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“Um, no,” I said, giving her a look. “We’re not getting ninety-nine cupcakes.”
“Why not? It’s less than a hundred,” she said.
I shook my head and met Simon’s gaze. “We’ll take four.”
“Four?” Spencer looked downright offended by my order. “Who gets the extra one? I should get it because I’m the oldest.”
“One for each of you and one each for Grandma and Grandpa,” I said. “Pick out what kind you want.”
“Chocolate,” Marley said immediately.
“I was going to pick that one!” Spencer cried.
Simon’s eyes sparkled with amusement as he said, “We have lots of chocolate cupcakes, you can both get that kind.”
“I don’t want the same as her,” Spencer said, glowering. “She’s a copycat.”
“Hey guys?” I said, my blood pressure rising. “Am I wearing a black-and-white-striped shirt right now?”
Spencer took in my gray T-shirt and gave me a puzzled look. “No.”
I looked at my daughter. “Do I have a whistle around my neck?”
She gazed up at me, inspecting the area. “No, Daddy.”
“Right.” I pointed at the two of them. “Because I’m not a referee. You can each pick out the kind of cupcake you want now, with no more arguing, or we’re leaving without any cupcakes.”
“I’ll take Oreo,” Spencer said immediately.
“Oh, I want Oreo too!” Marley said.
I glanced at Spencer, who was scowling and pressing his lips together. He was trying so hard to remain silent that I almost laughed.
“Good choice,” Simon said. “And what about the grandparents?”
“Vanilla for both of them,” I said.
“What about you, Daddy?” Marley asked. “Don’t you want one?”
I shook my head. “I try not to eat much sugar, peanut.”
“But you’re retired now, Dad,” Spencer said. “Might as well let yourself go.”
I sighed heavily. I’d never imagined myself retiring at age thirty-two when I wasn’t even injured. Unless my ego counted. My ex-wife Andrea had done quite a number on that.
Simon passed me a box of cupcakes and said, “Let me just ring that up.”
The sign on the bakery case said the cupcakes were four dollars each, so I passed him thirty dollars in cash and said, “Keep the change. Thanks.”
“Thank you,” he said, smiling. “And welcome home.”
“Stop with that nonsense,” my mom said later that afternoon. “You’ll stay with us, of course.”
I’d known this was coming. My younger sister Kelsey, who was twenty-six, was still studying to become a pediatrician. She was a long way from being ready to have kids, and she was my only sibling. So my parents were crazy excited about me moving home, and they wanted me and the kids to stay at their house until our house was finished.
Nope. I’d booked a two-bedroom suite at The Sleepy Moose before I broke ground on the house, knowing we’d be moving here as soon as the kids finished school. I loved my parents, but the small three-bedroom ranch I’d grown up in was too small for five people to live in comfortably.
“We’re already booked at The Sleepy Moose,” I said. “And trust me, you’ll see us all the time.”
