Page 115 of A Little Twist

A naughty grin is on her lips, and she tries to act innocent. “Whatever do you mean?”

“The bumper sticker. Britt told me.”

“My future sister-in-law has a big mouth.”

I lunge forward, lifting her off her feet and tossing her over my shoulder. “That does it.”

“What are you doing?” She slaps my back, squealing as I head for the pool. “Alex! No! I have to finish prepping for the party!”

I get close, but right before I toss her in the pool, I set her on her feet. Her face is flushed, and her pretty eyes are wide. Reaching up, I smooth my hands down the sides of her now-messy hair and kiss her lightly.

I lean into her ear and whisper, “I still owe you a spanking from the last one.”

Her shoulder rises with a little shiver, and it hits me right below the belt. I want her so much right now, but we have a birthday party to throw.

“Daddy!” Pinky is jumping up and down on the diving board. “Don’t throw Mama Cass in the pool!”

“I won’t, Baby.” I lift Cass’s hand, kissing her fingers as I walk to where the kids are all swimming.

“Mama Cass.” Adam snorts from the grill. “Gets me every time.”

“Watch me do The Pencil, Daddy!” Pinky calls, and I nod, watching as she holds her little arms straight down by her sides.

Striding to the end of the board, she walks right off, dropping like a post into the cool blue water. Her little red head quickly bobs up to the surface as she kicks hard to the ladder.

“Did you see me, Daddy? Did you see me?” She really does sound like that little turtle inNemo.

“It was a perfect ten,” I call to her. “You barely even made a splash.”

“Just like the real divers!”

“I want to do a pencil, Mama!” Crimson bounces on her toes as Julia fastens a hot pink vest over her bathing suit.

“Okay, but you need to do it in the shallow end here.” She sits on the side of the pool with her feet in the water.

Owen and Ryan are throwing a ball back and forth from the deep end to the shallow, and classic rock is playing on the radio. I hear Meat Loaf singing about a Coupe de Ville not being in a Cracker Jack box, and I nod approvingly.

Britt walks over to where Adam is taking the hot dogs off the grill, and she motions to Cass.

“Time to eat, everybody!” Cass waves to my daughter in the pool. “Come eat, Birthday Girl!”

Pinky makes an immediate U-turn from where she was headed to the diving board, and starts running to where the kids are lining up for food. I’m impressed by how quickly the five-year-olds have learned to form a line.

“No running!” Mom calls, walking out the door with a cake stand, holding Cass’s famous snickerdoodle cake.

Pinky jumps up and down. “Cake! Cake! I want cake!”

“Eat a hot dog first.” Cass lifts her onto her hip, carrying her with a paper plate to the picnic table where the rest of her little friends are pigging out.

“I heard there was a new sign out today.” Piper hands Ryan and Owen two hot dogs as she squints up at Britt.

“It said,Trust Your Instincts.” Britt puts a small bag of potato chips on each child’s plate.

“I swear, sometimes I feel like this sign bandit is reading my mail.” Piper follows her friend, giving each kid a juice box. “The messages always speak to me.”

“I wonder if we’ll ever find out who it is.” Cass wipes a blob of mustard off Pinky’s cheek. “If they ever stop, we’ll have to cross-check the obituaries.”

“That makes me sad.” Britt pokes out her lip.

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