“He is.” And every time I saw a tender moment like this one, Griffin wormed his way into my heart a little more.

15

Griffin

“This is soooooo good.”

I could barely make out the words that came out of Mia’s very full mouth as she chowed down on her pizza. I bit back a chuckle. “I’m glad you like it.”

She grinned, her teeth red from the sauce. “Pizza’s my favorite. Well, not as favorite as pancakes, but close.”

Will shook his head, laughing. “There is nothing on this Earth you love as much as pancakes.”

Mia looked thoughtful for a minute. “Nope.”

“It is really good,” Ava said softly from the opposite side of the booth where she sat next to Will. “Thank you for taking us.”

My heart cracked a little more at the softly spoken words. Ava’s quiet way meant that every sentence I got from her was precious. “You’re welcome. We might have to make it a weekly tradition.”

Mia’s eyes grew wide. “Really? That would be amazing. Can we, Cae Cae? Can we?”

Our entire table turned to face Caelyn. She threw up her hands. “Fine! You’re all going to turn into little pizzas.”

Will smirked. “At least it’s not that whole wheat crud you try to pass off as pizza night at home.”

Caelyn’s cheeks pinked. “You can’t taste the difference between whole wheat dough and regular.”

Ava smiled down at her plate. “You really can.”

Caelyn let out an exasperated sigh. “Fine. I know when I’m losing a battle.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” Will said. “You held onto those carob chip things for a long freaking time.”

“What’s carob?” I asked.

“Gross chocolate,” Mia offered.

Will shook his head. “You can’t call it chocolate. There’s no sugar.”

“I give up, you guys. I promise never to make cookies or anything else with carob again. Just cut me some slack already,” Caelyn moaned.

I grinned at her. Caelyn was the most adorable health nut I’d ever encountered, and I’d spent most of my formative years in California. “I don’t think you’ve tried putting carob in anything you made me.” Everything Caelyn had prepared for my meals was delicious. Even if she did try to hide vegetables in everything. I’d bitten into a meatball the other day to find carrots and zucchini mixed in. I’d still eaten every bite.

“I know better than to try carob on you,” she muttered.

I pressed my mouth into a hard line to keep from laughing. “You know what I think we need after this?”

Mia licked her fingers clean. “What?”

“Ice cream.”

Caelyn groaned while Ava and Mia cheered. Will couldn’t hold in his laughter. “Oh, man, it’s so good to have an adult on the side of a good junk binge.”