“Oh, Riley, I don’t think you should show your mom right now,” my father interjected.
“But I want to,” Riley whined.
“It’s fine, Dad. Show me your magic trick.”
“Avery, I really don—”
“It’s all right,” I interrupted.
He sighed and waved his hands dismissively. “Okay, have at it, Riley.”
“Come into the kitchen and prepare to be mesmermazed!” she said.
Kellan and I followed her into the kitchen. She climbed onto a stool at the kitchen counter in front of a bottle of water. “Now, I’m going to place this quarter under the bottle of water and make it disappear. Are you ready?”
“I think so.”
She carefully placed the quarter on the counter and set the bottle of water on top of it. Then, she covered it with a kitchen towel. “Abra-cabra-dabra-zoom!” she declared and removed the kitchen towel.
“It’s gone! See!” she squealed and pointed to the bottle.
I leaned over the bottle to look for the coin when she reached out and squeezed the uncapped bottle, soaking my hair and face with water.
“Gotcha!” she laughed.
I stood in my kitchen, dripping water all over the floor, unsure of how to react. Kellan, on the other hand, had no problem guffawing loud enough for the entire neighborhood to hear.
“Sorry, peanut,” my dad chuckled. “I tried to warn you.”
I wiped my face with the handy kitchen towel and looked at my daughter who was laughing so hard her face was turning red. “Where’d you learn that magic trick, little miss?”
“Papa taught it to me.”
I whipped my head back to my dad who was pointing to the living room. “Blame your mother. She did it to me.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. For as long as I could remember, my parents had always played random pranks on each other.
“Mommy,” Braxton said softly as he came into the kitchen. “My tummy hurts.”
I picked him up and set him on the counter. “Did it just start hurting?” I asked as I automatically ran my hand over his forehead. “Oh, baby, you feel hot. Let me get the thermometer.”
“I’ll get it,” Kellan offered. “Where is it?”
“It’s in the medicine cabinet in the kids’ bathroom. It’s white and looks like an electric shaver.”
“He hasn’t said anything about not feeling well all day,” my dad said with a concerned look on his face.
Braxton leaned forward and laid his head against my chest. “It’s okay, baby,” I soothed and gently rubbed his back. My little guy loved to cuddle with me when he was sick, and though I never wanted him to be sick, I thoroughly enjoyed the cuddles when he was.
Kellan returned to the kitchen and held up the thermometer. “Is this it? Because it was the only thing that even remotely fit your description.”
“That’s it. Thank you.” I took the thermometer, turned it on, and ran it over Braxton’s forehead.
“Oh, one hundred and two point six. You are running a fever. Let’s get you some medicine for that,” I said and tried to keep my tone light.
“Kellan,” Braxton said weakly and reached out for him.
“Oh, honey, Kellan can’t hold you yet.”
