Page 29 of Surviving in Everton

She grabs her stool and brings it over to where I’m standing. Once it’s in place, she steps up and starts mixing. The baker that she is, she’s pretty good at mixing eggs. I get the griddle set up and warming on the counter. We’ve got a lot of people to feed this morning, so I have a feeling we’re going to go through all of them.

“Okay, one of those bowls is for scrambled eggs, the other is for French toast,” I start to tell her but I’m interrupted by squealing.

“Yay! French toast! I loooove French toast, Mommy!” she informs me for the millionth time.

“I know that, Bug, you tell meeverytime we make it.” I chuckle.

“Oh, sorry.” She giggles.

“Okay, let’s get this bread cookin’. You wanna dunk them and I’ll put them on the griddle?” I offer, knowing she’s gonna say yes.

“Oh, can I, Mommy?!” she asks with wide eyes. When I nod my head and smile at her she squeals and gets to work dunking the bread in the egg mix and passing them off to me when they’re ready for the griddle.

Once all the bread that will fit is on the griddle, I get the pans ready for the eggs. I pour some scrambled eggs into my biggest pan first and quickly realize the other pans I have will never fit the rest of these, so I conjure up three more big pans. I can’t believe I’m making four freaking pans of eggs.

“Alright, Bug, can you get plates and forks, please?” I ask her.

“Okay, Mommy!” she agrees and takes a pile of plates topped with silverware to the table as I continue to stir.

I turn my head to check on the French toast and use my magic to flip them from the stove. I don’t know how people cook big meals like this without magic. I would for sure burn something. Probably everything actually. I set my spatula to stir the eggs and walk away to make the guys a pot of coffee. I hate the stuff, but I much prefer when Nate has had his coffee. He can be even more cranky than usual when he doesn’t get some.

Once I get the coffee going, I look around to see what Violet’s up to. I find her putting mugs and glasses on the table. She’s using her magic to float all of the cups over, then arranging all of the dishes at each seat. I smile at her thoughtfulness and get back to the French toast before it burns. I get out serving plates and bowls, dumping all the scrambled eggs in two big bowls and piling the French toast on two serving platters. As I’m setting one of each on either side of the table, I realize I completely forgot the bacon.

“Remember the rule about not using our magic to make food all of the time?” I ask Violet.

“Yes?” She tilts her head at me.

“Well, we did most of the cooking,” I chuckle, “but we forgot the bacon.”

Her eyes widen and she smacks her forehead.“How could we forgetbacon, Mommy?!?”

“I have no idea, sweetie. Think it’ll be okay if we just conjure some today?”

She takes a moment to think about it and I can see when she’s come to a decision. “I think it will be fine. New rule, it isalwaysacceptable to conjurebacon!” she declares and I burst out laughing while she giggles.

“That’s a pretty good rule,” I agree with a smile. I conjure two platters piled high with perfectly cooked bacon just as the front door opens. Perfect timing.

“Honey! I’m home!” Quinn calls from the hallway. “Someone tell me why I had to wake up so early on a Saturday. Don’t those boys know sleep is life?” she whines as she enters the kitchen. Her whining comes to a screeching halt once she sees and smells the food on the table. “Well, never mind. If this is my reward for waking up so freaking early, I’m here for it!”

“Hey! Stay out of the bacon!” I slap her hand when she tries to sneak a piece.

“Okay, okay, sheesh.” She shakes her hand out and gives me the stink eye. But I know she wouldn’t have stopped at just one piece, so it’s best to nip that in the bud.

The guys were much quieter coming in than Quinn. They must have assumed I’d still be sleeping. Even though I told them I’d make them breakfast before they left.

“Damn, look at all of this!” Ayden exclaims when he sees the table covered in food.

“You didn’t have to make all of this, Sugar,” Hudson tells me after he gives me my good morning hug and kiss.

“I know. I wanted to. Now everyone sit down, no one likes cold eggs,” I tease.

We sit down at the table and dig in. Breakfast is a hit, just as expected, with everyone complimenting my cooking. I inform them Violet helped and they all praise her. It’s the perfect morning. For just a little bit, I’m able to forget about everything that’s going on, and why everyone is at my house so early this morning. I don’t think about what’s going to happen when the guys find Brad, because they will find him. I have complete faith in that. Especially with all of the help West has given. I just enjoy this peaceful morning with the people I love.

The peace can only last so long though. As breakfast comes to an end, the happy chatter slowly dies down and everyone becomes more somber. “So y’all have a plan for the day right? I snuck out of the room when y’all started talking about that,” I offer with a shrug.

“Yes, we have a plan. It’s called ‘find this asshat and beat some answers out of him’,” Nate growls.

Hudson sighs deeply and shakes his head. “We agreed, Nate. That’s not what’s going to happen.”

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