Page 42 of Shortcake
“Iknow.”
I couldn’t be sure, but I swear I could feel Addy’s judgment of my parenting radiating off from her even though she wasn’t facing us.
I also noticed for the first time that all the boxes in the kitchen were unpacked. “Did you two also set up the kitchen?”
Still biting her bottom lip, Harper smiled and threw her hands into the air. “Surprise!”
After months of living with a sullen, grumpy teenager, this shift in her persona was enough to crack me. To break me. And I had to take a deep breath to compose myself so I didn’t well up with tears right now in front of her.
Harper took my hand and tugged me gently around the kitchen, opening cupboards and giving me a tour of where she put stuff. “I started to unpack while Addy went to the store for groceries and then we finished unpacking together when she got home.”
Home.
In less than six hours under this roof, Addy had accomplished the impossible. She had turned this kitchen—this house—into home. I felt both immensely grateful and completely inferior all at once.
“Harper’s giving me way too much credit,” Addy laughed. “She had most of it done by the time I got home.”
“I’ll tell you what,” I said. “Because you were so good today, I’ll take you to Shortcakes tonight for chowder.”
“Really?” Harper squeaked and I gave her a nod.
Truthfully, it’s not like I knew anything else to make. I needed to get my shit together as a father. I needed to get us on a schedule and start having a plan for healthy meals for both of our sakes. There were only so many nights I could afford to take us out to eat or order pizza.
“Thank you, Dad!” She threw her arms around my neck, hugging me tightly. “I’m gonna go change!” She squealed, then kissed me on the cheek before running upstairs.
“Dinner’s not for at least two more hours!” I laughed, calling up after her.
Addy tossed a carrot down to Gus who was patiently waiting several feet away from the stove, then pushed another piece of carrot into the top of a small rolling ball where her hedgehog blinked up at her from within.
I shook my head. “What sort of magic do you possess, woman?”
Her eyes widened as she peered at me from over her shoulder. “Excuse me?”
I gestured at Gus. “Even mydogis better behaved with you. If it was me cooking or eating, he’d be under my feet, pawing my calf, not just begging for food, butdemandingit.”
She winked and tossed another baby carrot into Gus’s waiting mouth. “I’m just a witchy woman, I guess.”
“Glinda, the good witch.”
She snorted. “Hardly.”
“Oh come on, look at you. You’ve even got the red hair.”
She shook her head. “Glinda had, like, natural auburn hair. I’ve got rocker girl magenta red hair.” She grabbed a chunk of her hair and pulled it up from her shoulders.
I reached past her and grabbed a baby carrot for myself. “Looks red to me.”
“Men.” She rolled her eyes and held up her recently painted nails. “What color is this?”
It felt like a trick question. I narrowed my eyes. “Um… green?”
“Wrong! It’s chartreuse.”
“Right,” I nodded, knowingly. As if I should have been able to tell the difference.
I nudged my toe gently against the ball thingy that her hedgehog was in. “What’s this guy’s name again?”
Smiling, she lifted the clear ball into the air and went nose to nose with her hedgehog. “Her name is Eleanor. I put her in here because she’s never been loose in such a large house. I was afraid she might get lost.”
