Griffin silently pressed a kiss to my cheek before popping an everything bagel into the toaster, possibly for me since those were my favorite.
“Wow, look at us,” Layla harrumphed as she clutched a mug of coffee in both hands. “We’re depressing.”
Brady poured himself a glass of what appeared to be fresh orange juice. “It’s not us who’s depressing. It’s everything else.” With a full glass, he gestured to the elegant extravagance that surrounded us.
Layla snorted. When he snapped his incredulous gaze to her, she asked, “What? It’s kinda funny is all. This place is amazing.”
“Yeah, but—”
She waved dismissively. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, we all know. Let’s not beat a dead horse, ’kay? I think we need to turn this all around.”
“How so?” Brady asked, pouring himself a second glass. Dude could chug.
Layla’s brows rose and she seemed to force a peppy smile onto her face. “Let’s flip this thing around. We’re here anyway. We know the dealio. It sucks, yada yada yada,but…” She leaned her waist against the marble island. “There’s also some sweet cool stuff here.”
Brady opened his mouth. She cut him off with another dismissing wave.
“I get it, Brade. We all get it. But if we make the best of the things we can make the best of, then maybe we can at least have a little fun while we’re busy having the not fun part.”
Brady walked by with a bowl of cereal; she snagged a frosted shredded wheat biscuit and popped it in her mouth while he spun on her with murder on his face. She didn’t even really like shredded wheat, but she did love bugging the ever-loving crap out of her brother.
With a grin, she chomped away happily and noisily while Brady fumed and stomped to the far end of the dining table from her to enjoy his cereal in relative safety.
Layla swallowed and smirked. “I say let’s show them by having a freaking blast.”
“Not sure how that’s gonna ‘show them,’ genius,” Brady grumped.
“Why yes I am, thanks for finally recognizing my brilliance, brother. Took you long enough. And we show them by at least taking away any control they have over our reactions.”
Griffin slid a plate in front of me; it held a toasted everything bagel slathered with cream cheese. I smiled up at him. “Thanks, Griff. You’re the sweetest.”
“No, he’s buttering you up to get some later,” Layla said. “Or in this case, cream cheesing you up.”
I ignored her. Sometimes it was the better option. Griffin doting on me every so often wasn’t anything new.
Griffin popped another bagel in the toaster. “We can’t control what happens to us. That much has been blatantly proven over the last several months. But we can control how we react, what we do in the face of the challenges.” He glanced at Layla. “I can get on board with that.”
“Me too,” Hunt said. “Only ’cause moping around for the next who-knows-how-long might actually drive me crazy.”
Bobo jumped back in through the doggie door in the kitchen and ran to his bowl stand; he looked at me expectantly when he found it empty. I started to push my chair back, but Hunt shook his head.
“I got it.”
I smiled at him as he scooped some food into the bowl. “Thanks for being such a good Bobo daddy, Hunt. He loves it.”
Hunt hmmphed and tossed the empty can into a sleek stainless-steel bin. “It’s my pleasure. He’s the only one who’s always been real with us.”
Around a mouthful of cereal, Brady said, “What’s that say about us? That we can only trust our dog? Not even ourparents.”
Our dog. I smiled on Bobo’s behalf and licked some cream cheese off my finger until I caught Griffin’s stare following the path of my tongue. Heat flushed my insides and I forced myself not to look at him so Layla wouldn’t get on our case all over again.
Laylatsked at Brady instead, jabbing her finger in his direction. “Nope. None of that. I already told you.”
He snorted. “And what? You think I’m just gonna do what you say? Like that’s ever gonna happen. I’m not your bitch, Lay.”
“Then quit acting like one.”
Brady’s spoon clunked against his bowl right as the buggy pulled up into the driveway.
