“We wanted to,” Drew told him as he walked to the coffeemaker to brew a fresh pot. Sophie was already at the Nespresso machine making herself a latte, and he tugged on her dark ponytail, making her laugh.
Sophie favored Lorhaven with her facial structure and cheekbones. Her eyes were hazel like a mix of Joey’s green andLorhaven’s dark. At nearly sixteen, she was already five feet seven, and her hair was made up of wild ringlets like her mom’s.
Jagger had wide green eyes and a mop of curls. He was still young yet, but judging from the size of his feet, dude was gonna be tall.
“It’s tradition.” I reminded Travis.
He huffed. “I’m not a kid anymore.”
“No, but you’ll always be our son.”
Andi punctuated that with another explosion of confetti, which blasted over the island and onto everyone standing nearby, mostly her brother.
“Seriously.” Trav sighed, brushing the shiny flecks off his black shirt. “Where are you hiding those?"
"I'll never tell.”
The front door swung open, and Rimmel stepped in, partially hidden by a stack of presents covered in bows. “Happy birthday,” she sang.
Ketchup rushed her, and the pile of gifts toppled onto the floor, revealing her wide-eyed expression.
“Cleanup crew on aisle Rimmel!” Braeden called, coming inside. His hands were filled with boxes of donuts.
Blue, Asher, and Jax all rushed in to pick up the scattered boxes while Romeo picked up his wife. “I told you not to carry all that.”
“You aren’t the boss of me,” she retorted.
The boys piled the gifts on the island, sending loose confetti everywhere.
“Did we already miss the party?” Ivy asked, propping her hands on her hips to stare at the mess. Her blond hair was in loose waves around her shoulders, and she was dressed in a pair of wide-leg jeans and some sort of vest with oversized gold buttons.
“No, you’re just in time,” Drew said from behind the counter.
After hugs and more birthday greetings for Travis, all the kids plopped onto the sectional in the living room to stare at their phones.
Seriously, how are almost all of them teenagers already?
Andi carried Panda around to show her to everyone—and everyone pretended they hadn’t seen her yesterday—and Lolo went behind her to introduce Sampson.
“The caterers will be here at three,” Ivy told me as I got to work cracking eggs for a breakfast casserole. We were gonna have to make at least two of them to feed everyone.
Because it was such an undertaking to feed all of us, we hired out catering for Trav’s party. No one wanted to be in the kitchen because this was family time.
“We’ll meet them at the gate and bring the food in,” Drew said. “I don’t want them on the property.”
Yeah, usually hiring a caterer made things easier… but today, it seemed to be just the opposite.
Ivy slid a worried glance to me, and I lowered my voice. “We thought we would have found her by now,” I said of the woman who’d tried to kidnap Andi. “The longer it drags on, the more worried we get.”
Understanding filled her face. Laying her hand on my shoulder, she turned to Braeden. “Go with Drew later to get the food. Take the truck.”
B nodded. “Will do. Me and Rome can man the grill later too.”
“I’ll be on standby with the fire extinguisher,” Lorhaven cracked.
“Har-har, Lor. It was one tiny fire,” Braeden retorted.
Lorhaven smirked. “Good to see your eyebrow grew back in.”
