"Oh, yeah?" Lemon says. "What kind of important things?"
"We had to get milkshakes." She grins up at her auntie and I chuckle. That's one thing about a kid—they always tell it like it is.
"Hey, Anchor, how's it going?" I ask. Lemon’s husband smiles and offers me a beer. "Sure," I say.
I head with him to the kitchen and find my parents there, working on dinner. Mom's making the spaghetti and meatballs as Plum predicted, and as I grab a breadstick that's just come out of the oven, my mom swats my hand.
"Reuben, no stealing the food. You know the rules."
I laugh. "Sorry, Mom," I say, taking another bite of it. I take the IPA that Anchor hands me and I crack it open. "Thanks, man," I say. "How's work going these days?"
Anchor shrugs. "Pretty good. I've actually bought a piece of land up in the mountains. Lemon and I are thinking of building a place up there."
I laugh. "You know, I was just thinking that today. What are you going to do with Grandma's old house?"
Lemon has joined us in the kitchen now, along with Rye, my oldest brother. His eyes widen. "You can't sell Grandma's place," he interjects.
Lemon assures us, "I'm not selling anything. I don't know what we're going to do with it, but we wanted to build a house of our own. Is that such a bad idea?"
"I think it's a lovely idea," Mom says. "It's nice to have somewhere that’s both of yours and Grandma’s house is small, especially if you start having babies anytime soon.”
Lemon blushes. "Mom, I just got married like a month ago."
"I know," Mom says, "but I only have one granddaughter. I could use some more." She looks over at me and smiles, but they turn the conversation quickly because having Plum may be beautiful, but the fact I don't have her mother is something that broke everybody's hearts.
We sit down to dinner and everyone's in a good mood. Fig, especially. She's my littlest sister and she is going to graduate high school in a month. We've moved on to discussing her graduation party plans. "I was thinking we'll have a big thing out on the back lawn. A bonfire, barbecue, everything. Maybe we can get a band."
My mom laughs. "Fig, people don't hire bands for their graduation party."
"Yeah," Bartlett says, "we could just put on a playlist."
Fig frowns. "Everyone else in the family has gotten to have awesome parties lately. Why can't I have one?"
Prairie, Rye's wife, laughs. "I think you're going to have a big party when you get married, Fig."
"Well, that's never happening," she tosses back as she adds a heaping pile of parmesan cheese to her pasta.
"I'm not getting married either," Mac agrees.
I laugh at that. "Yeah, right. You'll come here to family dinner one night completely caught, hook, line, and sinker. I can see it now."
Mac smacks the table, laughing, "Like you should talk. What about you?"
I swallow, looking over at my little girl, worried.
Plum, though, smiles brightly. "I told Daddy he should fall in love with a princess and live happily ever after."
Everyone at the table laughs quietly. "Oh, yeah? And what did your dad think about that?" my sister Lemon asks.
Plum says, "Daddy said he thought that was a good idea and that everyone probably wants a princess, like Uncle Mac, Uncle Graham, and Auntie Fig. I guess you could all have a prince or a princess. I don't know. All I'm thinking is Daddy should live happily ever after too."
"I think your father's living pretty happily ever after with you, sweetie," my mom says, softening the mood.
Plum just shrugs though, dipping her breadstick in marinara. "Maybe," she says, "but it is springtime. Isn't that when love is in the air?"
My dad chuckles at that. "Plum, where do you get these ideas?"
She giggles. "I don't know. I think it's because I'm the only grandchild," she says, looking at her aunts and uncles. Everybody at the table erupts in laughter. And I wonder how my little girl got such a big personality.