He stopped tickling her and pulled her down into his arms. “You ready for some breakfast?”
“Can we have waffles with chocolate chips?”
“I think I can manage that.”
He sat up, pulled Emma up with him and then easily put her feet on the floor before stepping out of bed himself. “Why don’t you go brush your teeth, and I’m going to do the same?”
“Okay, Daddy!” She rushed out of the room and into the bathroom.
Miles smiled and walked into his own attached bathroom and brushed his teeth. He scrubbed the remaining sleep out of his eyes and then walked out of his room and to the kitchen, where he pulled out all the ingredients to make waffles from scratch. Emma bounded into the kitchen and immediately pulled a chair over to the counter.
Without asking, she pulled out the measuring cups and began scooping ingredients into the mixing bowl. He smiled as he watched her, clearly having made enough waffles with her that she had to ask for very little help. Miles mixed the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and then pulled out the waffle maker. When he turned back around, Emma was trying to quickly stir the batter.
He raised an eyebrow. “What’cha doing there, peanut?”
“Just mixing it,” she said.
A smile tugged at the corner of his lips. An enormous pile of chocolate chips sat on top of the batter being swirled around in the middle as she stirred fiercely. “I see. You wouldn’t have happened to add the chocolate chips when I wasn’t looking, did you?”
“I measured.” She stirred faster.
Miles crossed his arms and watched her trying to immerse the evidence in the batter. “And howmuchdid you measure?”
A guilty look crossed her face. “Um… maybe a lot?”
“May I?” He held his hand out for the spoon, and she heaved a heavy sigh as she relinquished it to him. He stirred the batter, which was heavily dosed with chocolate. “I don’t know. This seems like more than a lot.”
“I’m sorry. I just wanted extra.”
He squatted down to look into her bright blue eyes, which looked a lot like her mother’s. “Next time, how about you let me know you want extra and we can add it just to your waffle? And at a more reasonable amount. Deal?”
“Deal.”
Miles cooked the waffles and sat down with Emma at the table. She practically inhaled her food.
“This is the best waffle ever!” A rim of chocolate appeared around her mouth as she smiled up at him.
“I bet it is,” he said. He opted to make himself an omelet and avoid the sugar rush first thing in the morning. It was a rare weekend that he had off from work. He had been trying to pass off more of his duties to his staff, rather than being controlling of the kitchen where he was the chef at his family’s resort in Wintervale, Montana. Now that Emma was in school full time, he wanted to spend the weekends with her and work during the week.
His phone buzzed, and he fished it out of his pocket as he cleaned up the kitchen from breakfast. Emma was in the living room watching cartoons. He had recently appointed a new manager of the restaurant, and her name flashed across the screen.
“Hey, Savannah,” Miles said.
“Hey, Miles. I’m sorry for bothering you on your day off,” she said.
“It’s okay. What’s going on?”
“Roger called in sick. He’s been throwing up all morning. Apparently, there’s a flu going around town.”
Miles squeezed his eyes shut. He hated flu season. It always posed a challenge for the resort when it was short-staffed. Roger was a talented chef in their kitchen who took over when Miles wasn’t there. If he were out, the kitchen would lack help.
“I’ll be there soon.”
“Thank you, and I’m sorry.”
They ended the call, and he peered into the living room where Emma sat and sighed. He hated missing out on spending time with her, but she understood… as much as a six-year-old could.
He shot off a group text to his family.
