“It’s the language my brothers and I made up when we were kids. To mess with Rachel. And our parents.”
April frowned; that didn’t sound promising. “How does the banana language work?”
“Banana means everything.” Harmony plowed through Jack and Rohan to clamber onto one of the barstools.
Jack set Rohan down so he could climb on the one beside her.
Lola followed them, climbing up on the third stool. A big, huge really, three-year-old smile adhered to her lips.
“Banana,” she announced as though to say,“I’m here!”
“Banana,” Harmony said with a curt head nod.
April squinted toward Jack. “Banana?” she asked. Because, really?
“Banana.” He shrugged.
“Well, it’s better than the ribbiting; I’ll give you that,” April muttered under her breath, handing Jack the turkey cold cuts so he could work on Harmony’s sandwich.
“This could be good for him,” Jack whispered in the air over her ear as he moved beside her.
She nodded, since Rohan was only part amphibious at the moment. They’d absolutely call that a win. “I like it. But perhaps next time we have a brief chat about which words become languages.”
Jack thought on that for the briefest of seconds before saying, “Fair enough.”
She couldn’t help it—
“Banana,” she said, hoping it came through as close tofineas possible.
“See, that’s why I like you.” Jack squeezed her shoulders. The move was totally platonic, but it still made her skin tingle every-freaking-where. “Rachel would’ve been all over my ass for teaching this to her kids.”
“I’m not allowed to use that word,” Harmony said around a giant mouthful of sandwich. “I can’t say ass.”
“You’re right.” April skewered Jack with her glare before handing him his very own sandwich. “It is a grown-up word. That means only grown-ups can use it.”
Jack stood there, his jaw a little slacker than usual. He mouthed he wassorry, but April had a hunch that Harmony wouldn’t let this one go. Thus, she wasn’t going to let it go, either.
“There are consequences to bad word choices,” April continued. “We all have to remember that.” She gave a pointed glance at Jack. “Or we get stuck on laundry duty again.” She ended with a wink.
Harmony continued picking the turkey from the sandwich Jack had just handed her. “That’s Jack’s consequence for saying ass?”
“Harmony.” April dropped her voice. “Unacceptable. Stop saying the word.”
“I feel like this is my fault.” Jack grimaced, the cords of his neck popping a little as he did.
“I was just saying what Jack said.” Harmony gave a shoulder lift just like Jack had done thirty seconds earlier.
“Maybe we all forget what Jack said and remind ourselves that bad words are bad words for a reason,” Jack said. “And then Jack can stop referring to himself in the third person.”
He took a bite out of his sandwich.
Harmony had now picked every last bit of the turkey from between her pieces of bread, leaving only the cheese and mustard and lettuce. “I know lots of grown-up words.”
“What do you say we don’t run through them all,” April suggested. Firmly. With no banana.
“Yeah,” Jack said, nodding.
“Yeah.” Harmony used the exact sameyeahhe had. “Because then Mom would make me go to time-out.”
