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Half an hour later, the two of us walk through the door of the Cage household to the smell of bacon and eggs. “Hello?” I call out.
“Is that you, Spitfire?” Noah calls back from the kitchen.
“No, it’s me,” Aria yells out, making sure the people in Broken Hill can hear her and know she just walked through the door.
We head into the kitchen and Aria instantly runs up to Violet, asking if she can have some pancakes. Even though bacon and eggs are on the menu today, Violet instantly starts pulling out all the ingredients just so she can brighten Ari’s morning.
I have a feeling Violet overdoes it with Aria because she misses Lily so much. It must be hard seeing another little girl running around her home, but at the same time, it’s filling the void Lily left behind. Besides, it could also have something to do with the fact that Violet just really enjoys spoiling anyone who walks through her door.
I drop my phone down on the table with my keys before heading for the chair beside Tully, only Noah’s arm snakes around my waist and pulls me down on his lap moments before his lips are skimming across my neck, tickling it like never before.
I laugh and swat him away before looking over at Tully. “What’s going on?” I ask her, taking in the ever-present scowl on her face. “Are you feeling a little more alive today?”
She shakes her head. “Nope, more like a bitch,” she informs me. “With all this Rivers bullshit, I broke up with Rocko.”
“Wait…were you still with him?” I laugh. “I assumed you broke up with him after the hospital?”
“Nah. It was heading that way anyway, but neither of us actually did it. It was getting ridiculous.”
“Oh well,” I shrug. “It’s not like you even liked him that much anyway.”
“Yeah, but he was fun and was able to get my mind off all the stupid shit. And even now, I stand by what I said; he’s really not as bad as you guys keep making him out to be.”
“Tully,” I grin. “The guy was responsible for starting a fire at school.”
“No, that’s just the rumor. You don’t actually know that.”
“Uh huh,” I laugh. “Whatever helps you sleep at night.”
“Both of you knock it off and grab me the ice cream,” Violet says from the stove. “This kid can’t have her pancakes without a scoop of ice cream.”
“Yeah,” I scoff as I come up off Noah’s lap and start heading for the freezer. “That’s if Tully has managed to leave any over the past few weeks.”
Tully scoffs right back at me as I open the freezer and look in. I move some things around, searching for the ice cream when a grin rips across my face. I reach in and grab the stuffed teddy bear that Tully usually keeps hidden by her bed and realize that it’s frozen solid. “Alright,” I laugh, looking to Noah. “Who the hell did this?”
Tully gasps and shoots out of her chair and Noah falls into uncontrollable laughter. “Bigsy,” Tully shrieks, running to me and grabbing the frozen teddy from my hands. “Why’s he in the freezer?”
Noah’s laughter continues booming through the kitchen and Tully instantly turns on him “I’m going to kill you.”
She crash tackles into him and Noah instantly gets her face down on the floor before he sits on top of her, hardly having to break a sweat. “Serves you right for that shit you pulled with your towel the other day.”
“You didn’t have to freeze Bigsy,” she groans. “How did you even get him?”
“I snuck into your room last night,” he laughs. “I dunked him in water and tossed him in. Pure brilliance if you ask me.”
Tully rolls her eyes and mimics him in a snappy tone. “Pure brilliance if you ask me.”
A second later, she pinches the back of his knees and he flies up off her. “Fuck, that hurt,” Noah screeches.
I grab Bigsy and toss him into the sink, realizing he’s going to need to defrost and then will probably be heading for the washing machine. I grab the ice cream, hand it off to Violet and take a seat at the table, ignoring the bickering that seems to never end.
An hour later, Noah and I sit in my Supra, though ‘Mr. Refuses to get Driven Around’ stole my driver’s seat and I’m somehow in the passenger seat of my own car while Noah tests out exactly what this car is made of. Don’t get me wrong, he’s still being sensible as we have Aria with us.
We pull up at her school ten minutes later and I turn around to give her a big beaming smile. “You all ready to go?” I ask.
For the first time since she’s come to live with us, I’ve never seen her hesitate when having to go off to school. You know, apart from her first day, but that’s understandable. Right now though, her eyes are down and a frown is marring her pretty face as she shakes her head ‘no.’
