Page 22 of Higher Notes

“Well, I think Mom would be excited to pick out all the finishes. How do you guys feel about that?”

“I think it’s a great idea. From everything you’ve said she’s more than earned a break in life so why not add shiny appliances to it?” Hell, I was lucky I could put my clothes on most days.

“I don’t know what I did to deserve you guys but if you find out let me know so I can keep doing it.” Jason didn’t realize we were the lucky ones.

“Ditto, babe.” I threw out a rare term of endearment but damnit if the moment didn’t call for it. “Your place or ours?”

“How do you feel about grocery shopping? Might as well break you in the hard way.”

What had we gotten ourselves into?

“Bring. It. On,” Sikes challenged him.

“Let’s roll.”

“Dude, what the fuck?” Gabriel screamed into the mic at whoever he was playing against online with as we walked inside.

“Language, Gabriel,” Jason corrected. “Pause the game.”

“Hi, Wyatt, hi, Mr. Sniper,” Nicole waved at us.

“Hello to both of you. Let us set the groceries down then we’ll give you a hug.” I really enjoyed these two but then again, we didn’t live with them. Yet. When we sat the groceries down the promised hugs were given but Gabriel was still playing the game, completely ignoring Jason.

Sikes and I blocked the TV screen with our bodies. “Pause the game and help unload the car.” He swallowed hard but didn’t sass us. The twins had wandered into the kitchen to help Jason empty the bags, though by the looks of it they were just picking through them.

Gabriel followed us out. We loaded our arms with bags and carried the rest inside.

“Gabe, where’s Mom?” Jason hollered from the kitchen.

“She got called into work.”

“Did you guys eat dinner yet?”

“No, Gabe was playing his stupid game.” I must admit, Nicole was quickly becoming my favorite. “Mom told him there was stuff in the fridge to heat up.”

Jason peeked into the fridge and shook his head. “Yeah, that’s not going to feed all of us.”

Sikes grabbed the coloring books for the twins and a Minecraft figure Jason said Gabe would like that we picked up for them atthe store. While I helped Jason finish putting everything away, Sikes kept the kids busy, then Jason and I started dinner.

“What’s the plan?” Jason watched as I started dicing onions and garlic.

“An old go to of ours. Spaghetti with meat sauce, salad, and we’ll use that loaf of French bread we bought.” Thankfully we’d had the forethought of doubling most of what Jason picked out for instances such as this.

“What can I do to help?”

“Sauce needs to cook for a bit so why don’t you get a snack together for the kids.”

“You guys are nothing short of amazing.”

“Nah, we’re just trained to adapt and overcome any situation.” Which was the truth, only this was the first time it included kids.

Jason grinned and gave me a kiss then pulled out the kids’ divided plates with cartoon characters on them. Carrots, crackers, and snack size cheeses were divvied up then he delivered it to them. A few minutes later I felt a tug on my pants and found Nolan standing there.

“Mr. Sniper, if I color you a picture will you put it on your fridge?”

“I’d be honored to, little man.” Damnit if these kids weren’t winning me over and from the looks of it, Sikes, too. Guess they’d sucked him into coloring as well. The little princess sat beside him dictating which color to use. Yep, he was a goner.

With the sauce on and simmering, I joined the coloring party with my new friend Nolan. Jason decided to play games with Gabriel, both wore headsets and talked smack to whoever was on the other end.

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