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He drifted off too, soon after he got comfortable.
***
Colin woke up around four in the morning, restless, and noticed the bed was empty and the door was open. Sitting up, he realized the bathroom was empty too. Olivia was not in there with him. Pulling on his sweatpants, he’d padded down the hallway, seeing the bedroom Vanessa and Allison usually slept in with the door open.
He walked in slowly, trying to be quiet, seeing Olivia curled around Allison fast asleep. Her lips were pressed against her temple, and her arm was thrown across the little girl’s body. They were snuggled deep in the covers, the glow of the night light illuminating their red hair faintly.
Colin smiled and backed out gently, closing the door. Crawling back into bed, he turned up the baby monitor to full volume before falling back to sleep.
***
The next morning, Olivia and Colin were downstairs with Allison, making a full non-pork breakfast. A cartoon playlist was playing over the surround system when Vanessa came through the side door, Johnathan shortly after. Looking a little worse for wear, and the both of them were walking funny. Which Colin thought was hilarious.
Colin was taking a sip of coffee, in his usual stance against the counter, playfully raising his eyebrows at them as they settled on the stools at the island.
“Good morning sunshines. Sleep well? At all?” Colin said over the rim of his coffee cup, holding back a chuckle by clearing his throat.
Vanessa moved gingerly, biting her lip as she carefully settled against the seat. He laughed to himself silently and kept the coffee cup to his lips as he sipped slowly. Truly terrified to lower it and embarrass the couple. He was hopeful he’d get a chance to really rib them one day soon without Allison present.
He noted Johnathan’s stiff movements and his eyes narrowed with irritation.
“Yo’, is my guesthouse okay? Anything broken?” Colin suddenly inquired, his eyebrow raising in concern for his possessions. Olivia looked over at him, amused.
“Man, I’ll just write you a check, ok? We don’t need to always talk about it,” Johnathan responded, accepting a cup of coffee from Colin wearily.
Jesus, Colin thought. What’d they do to my shit?
Colin turned his attention to Olivia, who was studiously making Allison's plate at the stove. Her shoulders were hunched, and she was making little breathy sounds, trying not to laugh. He chewed the inside of his lip hard as she turned and hurriedly placed the plate on the counter in front of Allison, then swung back around to face the stove again.
A hilarious giggle escaped, and she slapped her hand over her mouth quickly. Her shoulders shuddered as she pulled down several more plates to sit next to the stove.
He couldn’t help but to let out a little chuckle at her antics, which caused her to burst out laughing. She squatted down and pressed both hands against her mouth, trying to stem her sounds. Her face was bright red, and tears were rolling down her face.
Colin held his coffee cup up to his mouth, and laughed properly now at the sight, causing her to give up and fall on her back, laughing hard. She grabbed her stomach and pulled her knees up to her chest, screaming with laughter and gasping for breath. He took a moment to drink in her pure joy.
Allison suddenly entered the equation.
“What’s wrong with Auntie Ollie, Momma?” she asked, ripping her gaze from her tablet and rising on the stool to look at Olivia. Who was still rolling around the kitchen floor laughing like she’d never laughed before.
“She’s a biatch,” Vanessa breathed quietly; Allison was no longer paying any attention to her. "You're freaking childish, Ollie."
Colin let Olivia exhaust herself before bending down to grasp her hand and help pull her up.
“It’s hilarious though, isn’t it?” he said to her, still chuckling, taking another sip of his coffee.
Olivia nodded her head, unable to speak before swiping tears from her eyes. She took a deep breath and finished plating their food, ignoring Vanessa’s embarrassed scowl. “That’s what you get for making fun of me last night,” she whispered to her sister, sliding the plate to Vanessa and winking.
They ate breakfast together and discussed Thanksgiving plans. Vanessa suddenly looked at Colin in horror and shook her head at him slightly when Olivia announced happily that she was going to cook. He raised a questioning eyebrow at her.
She mentioned for him to look at his phone discreetly.
Seriously, what’s with them and these phones? he mused, pulling up his text and seeing she sent the message as an S.O.S. Which he got a real kick out of. He took a bite of eggs as he read it.
Colin do NOT let her cook. -Nessie
Smiling slightly around his bite of food, he replied.
Why not? It’s just turkey, basically a roasted chicken. What could go wrong? -C
