“What was it?” Cece asks.
“Princess Leia,” Ronnie says with wide eyes.
All of us laugh. “Oh, that would have been funny,” I say with amusement.
She points to me with an angry look. “No, it wouldn’t.”
“Okay, but who chose these adorable characters for the kids?” Morgan asks as she watches the two kids play together.
Gracie is dressed as Gertiewith black overalls and a striped turtleneck shirt underneath. Her hair is in two pigtails with rope-like bows. Dante is supposed to be Elliotwith his red hoodie and blue pants. Both from the movieE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
“Em and I came up with it together. We couldn’t decide on what to dress them up as but wanted them to go along together,” Cecilia informs her.
“Well, they’re absolutely adorable.” Aubrey looks at them with hearts in her eyes.
An hour later, Noah finally shows up to the party dressed as Tony Stark.A crisp black suit opens in the front to reveal a black shirt with the triangle-shaped arc reactor in the center of his chest. He even has those rectangular glasses on.
Not going to lie, he looks hot.And now that I think about it, he actually does kind of look like Tony, with the same type of beard and mustache. Although his hair is a bit shorter.
“Where were you?” Clay asks him, sounding a bit irritated. I’m guessing they tried to reach him, and he wasn’t giving any sign of life.
“I had something to do. What’s the big deal? I’m here like I said I would be,” he answers in a broody tone and heads over to the bar, pouring himself a heavy scotch.Okay, then…
I look at Grey with a questioning look as he comes to my side. But all he does is shrug, not knowing what’s wrong with him, either.
A little while later, the guys are off doing God knows what somewhere else in the house while the girls and I enjoy our drinks and food. I kiss the top of Gracie’s head while she sits on my lap, munching away on anything I give her.This girl has an appetite like her father.
We can hear the boys laughing and talking in hushed voices, but we don’t question it. We’re all used to their antics by now. A few minutes later, Greyson comes up to me, picks up Gracie from my lap, kisses my lips, and says, “Thank you,” before walking away with her.
I watch their retreating forms with confusion.Why is he thanking me?I look back to the girls, who all hold the same puzzled look.
“That was weird, right?” Ronnie finally says what we’re all thinking, and we all nod in response.
It only takes twenty minutes for our quizzical looks to come back when Gracie shrieks and giggles loudly as the men’s laughter resonates through the house as well. “What the hell are they doing?” I ask, knowing the girls won’t give me an answer.
We quickly head over to where the noises come from to see what all the commotion is about. And let’s just say, I’m not quite sure how to feel about what I find.
The boys are all in the foyer, Silas and Greyson at the top of the stairs while Clay, Gabe, and Noah are at the bottom. But what really has me perplexed is that Gracie now has at least fifty helium balloons attached to her overalls and is slowly gliding down toward the three boys on the bottom level.
The balloons aren’t enough to keep her fully floating, but they do slow down her landing. She does seem to be enjoying herself as she laughs her head off, but this is not at all safe.
“GREYSON! What are you doing?!” I shriek, eyes wide as I watch Little Tulip land into Clay’s arms.
“Oh, shoot…” Silas looks down at us with fear in his eyes. The boys were so enraptured by what they were doing that not one of them noticed us arriving.
“It’s fine, babe. Gracie loves this. See, she’s laughing.” Grey gestures with his hand down to his daughter, who’s in fact still giggling.
“Maybe, but this is far from safe! Imagine if her overalls broke, or the balloons popped!” I flap my hands out at my sides in complete disbelief that he would do this.
“That’s why the guys are down there, to catch her if something goes wrong. They caught Dante when he fell.” His eyes grow when he realizes the mistake he just made.
“MY BABY FELL?!” Cecilia yells, rushing over to her son that sits peacefully on the floor behind the guys. She picks him up and inspects him closely, looking for any signs of his fall.
“Thanks, buddy!” Silas says through his teeth as he punches Grey in the arm.
“Ow!”
“Oh, my poor baby. Mommy’s got you. You’re safe now,” Cece coos over Dante.
