Page 61 of The Troublemaker
“Just don’t go telling your mother you ate a whole chocolate cake. She’ll kill me,” Cason says with a laugh.
“Tell her it was a tiny cake and she won’t mind.” I slide the cakes into the oven, and the boys keep their eyes glued to the little screen as the lightbulb bakes it.
“I think they really enjoyed that.”
“But you didn’t get to play,” I say and raise my wine glass to my mouth. “I’m happy to have the boys here and I love their fascination, but I wanted you to play with it, too.” I take a mouthful of sweet wine.
“After they go to bed I’ll play with it,” he says and I nearly choke.
“Are you okay, Aunt Kinsley?” Brandon asks with a frown. My heart melts a little with his concern. He’s going to grow up to be a wonderful man like his father and his uncle and I’m trying to focus on that more than on the fact that he called me his aunt, and it’s possible that’s the sweetest and scariest thing I’ve ever heard. I’m their aunt, sure. But for how much longer?
Cason steps away to grab a beer, and with my heart pounding a little harder, I rip into the icing sugar and grab the cocoa.
“Who’s ready for the icing?” A strange groan crawls out of Cason’s throat and I whack him and turn to the boys.
“Me, me,” they both chant in unison and I laugh at the chocolate all over their faces. I don’t think they’ll be winding down anytime soon after all this sugar, but that’s okay. I’m enjoying my time with them and plan to take advantage of every second of it.
We all work together on making the icing, and soon enough the Easy Bake Oven beeps indicating the cakes are ready. I carefully take them out and turn them onto a baking sheet, a little surprised that Cason’s cottage is so well equipped, but guessing the other women had something to do with it. I do like how they all take care of one another here. It’s also really sweet and supportive that they all want to come to the reception in my parents’ garden. Personally, I’m dreading it.
After letting the cakes cool, the boys generously spread the icing. The second they’re done, they’re digging into them like they’ve been living off rations and I smile, so happy that I kept this old toy.
Once they devoured every morsel, I send them back to the bathroom to get washed up and I check the clock. “How about we all settle in for a movie, and get them to wind down after all that chocolate?”
“Great idea,” Cason says. “I have a few here from the last time they stayed over.”
“I think it’s great that you spend so much time with them.”
“I’m on the road so much, I don’t get to spend nearly as much time with them as I’d like.”
“Is it hard for the guys, hard on the relationships, being on the road all the time?”
“They find a way to make it work. Right now, with Khloe being so young, Katee travels with Luke. It was easier for Nina. She can write anywhere, right? But for those with careers keeping them in place, and when the kids are of school age, it can be a bit harder.”
“So you think long distance relationships can work?” I ask, and he nods.
“Seems to for these guys. It might not be for everyone though.”
I put the dishes in the sink and follow him into the living room, wondering if he could do long distance. He roots through the movies and pulls out a classic. “Just that if I were married to you, well technically I am, I wouldn’t want to be away from you for very long.”
I smile, but my heart is bouncing around inside my chest like a rubber ball. “Well, we are still in the honeymoon stage.”
He chuckles. “You know that lasts for two years, right?”
I angle my head and eye him. “What? Why would you know anything about that?”
“My sister is a romance writer.” He rolls his eyes. “She loves to fill me with all these facts I never need to know. But according to her, the honeymoon stage lasts for two years, then the deeper relationship really develops, and that can be a make or break point for couples.”
“I guess it’s not like we’ll ever have to worry about that. We’re on a deadline, right?” I say. Why did I pose that as a question?
Oh, because you want more, Kinsley, and you want him to say he does, too.
He frowns, and opens his mouth like he wants to say something, but I’ll never know what it is, because just then the boys come racing back into the room, hyped up on sugar, and eager to go.
Cason pats the sofa and they plop down between us, and I angle my head to see Cason. His brow is still furrowed, worried lines around his mouth. What is going through his head? Did my question scare him, make him run the other way, his usual reaction as we close in on the two-week mark? Or is it possible that he was going to challenge that deadline, tell me he wants more? God, I need to know. I really, really need to know.
Then open your mouth and ask!
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