“Okay, well that’s one way to treat our things.”
Jane had crawled into my lap and chosen that moment to pull as hard as she could on the earring in my right ear.
“Fuuuudge. Fudge brownies! Should I make brownies, guys?” The twins look at me like I just asked them if they think there’s an afterlife. “Right, nevermind.”
Jane is crawling up my body and onto my shoulders as Joey takes off across the room, headed straight for the front door.
“Wait, Joey, hold on!” Scrambling, I try to grab hold of the girl using my body as her own personal climbing gym so I can run after the boy trying to escape the apartment. Just as Jane climbs onto my face and blocks my view, I hear the front door open.
He didn’t.
“Joey, wait!” I cry, pulling Jane into my arms as I run toward the door. Before I can get more than a few steps, I see Arden holding Joey on his hip like he does this every single day of his life. Joey is holding the truck I tried to offer him earlier and he’s showing it off to Arden.
“Going well, then?” His smirk is annoying.
“It was until you showed up,” I huff, putting Jane on the couch so I have space to put my hands on my hips. “I thought you were working tonight.”
Arden shrugs, handing me Joey who comes to me happily. “Got off early.” He goes into the kitchen to look in the fridge, no doubt investigating for some kind of dinner.
“I was about to order food for the kids. You want in?”
He nods, kicking off his shoes and putting them by the door. “I’ll order it. What do you want?” Grabbing his phone from his pocket, he pulls up whatever delivery app he uses and begins scrolling through the various options nearby. The way he’s so willing to drop everything to help me is something I should really devote some time to thinking about but right now all I can think about is the two toddlers destroying our apartment.
“What do you think, guys? Pizza?”
“No!” Both twins scream in unison.
“Chicken fingers?”
“No!”
“Macaroni and cheese?”
They cheer like I’ve just told them tomorrow is Christmas morning. Arden chuckles from the doorway. “Mac and cheese it is. I can order from the diner. What do you want?”
We both place our order and then Arden comes to sit on the couch. “How long have you been watchingPaw Patrol?”
“Long enough,” I reply, grabbing the remote to change the show. “What’s next, Jane?Frozen?”
Jane starts singing her two-year-old version of “Let It Go”, and I smile as I put on the classic Disney movie.
“I’m not sure if I can hang out in here if you’re going to be blasting this musical theater sh–” I hit him with a glare. “Art. Shart.”
“Shart?”
“Yeah.”
I nod a few times, a serious expression on my face until I can’t hold it back any more and the chuckle erupts out of me. The twins have no idea why I’m laughing but they take the opportunity to laugh along with me. Pretty soon all four of us are having a giggle fest that only a knock on the door can stop.
“That was fast,” I recall while Arden greets the delivery person. He tips in cash and then brings the food to the kitchen, immediately plating the mac and cheese into small bowls for the twins.
Coming up behind him, I can’t help but admire him. “You’re pretty good at this.”
“Well, I do have a younger sister, you know.”
“Oh please, I know Margot. She raised you just as much as you raised her.”
Arden laughs but doesn’t correct me. In fact, he knows thatIknow more than anyone how the two of them were raised. Due to the fact that it happened right down the block from where I was being raised. If you can call it that.