“Stop it!” she said. “Both of you.”
They did not stop it. Instead, they continued back and forth three or four times before Rachel finally dove between the two of them. Gavin stood at the door with his mouth open like he was trying to catch flies.
“Give me my gummy bears back, and I’ll give you your pretzel.” Brady’s little body heaved with self-righteous indignation while Rachel played bouncer, keeping them apart.
Gavin finally broke free of his trance and scooped Brady back. Dave took Kellan.
This, this right here? This was why twins were hard on a single mom. Sometimes you needed two full adults—or more—to deal with the conflict.
Kellan got a look in his eye. Some might call it a gleam, but whatever it was, Rachel didn’t like it.
Yes, she clocked the exact moment that Kellan had the idea.
The idea that he could throw up the gummy bears to instigate the return of the pretzel. She couldn’t say exactly how she knew this was his intention, just that every hair on her body was standing on end with the way Kellan looked at his brother. And the only thing that could make the night worse?
Vomit.
“Don’t you do it,” she said, big breaths heaving from her chest now. “Do not throw up those gummy bears.” She was pointing, even though she’d just told her other son not to do it.
Meanwhile, Kellan was already lifting his index finger to his mouth in what felt like a slow-motion drama.
“If you throw them up on purpose, there will be no more swimming for the rest of the summer.” Rachel managed to grab hold of Kellan’s wrist before he made it to his mouth.
Gavin apparently took issue with her punishment. “Rach, we just got here; that’s not really fair to Dakota and me—”
“Rach?” Travis cleared his throat.
She ignored him because she had two boys who needed a reminder that she was in charge. And, apparently, their father needed a not-so-subtle reminder that he needed to back her up. Even when it “wasn’t fair to him.”
“No electronics for the rest of the week.” She started counting out their punishment on her fingers.
None of them decried the unfairness of the punishment. Probably because her tone was the one that she used only when she was really serious.
“Early bedtime tonight. And if Mr. Pretzel is not returned in the next thirty seconds, I’m going to follow through on the no-swimming rule. You can watch your dad and Dakota swim, but none of your body parts will touch the lake again for the entirety of the summer. You can sit here at the house and…color…or something.”
Dammit. She’d been on a great roll until it fizzled out at the end.
Travis slipped Mr. Pretzel into her counting hand. “I found him.”
Well, that put a damper on the mad she’d been nursing.
“Where?” She gripped the stuffed pretzel in her fist.
“In the bathroom. Under the towels,” Travis said, tilting his head toward the room in question.
He also held out an oversize bag of gummy bears that was still decently full and two boxes of s’mores-flavored toaster tarts. “These were with the pretzel.”
Dave loosened his grip on Kellan, his expression one of pure compassion. “Sorry, Rach. I think the gummy bears came from our last trip to town. I didn’t realize that’s what he bought, or I’d have given you a heads-up.”
“Okay, well.” She blew out a breath. “Crisis averted, I guess.”
She handed the pretzel to Kellan.
“I’m keeping these.” This she said to Brady.
“That’s not fair.” Brady seethed.
“We’ll discuss their return after we’ve all had time to cool off.”
