Page 28 of Christmas In Love

“Four…Five.”Cadebreatheda sigh of relief. “I think that’s all of them.”

“It’s only five kids, Cade,” his mom laughed at him as the door closed behind them. “Abby handles five kids every day.”

“And she should be nominated for sainthood.”

Mom laughed again, then walked away to stand by dad, weaving through Cade’s nieces and nephews to get there. Cade remained where he was, ready to catch any escapees. They’d learned the hard way at the movies that the twins liked to test boundaries. Oliver distracted the adults, while Aiden ran away. It had taken Cade nearly fifteen minutes to find the little twerp once they discovered he’d snuck out of the movie.

Cade rubbed his thumb and forefinger on the sides of his head. That hadn’t been a fun fifteen minutes. He wasn’t sure his heart would ever beat normally again.

At this point in the evening, he was questioning his sanity. Why had he agreed to this ridiculous plan to take the oldest grandkids out so their parents could have a break? Sure, he loved his nieces and nephews, but he wouldn’t love being the reason they came home with one less.

He scanned the kids again, watching for a jailbreak. Honestly, he’d offered to help tonight to distract himself from the fact that Nat was on a date with one of the imbeciles he’d seen at the inn.

“Does everyone know what they want?” Dad’s booming voice carried through the ice cream parlor. Cade hadn’t even looked at the menu yet.

“I want chocolate!”

“Can I try the cookie dough one, Grandpa? Oh—or cotton candy? Can I get both?”

“Do you have just red sprinkles? I want sprinkles but I don’t want all the colors. Just red.”

Cade raised an eyebrow as he looked over at Noah. “Why red, buddy?”

“Because it looks like blood.”

Cade wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cower at the seven-year-old’s deadpan expression. “Yeah… okay.”

“Are all these yours?”

Cade spun around at the familiar voice. Nat was standing just behind him, looking at his nieces and nephews with amusement. She flicked a glance at him, and his heart did funny things.

Wait, wasn’t she supposed to be on a date?

He glanced behind her, and April waved at him from where she stood, talking with her date. Cade looked back to Nat and raised his eyebrows. She shrugged.

“My date had to run home to let his mom’s dog out. I guess it's a new puppy she’s training… He lives with her and offered to help while she’s visiting her sister. He wanted me to come, but I declined. He’ll meet us here.” She grimaced slightly but Cade didn’t have time to dwell on that before she spoke again, “What are you missing… three of them?”

“No, only two, we took the oldest five out for a movie and ice cream,” Cade glanced over the five kids gathered in front of him. Except now there were only four. “Shoot!” He looked wildly around. Aiden was gone.

“Cade? Oh, hi Natalie, how have you been?” His mom had come back to his end of the line again and was smiling at Nat as if it hadn’t been almost four years since they last saw each other.

“Mom. Aiden is gone again.”

Her smile dropped. “Seriously? Abby wasn’t kidding when she offered leashes.”

“You mean we could have had these kids tethered down this whole time, and you turned that opportunity down?” Cade’s eyes swept the little parlor while he spoke. He stepped from the line, glancing at his mom. “You and dad get the ice cream. I’ll find Aiden.”

“Are you sure? One of us could help you… Cover more ground.” She glanced worriedly at the rest of the kids.

“I’m sure. Maybe check around here a bit.” Cade went to the door. If Aiden had left the building, he could be in serious trouble.

“How can I help?”

Cade looked at Nat, startled to see she was following him. “I’m fine, you can get back to your date.”

“He’s still not here, and I think he’d understand helping to find a child. Where are we looking first?”

She seemed determined, and he wasn’t about to turn down the help. Or the opportunity to crash her date. They ducked out of the shop. “Will you go left? I’ll go right.”

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