Page 19 of Cannon

Blake smiled shyly and walked over. Jesse took her hand and slid it to where Sparky was kicking. Her grin grew when she felt the kicks.

“Does it hurt?”

“No. Are you guys ready for fun?”

“Yes!” Phoebe, Blake, David, and Grant yelled.

Bear patted her shoulder, then leaned down to kiss the kids goodbye. “Remember, Cannon’s hurt, and Jesse has a baby in her tummy. Be careful with them both, and have fun. No being mean to your sister or brother.”

“We will.”

Bear headed out the door as Flick and Beth came in. “I think we should watch National Treasure. It’s the best,” Beth said.

“I think we should watch something else. How about an Avengers movie?”

Jesse sat down on the couch, listening to them bicker. “Hey guys, you actually get to pick the movie. What should we watch?”

“Well, since you said we could watch two, the boys picked one and we picked one,” Phoebe said, flicking her finger between her and Blake.

“The boys picked Transformers. We picked Moana because she’s fierce.”

Flick and Beth paused their bickering.

“Okay, I’m good with that,” Beth said.

“Me too.”

Jesse stood up. “Okay, here’s the first present. I have these boxes we’re decorating for your night at the movie theater.”

She brought them into the front room and then handed the kids markers.

“Decorate your cars while we get your food trays ready. I have four pillows for each of you to put in the back of your cars to lean against for the movies. If you decide you don’t want to watch in the cars, you can still decorate them.”

The kids thanked her, then started decorating their cars.

Beth followed Jesse into the kitchen. Jesse started gathering the trays of candy and popcorn.

“What should I get?” Beth asked.

“Could you get that tray of drinks and the play money?”

Beth nodded and followed her into the front room.

“Now, I have our movie concession stand. Here’s your money and the prices are on the items. I know you guys might need some help with the math, but I’m sure Flick and Cannon can help. We’ll take a break between movies and the popcorn is a never-ending bowl. Which means if you run out, you hold your bowl up and Beth will refill it for you.”

Jesse giggled at the kids’ yells. Beth leaned closer. “I remember when mom did this for us. Thanks for letting me help tonight.”

Jesse nodded but didn’t say anything. Stupid hormones had her ready to cry over anything. She helped the kids get theirsnacks. David and Grant had to ask Cannon for help adding their items up. Cannon had Grant hold up his fingers when he was adding two and two. Grant counted to four and then gave Cannon a high-five when Cannon said he was right. Cannon was patient with the kids and was even asking them questions about their favorite movie theater foods.

She was seeing a different side to Cannon. After the kids had their food and the movie was queued up, Flick and Beth got the food for the adults, and she brought the drinks. She took the seat closest to Cannon because Flick had taken her other recliner, and Beth was sitting on the couch near Flick.

She sat down and turned toward Cannon. “Do you need anything else?”

He shook his head. “Nope, I’m ready for our movie night. Which one is first?”

“Transformers!” Grant and David screamed.

“Yeah, yeah, we know you won the coin toss.” Phoebe’s aggrieved tone had Jesse sharing a smile with Cannon. She leaned back and took a bite of pizza. She was only having one because greasy items seemed to cause heartburn if she overate.

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