"Why don't I make you pizza?" I told them.
"You can do that?" Otis asked as the whole squad followed me into the house. I stood in the hallway for a moment, looking around.
"Kitchen is that way," Calvin said helpfully.
The kitchen was just as big and beautiful as it was when I first saw it.
"And it's even well stocked," I remarked, opening up the cupboard and the large refrigerators. "And you have a stand mixer?" I exclaimed as Isaac carried the large shiny-red mixer out and placed it on the island.
"We have three!" he said proudly, bringing out a yellow and a blue one.
During my YOLO days with Anke, I took various cooking classes, starting with Italian cuisine because, hello? Carbs and cheese. Needless to say, I was pretty good at making pizza.
While the dough proofed, we chopped toppings. It was fun being around the kids, but I had to stay on them. I was a little nervous with the knives, but the older kids helped the younger ones. All the while, the Svensson boys told me about their older brothers.
"Archer is the best," Nate said.
"No, Liam's the best!"
"I'm sure they're all great," I said.
Calvin nodded. "Remy's cool. Greg is mean."
"He's not that bad!"
"Mike always brings toys even though Hunter doesn't want him to."
"Yeah, he brought us a bunch of drones! But now most of them are stuck in the trees," Nate admitted.
They all agreed Hunter was scary.
"What does he do?" I asked.
"Nothing. He doesn't yell or anything. He gives you the evil eye," Billy said and pretended to glare at Calvin. He laughed.
"What about Mace?"
"He's probably actually the best. He's always here. Or he used to be," Bruno said.
"He's really busy lately. I'm sure it's temporary," I assured them.
"I guess," Calvin said and shoved his brother. Otis picked up the pepper he was cutting to throw it at Calvin.
"Nope," I said. "We aren't throwing food."
"You're mean!" Otis yelled at me.
What the—I hate kids.
"No, she's not," Bruno scolded him. "She's a thousand times nicer than Mom. Mom would never cook or play tag."
Otis hugged me, getting flecks of pepper and basil on my clothes. "I didn't mean it. You're the best. And you're pretty too."
"So are you," I told him.
Yeah, I love kids.
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