When Janna enters the kitchen a few minutes later, she finds the three of us enjoying cups of hot cocoa as we sit around the table together. I am thankful to see her because I’ve been keeping the conversation going all by myself. Both Kookie and Emmie have been staring down into their cups as though hot chocolate is the most fascinating thing in the whole world. They refuse to look at each other. It appears I’ve got nothing to worry about tonight.
They’re both so cute! Reminding me of the pangs of first love. For some reason I can’t keep the silly grin off my face as my eyes travel from Kookie’s dark head to Emmie’s golden one. Both bent over, hiding from each other in the whipped cream crowning their cocoa. Darling.
As the door opens, Janna comes rushing in like a hurricane. I glance up at my beautiful daughter. Now she is the one who is dripping wet. I look around.
“Where is Lyric?”
She glances furtively at Kookie and Emmie before responding very quietly, “He took Melody home.”
Kookie suddenly looks up from his cocoa. “Is she OK?”
Now Emmie is studying his face intently, a vulnerable look on her own. Janna’s eyes fly from one to the other before coming back to land on Kookie’s face. She nods.
“She’ll be fine, Kook.” She smiles at him as she affectionately calls him by an even shorter pet name that she seldom uses. I can tell she’s trying to comfort him.
He sighs with relief and goes back to studying his hot chocolate. He sips it and a trace of whipped cream is left on his nose as he pulls the cup away from his face. Emmie glances up at him, and a smile crinkles the corners of her eyes as she notices his nose adorned by white fluff.
“Kookie,” she whispers.
Immediately, his gaze meets her own, as though he’s just been waiting to hear her voice. There’s such a sweet look on his face as his eyes rest on her own. My heart is sighing.
“What, Emmie?” He’s whispering, tenderness clearly written on his features as his eyes caress her own.
“You’ve got some cream…” She’s gazing up at him with a twinkle in her eyes.
She reaches up shyly and stretches out her right thumb and swipes it across the top of his nose. He looks stunned for a moment before unleashing the power of his gorgeous grin on her. He wrinkles up that cute nose and laughs, his eyes nearly disappearing. Emmie smiles back at him. So cute. These two are just too cute! I’ve got my eye on them!
I look up to see Janna grinning at the two of them.
“Honey, why don’t you go get into something dry while I make you some hot chocolate?”
“OK, Mom. Make sure you put extra whipped cream on it!” she commands as she sails out the door into the living room.
Back to the silent duo.
“So, was the dance fun?”
Kookie and Emmie glance at each other. They are both thinking about when he had his arms wrapped around another girl. I imagine Emmie was standing alone in the corner sending longing glances Kookie’s way. I kick myself mentally for asking such a stupid question. Until my son opens his mouth.
Kookie clears his throat. “It was OK. But I…” he begins to be captivated by the pool of hot cocoa in his cup again as his voice quietly continues, “I think I asked the wrong girl to homecoming.”
I glance over at Emmie in time to see her heart melting all over her lap. The look on her face is priceless.
“But, Kookie,” she softly contradicts him, “you didn’t ask anyone to homecoming. She asked you.”
Janna picks that moment to return clad in her pink BT21 sweatshirt. I look at it, my heart a little sad to be missing Cooky. The pink bunny with the funny eyebrow doesn’t exist in this universe. He’s been replaced by a sweet, pink bunny with two delicately arched eyebrows that Kookie carried around all the time as a toddler. Now it graces a shelf in his room, just out of touch but not out of reach.
Janna slides into the chair next to Emmie and picks up her hot chocolate. She takes a sip.
“Mom, it’s bland. You didn’t add enough powder.”
“Oh? Sorry.” I must have been distracted by the cute couple sitting at my kitchen table. I get up to take her cup. “Oh, well. This is an excuse to add more whipped cream.”
Janna beams at me. Kookie catches my eye. “Mom, I need more whipped cream too.”
I squirt a mountain of the white fluff into his cup. He immediately lowers his face into the ivory mound. He lifts his head and grins at Emmie. His nose is covered in whipped cream. Janna and I burst out laughing. Kookie is such a goof ball!
Emmie just stares at him, a wide smile spread across her face. She reaches up with her index finger this time and pulls it through the pile of cream covering his nose. Now his nose is reminiscent of a cheek covered in shave cream that is suddenly shaved down the middle, leaving a pile of white fluff on either side of the bare space. Then she licks her finger off. Kookie just stares at her as she goes back to drinking her cocoa.
“Hey, what about the rest?” he asks her.
“What?” She looks up at him innocently. “Oh. I’m saving some for later.” Then she grins widely at him.
Kookie laughs and wipes his nose off with the back of his hand.
“Hey! I said I was saving that for later!” Emmie looks disappointed.
Kookie reaches up and wipes his hand across her cheek, smearing her with the whipped cream.
“Hey!” she yells again.
“Look! I just made you sweeter!”
She glares at him as she reaches up and wipes the cream off her cheek. He chuckles and drinks some more of his hot chocolate.
I shake my head as I hand Janna her cocoa. Some things will never change. Kookie has been teasing Emmie since she was taller than him.
“I’m not sure it’s possible to make Emmie sweeter,” I murmur, silently pulling for the girl who grew up in my house alongside my older twins.
She glances up at me, and the sweet smile with which I am very familiar graces her face. I return her smile. Maybe someday, I’ll get to call her “daughter” for real.
I smile at the pair of them before I glance at Janna. Our eyes collide, and we grin at each other, both happy with this current turn of events.
Privately, I’m wondering what other surprises this night will bring…
