Page 67 of Otto: The Hawthornes

“I’ll remember that.” Her expression was serious, but her eyes were shining.

“I’m serious.”

“I know,” she murmured, smiling a little.

“Come on, let’s grab some food.” I grabbed her hand and led her toward the noisy kitchen. “I’m glad you had a good day.”

“Your mom canshop,” she mused. “She made me write out a list in the car, and I think we found everything on it.”

“You get a dress?” I asked, glancing at her over my shoulder.

“Yep.” Her cheeks grew pink. “But you can’t see it.”

“I’m gonna see it eventually.”

“In three days, apparently.”

“Actually, four,” I mumbled. “We need to go and get the license tomorrow morning.”

“Get a plate,” my mom ordered as we entered the busy kitchen. “The boys made tacos.”

“You cook?” Esther asked in surprise as I tugged her toward the kitchen counter where the different toppings were laid out.

“Tacos are easy.” I handed her a plate. “You just have to cook the meat, really. Everything else is just cut up.”

“Ican cook,” she said, quietly proud. “I’m actually really good at it.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yep.”

“We can take turns, then.”

I turned to her when she seemed to freeze in place. “What?”

“You want to cook?”

“Sometimes.” I shrugged and handed her a couple of warm tortillas. “If it’s somethin’ specific.”

“Oh,” she breathed.

She followed me through the kitchen and eventually to the table where my family had kindly left us a couple of seats. I pulled her chair out for her and she’d barely sat down before she started to pop back up again.

“We forgot drinks,” she murmured apologetically.

I set my hand on her shoulder to stop her. “I’ll get ’em. You want some ice water?”

“Yes, please.”

“You all set for the big day?” my dad asked her as I walked back to the fridge.

“I think so,” Esther replied hesitantly.

“We’re set,” my mom confirmed. “Now we just need to deal with the food. We’ll pick up flowers the night before.”

“Oh yeah? From where?”

“That little stand down the road,” my mom replied proudly. “We talked to Brandon and he said he has everything we’ll need. We can just go over and he’ll cut it right then and we can assemble the bouquets.”

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