My face goes hot.
She grins. "That's what I thought. Bye, honey."
She's halfway to her car before I've recovered enough to wave.
Chapter 21
Zane
“What are we making for dinner?”
Hope gives me a look as she pulls carrots out of the fridge. “You don’t have to help, I’ve got this.”
“Igetto help. And this way we can spend time together, because we got interrupted earlier.”
A door claps open on the other side of the house.
I groan. “And we’re going to be interrupted again in a minute, so put me to work.”
She rolls the carrots my way. “I’m going to roast these. Not sure what we’ll eat them with, but maybe…chunk them up? Fun shaped wedges?”
“Can do.” I grab a cutting board and set up next to where Bellamy is scribbling aggressively on a piece of paper. “What are you drawing?”
“You know.” She taps her green marker on the busy circle.
I don’t. But after thinking about it a second, I make a reasonable guess. “Mr. Frog?”
“His name isFroggie.” But she looks very pleased that I could recognize him in her drawing.
“Does Froggie like carrots?”
“Of course. But his favourite food is cookies.”
“Shocker.” I find my favourite chef’s knife and start chopping as Bellamy jibber jabbers at me, extolling the virtues of cookies as a superior dinner over carrots.
Her argument is persuasive, albeit not Mom-approved.
Hope sighs exasperatedly.
I grin at her, and when she looks at me, I wink.
“This is fun,” I murmur.
“What’s fun?” my mother asks, coming out of nowhere.
I clear my throat. “Being Hope’s sous-chef. Did you see Bellamy’s excellent portrait of Froggie?”
Which redirects the artist into jibber jabbering at Luna, who doesn’t seem to mind at all. It’s fitting that today she’s wearing aWeird Girls Clubshirt.
After a lifetime of raising boys to be men she could be proud of, my mom deserves some girl time.
I glance at Hope, who’s seasoning some chicken thighs. I wonder if she’ll have another girl. In seven months, the girl to boy ratio in this house could be completely tipped upside down.
What a gift that would be for Luna Kincaid.
A shock, of course. But after that, she’ll be thrilled.
“Hey, Mom,” I say abruptly. “Can I steal the girls tomorrow morning for a while?”
