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“You never know. Right now we’re just dating,” Caleb said gently.
“I think I’m going to marry a boy when I grow up,” Henry mused.
“You are?” I asked.
Harper kissed my cheek and patted my shoulder, her way of saying she wanted down. I placed her on the floor and she went to stand next to Henry.
“Yup.” He nodded with all the confidence of an eight-year-old. “If I marry a boy then we can do karate and play zombie hunters.”
Harper threw him an indignant look. “Girls can do karate and play zombie hunters.”
“Girls can do anything they want, the same as boys,” Caleb said in that same sweet tone.
I twisted around as movement caught my eye. Lyla was approaching us. All the adults in the room, except Caleb, were still and silent as she walked right up to him and tugged on his shirt sleeve. Lyla was incredibly reserved and usually reacted badly to strangers. I’d never seen her walk up to someone she didn’t know like this.
“Hi.” He turned to her.
She smiled shyly and held up her hand. “We match.”
Caleb glanced at her hand, then down at his shirt, which was the same shade of pink as her nail polish.
“We do.” He smiled. “Is pink your favorite color?”
She nodded.
“Hi, sweetie.”
I flicked my attention away from my little siblings.
“Hi, Mom.” I opened my arms for a hug and bent down so she could give me a big squeeze.
Our mother was the female version of Eli with her petite frame and dark blond hair, and like Eli, she’d always looked younger than her age. People had been mistaking us for siblings since I’d grown taller than her at twelve.
After we pulled apart, we turned to Caleb.
He now had Lyla cuddled up to his left side as Harper and Henry spoke over each other, trying to keep his focus on them.
“Babe,” I said when my siblings paused to take a breath.
He looked up at us.
“I’d like you to meet my mom, Kate. Mom, this is Caleb.”
He swallowed and tried to shift away from Lyla. She was having none of it and circled her arms around his neck.
“You’ve been claimed by the spider monkey,” I said lightly.
Lyla giggled and jumped on Caleb, clinging to him like her namesake.
He caught her and stood, arranging her on his hip.
“Hi, Caleb. It’s so nice to meet you.” Mom stepped in front of him and smiled warmly. “I know you’ve got your hands full, but are you a hugger?”
“Um, yes ma’am.”
“Please, call me Kate.” She held out her arms.
Carefully, Caleb bent down so he could hug her without dropping Lyla.
