“Let me try,” Ella says, holding her hand out for the duck call I just used. Her eyes are full of mischief, a small grin tuggingat the corner of her mouth.
I hesitate for a second, knowing exactly where this is headed, but I hand it over anyway. She raises it to her lips, her cute little grin still lingering and I swear she blows as hard as she can into the thing, not at all how you’re supposed to do it. She bursts into contagious laughter, like it’s the funniest thing she’s ever done.
I knew that’s what she’d do, yet I still flinched. “Good Lord, baby.” I laugh at her. “What was that?”
She snorts, her eyes crying from laughing so hard. “That right there is going to bring in the biggest group of ducks you’ve ever seen.” Her voice is playful as she inches closer with every word.
I steal a quick kiss. “You’re lucky you’re cute,” I tease.
“Let me try again.” She holds out her hand.
I laugh. “Absolutely not.”
She gives me a dangerous pleading face. “I’ll do it for real this time, I promise.”
Those piercing green eyes of hers still weaken me so unbearably bad that I hand it over anyway.
This time, I can tell she actually is going to try. I taught her how to do it when we were dating. I’m curious to see if she remembers.
She takes a breath, purses her lips around, and steadily honks on it. It sounds … fair. Better than I expected, anyway.
Her face lights up, impressed with herself. “See!”
“That was decent.”
“Decent?” She scoffs. “That was professional grade, baby. Put me on the payroll.”
I chuckle. “I’d be down, not sure about Cody and Dad, though.”
“Their loss.” She shrugs and pushes her hair back off her shoulders.
I wrap my arm around her and press a kiss to her cheek. Honestly, I don’t even care if we don’t kill anything this morning; just having her here for the next hour or so is enough.
* * *
A few hours later, I’m in the kitchen, surrounded by the chaos of my siblings and parents hustling to get Thanksgiving dinner prepped and onto the table. All the chaos that fills the air diminishes in my ears when a familiar female voice calls from the entryway, “Knock knock?”
I turn the corner to see Ella, her smile hard to ignore with her glossy lipstick. The green sweater she’s wearing makes her eyes shine bright. She’s just an effortless breath of fresh air.
Smiling, I head over to greet her with a kiss on her cheek. “Hey, sweetie.”
“Hi. I made a pie, but I’m not sure if it’ll be any good.”
I look for said pie, but it’s not in her hands.
“I left it in the car.”
“Well, how are we supposed to know if it’s any good sitting out there?”
She flashes a playful grin and rolls her eyes. “Okay fine, I’ll get it.”
Another fifteen minutes go by and we’re all gathered around the table. There’s so much food you can barely see the tablecloth underneath it all. Mom never disappoints; she makes all the traditional dishes you can think of plus more.
As everyone digs in, the conversations flow until Cody decides to stir the pot.
“So, Addie, what’s the deal with this mystery guy?” he asks, and everyone looks at her.
Addison glares at Cody from across the table. “Seriously? You have to bring it up in front of everyone?”
