Page 85 of Perfect Chemistry

Thirty minutes later, the sweet smell of pancakes on the griddle was mixed with the salty smell of cooked bacon in the oven. Aiden and Avery came ambling into the kitchen, already dressed for school as we were setting their plates on the table.

Normally, Andie and Jonas would fight with the kids to get them out of bed, let alone dressed and ready to start their day. I looked at Andie to see her just as shocked as I was. “What’s going on?” She asked her children when they stopped in front of her.

“We’re sorry, mommy. We didn’t mean to make Katie leave her bed,” Avery apologized, staring at the floor. Aiden was shifting next to his sister and peeking over at me from the corner of his eye.

“Is that why you are up and dressed already?” Andie asked.

“Yes. We’re sorry, Miss Katie!” Aiden cried, running for me.

I dropped to my knees and scooped him up, speechless when he hugged me fiercely. Andie pulled Avery into a hug and addressed both of them, “You little sweethearts did nothing wrong. You were such great little snugglers, Katie wanted to make you breakfast and drive you to school!” She lied.

Aiden pulled back from his hug to study my face, “Really? You not mad at us?”

I couldn’t help smiling at his little adorable face. “You are so sweet, both of you. We’re making BLT waffles for your lunches and mommy made your favorite bacon pancakes for breakfast!”

Avery made a loud sigh of relief. “We tried to ask daddy where you went and he said you were both mad… and something about punishments- cause nobody was sleeping.” Her voice trailed off as she tried to remember everything Jonas had told them.

Andie bit her lips and tried not to laugh. I looked at her and knew exactly what Jonas said.

We were bad. For keeping him up all night. We were in the kitchen making breakfast as punishment. Because Jonas was exhausted. We would drive them to school. Because Jonas just wanted to sleep.

“Actually-” I started to correct them, but Andie cut me off.

“It’s very sweet that you two would think of apologizing like this. I think daddy would agree that this is really sweet, too,” she praised them as they shuffled to the table. “I will make sure he knows just how considerate you both are, and there will be a surprise when you get home. Okay?”

Aiden and Avery nodded excitedly. While they tucked in, I poured batter into the heated waffle iron and sprinkled it with bacon bits. It didn’t take long to pack their lunch boxes with tomato slices, lettuce, and bacon waffles.

Soon, we were out the door, both kids fastened into their seats, and headed to the school to drop them off. Andie sent me alone and stayed behind to clean up the kitchen. I detoured on the way back, stopping at the car shop to see my folks.

We had made a lot of progress since Christmas, and I wanted to be able to talk to them without it feeling weird. I found my mom tucked in a back warehouse of parts, her glasses hanging on the end of her nose as she counted parts off to two others loading bins for the runners.

“Hey, mom,” I called over to her from the door.

She peered over the top of her readers and smiled. “Hey, sweetie! What brings you here? Everything go okay with the storage unit?” She asked.

I nodded and waved my hand. “Yeah. Fine. I just wanted to talk, if you have some time.”

She passed her paperwork to one of the two men standing next to her. “Terrance, Miguel, this is my other daughter, Katie.”

The two smiled and waved at me.

“Hey.”

“This the Marine?” They spoke at the same time.

I nodded and responded, “Hello. Guilty.”

“Oooh-rah!” the older of the two men barked out.

“Oooh-rah,” I replied, sounding less confident in my response.

My mom saw my reaction and immediately pulled me to follow her to the office. “Come on, I’ll make you some coffee and you can tell me all about it,” she said as we walked.

“There’s nothing wrong, mom,” I attempted, but she just stopped me with a fierce side eye.

Sitting in her office with a small cup of black coffee, she sat down next to me on the small two seater sofa. “Okay, spill it.”

My eyebrows went up as I sipped the coffee. “I- I don’t even know where to begin,” I stuttered.

---