

“So we could surprise him, sweetheart,” Hawk replied, hoping to reason with her and in loo of that, hoping Aaron would help, though he still hadn’t met Hawk’s gaze yet. “I’d say we did a good job of it, wouldn’t you.”

“Were you surprised?” Dani asked as she turned back towards Aaron, who was studying some spot on the floor.

“Sure was, princess,” Aaron said. “But it was the best kind of surprise, ‘cause I’ve missed you.”

“I miss you more,” Dani said.

“So Hawk,” Kelly interrupted. “You sort of know Declan and Micah from our video chats. This is Declan’s brother Cade, and Micah’s friend Rebecka.”

“Awesome,” Hawk said. “Great to meet you all.”

“Can I have sprinkles with snack?” Dani interrupted, not that she was talking to Hawk, with Aaron there he might as well have been invisible, to both of them it seemed.

Aaron’s eyebrows shot up and Hawk could tell he was scrambling to figure out how to answer.

“Be lucky she isn’t asking to have them on her wings,” Hawk said, directly addressing Aaron.

If there was ever a time to acknowledge him, it should have been then, only Aaron, stroked his chin and muttered. “Not sure how garlic parmesan sprinkle wings would taste.”

“Wings are wings man,” Cade said on his way to the table. “With the right amount of heat on them, sprinkles might bring a welcome balance.”

“Ohhh,” Dani hummed. “We try sprinkle wings?”

“I don’t think you’d like wings as hot as we’d have to make them to balance out the sprinkles,” Hawk said. “Remember the cinnamon candy you tried at the library?”

Her nose scrunched up as she squinted. “Blech! Those were yucky.”

“And that’s exactly how screaming hot chicken wings would taste, even with sprinkles on them,” Hawk said, which at least got her to ponder her request for a moment.

“Okay,” Dani said, “But I still want sprinkles.”

Now Hawk was the one stammering for an answer, while Aaron scooped Dani up and set her on the booster seat Kelly had already installed on a chair.

“What if we try some extra special magical sprinkles full of cheesy goodness,” Aaron offered.

“Cheesy…sprinkles?”

“Yup, cheesy sprinkles,” Aaron said with a conspiratorial wink, “wanna see?”

“Pweeze!”

While Hawk struggled to figure out what the hell Aaron was talking about, Aaron had gotten busy making Dani a plate of food, and a balanced one too. Hawk could tell she was as eager to see these magic sprinkles as he was, so when Aaron produceda big green container of grated parmesan cheese, Hawk snorted and doubled over, laughing as Dani clapped with glee.

“Cheesy sprinkles, cheesy sprinkles, lots ‘n lots of cheesy sprinkles,” Dani sing-songed as she squirmed in her seat. Aaron covered the shredded wing meat Kelly had thoughtfully deboned for her with a mound of parmesan cheese and Dani happily dug in.

“All right guys, I’ve got sizzling hot buffalo, garlic-parmesan, honey-garlic, chili-garlic, and mild buffalo wings, along with potato salad, corn on the cob, and strawberry shortcake for dessert,” Kelly announced as everyone else started dishing up portions to fill their plates.

“Yo man, last I checked, all of our reflections showed up in the mirror,” Micah quipped, cracking wise with Kelly.

Hawk listened to it all unfold while he and Aaron filled plates for Liam and Ella, and still Aaron hadn’t acknowledged him at all. When he glanced up to set Ella’s plate in front of her, he noticed Declan, Cade and Micah eyeing Aaron with an assorted mix of confusion, surprise, and shock, though he had no clue why. Had they noticed Aaron deliberately ignoring him or was it because they hadn’t seen through Aaron’s prickly nature to glimpse the softhearted bastard inside?

As he focused on cutting Ella’s corn off the cob, he finally heard the voice he’d been dying to hear since he’d gotten on the plane, and Aaron didn’t seem happy.

“Your little surprise could have backfired you know,” Aaron grumbled, keeping his voice low. “I’d given serious thought to heading down to Tahiti for the weekend.”

“And miss family night? Shame on you,” Hawk replied, cutting him a stern look.

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