“Keep it up,” Mateo tells her.
She flashes him a grin over her shoulder, then snatches the cord out of my hand.
“Hey!”
“Nope.” She yanks the movie player out of my hand, tipping it up and looking at the three holes, then the three ended cord of doom.
Since she’s taking over, I push up off the floor and scoop up Rosalie.
“I wanna fix it,” Rosalie complains, holding up her hammer. “I getted my hammer!”
“I know, and I’m so happy you got your hammer, but why don’t you fix the couch with it?” Seeing I have her interest, I walk her over to Mateo. He holds out his arms to receive the package and she drops onto his lap. She’s there for a split second before she crawls off him and goes over to start banging on the arm.
Mateo looks up at me, amused. “I’m so glad you sent her to get her tools.”
“I figured you would be,” I tell him, dropping into the seat beside him and wrapping my arms around his torso.
His right arm moves around me and he tugs me close, dropping a kiss on top of my head. “You’re a stubborn woman.”
“I’m telling you, there’s something wrong with the wiring. That cord does not—”
“Ha!” Mia’s arms shoot up in the air as she declares her victory.
My jaw drops as the bastard screen lights up. I let go of Mateo to sit forward and point at Mia. “Witch!”
With exaggerated smugness, she pops up off the ground and struts over to the couch to take her seat on Mateo’s other side. “You can buy me that robotics set anytime. I bet I can make that work, too.”
“Agent of Satan,” I accuse, still unable to grasp how she made it work. “How did you do it? How did you… I plugged it in 5,000 times. I put them in every which way, and it didn’t work. What the fudge?”
Rosalie pivots to climb up in my lap and wag her finger at me. “That’s a mean word, Mommy.”
I catch her tiny finger and move it out of my face. “Fudge is not a mean word, squirt. You’re thinking of a different word.”
“Nuh uh,” she says, shaking her head at me. The look on her little face is unsettling sure of herself—I almost believe her. “That’s a bad word, Mommy.”
I give her a good tickling and she shrieks, crawling over to Mateo and Mia for protection. Mia settles her in her lap naturally and drops a kiss on top of her head. “So, should we start this movie, or what?”
“Not until you explain your black magic.”
Glancing over at Mateo, Mia asks, “Should I tell her?”
“If you ever want to start this movie, probably.”
Nodding, Mia leans forward, her blue eyes dancing with amusement. “You didn’t plug in the power cord.”
“Impossible!”
Lily is not up for round two of this debate. She leans forward and steals the remote control off the arm, raising it up and navigating the screen. “I don’t have all night, folks.”
Now I tilt my head back. “Why, you got a hot date?”
“I’m reading Harry Potter, so kinda.” She pushes play, drops the remote, and leans back in her seat. “We should’ve brought snacks,” she adds.
“That’s what I said,” Mateo volunteers.
“Yes, but she actually means snacks,” I inform him.
“Maybe I did, too,” he offers, shrugging before settling one arm around Mia and one arm around me. “Now we’ll never know.”
“Shhhhhh.” Rosalie leans forward and scowls at both of us.
“Yeah, we’ve only seen this movie 34,000 times,” Lily says, in mock agreement. “Stop talking; you’ll ruin it.”
“Where’d you get that attitude from, kid?” I ask her.
“Really?” she asks.
“Oh. Right.”
A Wicked Halloween
Takes place the Halloween before Winter Blues
Mia
“I couldn’t be happier,” Meg sing-songs, gazing over at me from her side of the vanity.
I roll my eyes, adjusting the black wig on my head. “Yes, I know.”
“No, I couldn’t be happier,” she continues.
“We get it, Glinda, you’re super stoked that you’re not the one covered in green paint.”
“Thank goodness!” she enthuses, winking at me.
I wrinkle my green nose up at her and look down at my cleavage. “At least my boobs are defying gravity in this dress.”
“Lame. That was a lame use of Wicked lyrics. You’re suspended from using any more of them for the rest of the night.”
“Do I get to carry a broom? Because I have a very good idea of where I want to shove the stick.”
She feigns surprise. “Ooh, kinky. I’m not into that, sorry.”
“Well, I’m not into wearing ugly wigs and green paint all over my face, but here we are.”
Meg turns in her big, poofy dress and cocks a perfect eyebrow at me. “Hey, I paid dearly to be Glinda. You get him for three nights in a row for wearing body paint for two hours.”
I sigh happily at the prospect of three uninterrupted nights with Mateo, but it doesn’t make me any happier about the green paint smeared all over my skin.