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He was just crazy.
“Education is very important.” But I wasn’t eating anything weird no matter how cute they were. “What type of cake did you make?”
It was still a legitimate question because I didn’t see a cookbook anywhere.
“Chocolate.” Tabitha rubbed her hands together like a greedy villain in a bad B movie.
“Yes.” Harper looked pleased to be able to answer at least one question without feeling guilty. “And we thought that it deserved some special flavors because Tabitha said her Poppy was special.”
So that was how he’d gotten conned into all of this?
“That’s very sweet.” Technically. “What special things have gone into it so far?”
Moving over to the two troublemakers, I looked between them at the bowl that actually seemed to contain cake batter.
It just had lumps.
Well, some seemed to be identifiable, so I worried a bit less.
“I see some walnuts. That looks very yummy.” That pleased Miss Tabitha because she kissed my cheek and even her Daddy stood taller.
“Yes, and some chocolate chips and we were debating the merits of sprinkles and those milk chocolate-coated caramel things that I can’t remember where they came from.” He looked over at the table slightly confused, completely missing Tabitha’s delightfully mischievous expression.
She could’ve told him where some of the weird candy had come from.
But I wasn’t going to volunteer that information because she was having entirely too much fun. For the time being, I shrugged. “I think it looks very good as it is. Maybe we use some of the things like the sprinkles to decorate it after it’s cooled?”
There were only so many interesting things they could dump in a cake before it fell apart. They were the ones who could’ve probably explained the physics of it all, but at the moment, that didn’t seem to occur to either of them.
“Oh, Poppy. Sprinkles. Pretty. Pretty for Poppy.” Tabitha gave both of us quick kisses on our cheeks and bounced around the kitchen, sorting through goodies and seemingly looking for decorations while her Daddy frowned and studied the batter.
They were both brilliant in their own ways but they constantly proved exactly why they needed me in our fascinating relationship.
Someone had to keep the chaos under control and be the one who said no… and right now, it seemed that my skills were necessary.
But that didn’t mean I was cleaning up this mess.
Chapter 20
Harper
“No, you said I had to clean everything up since I’d encouraged the mess.” I wasn’t so sure I’dencouragedanything but he’d made the rules and there were no takebacks.
Crossing his arms over his chest like a pouting child, he glared at me, making Tabitha fight not to laugh as her gaze kept bouncing around the room so she could pretend not to notice his ridiculous behavior. “That’s not what I meant and you know it.”
“It’s what you said. You articulated it very clearly.” Shrugging, I looked over at my very dirty girl, who was somehow covered head to toe in flour and everything else we’d used to make the cake. There was nothing I could do but bathe her.
He was just upset that she wasn’t little anymore and my plan involved the shower in the master bathroom. “She really does need to be cleaned up before we figure out dinner.”
How she’d gotten so…
Well, she’d enjoyed herself and she’d learned a lot. That was what mattered.
“The kitchen is very clean. Tabitha helped a lot.” Between Gaylen’s grumbling and the cleaning itself, it’d seemed to bring out her grown-up side, but I didn’t mind because she’d been little most of the afternoon.
It’d definitely been what she’d needed but grown-up time with her was always fun too… especially when she’d spent so much time at work during the week.
Her projects were fascinating and constantly varied but these random sixty-hour workweeks made it hard to get any time with her.
