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“The Easter egg hunt is a family tradition, but I haven’t seen it like this in years. The twins fight a lot, but August just left his new wife standing there. This is going to be fun. You ready?” I asked.
“Honestly, I’ve never had an egg hunt as an adult,” Chloe said, already moving towards the door. “I’m past ready.”
“Never?” I asked, falling in step with her. “You’re in for a treat. You have to be ruthless. Can you be?”
She shrugged and tilted her head with a brilliant smile, the kind of smile that would make a man do almost anything.
“That’s a scary smile, ma’am,” I said. “I think I got the right partner.”
By the time we got to the back lawn, the twins were battling Murphy and Parker over an egg up in the oak tree.
“Would you look at that, Chloe.” I pointed to Parker. “That’s what your sister did to him.”
“She has that effect on people, always has,” Chloe said proudly. “But just because she’s super nice doesn’t mean I’m letting her win.”
She grabbed our baskets and darted into the yard, passing a giggling Sophie. I made my way through the maze of rose bushes toward a yellow egg hiding within. I caught up with her, excited by her enthusiasm. We were behind everyone else, so we had to be smarter, or a little sneakier.
“Follow me,” I whispered in her ear.
Gravel crunched under our shoes as we ran along the circular walkway leading to another flower bed with fancy water fountains and ornate benches.
“Doesn’t look like anyone hunted in here yet, so hurry,” Chloe said quietly, completely immersed in the competition. “Are we supposed to come in here?”
Moments later, Mom and Henry appeared out of nowhere, like magic, acting all innocent, but I knew to watch them. I quickly explained that they’d won four years in a row.
“I see a few eggs over by the big fountain. I’ll go get them.” Chloe turned back. “You go toward the little fountains in the back, there has to be some there.”
“I’m watching you, Mom,” I said, running past her to grab an egg in the birdhouse above her head. Then I ran back toward Chloe.
“Oh my God. You stole that egg from your mother,” Chloe gasped when I reached her, holding five more eggs.
“Oh yeah, I did. Hurry, we only have about twenty minutes left,” I said, pulling her with me.
“Twenty more minutes? You guys hunt eggs for that long?” Chloe asked, trying to keep up. Just how many eggs are out here?”
“Hundreds of eggs. We usually never find all of them.” I pulled us behind a bush. “We need a plan to get past them to get up to the front yard.”
“Why, doesn’t everyone know to go out there?” Chloe asked, looking around for the rest of the family.
“Sure, they do, but the minute someone heads that way, everyone else follows.” I got down on my hands and knees. “If we can get out there without being seen, we’ll be ahead of the gang.”
“I feel like a secret agent or something,” Chloe laughed. “Are we supposed to be out here?”
Chapter 12
Chloe
“Are we supposed to be out here?” I asked. “Or are we in fact cheating?”
I looked back once more to the family.
The lawn and gardens looked like a scene from a scary movie. People were running frantically in all directions. The fountains in the middle started dancing.
“Is it like this every year around here?” I asked from my crawling position behind Trey.
“It seems a bit crazier than usual, but mostly, yes.” Trey stood as we turned the corner of the building. “Hurry, we have a few minutes before the alarm to grab eggs. No one has pillaged yet.”
“You go left and I’ll go right.” I ran, grabbing as many eggs as I could find. I’d heard Murphy say it was about who had the most eggs, not who had the prize eggs.”
