Something Else Entirely

26 - I'll be the chef in our kitchen, while you take care of those in the womb.

Sadie and Dad decided to let Madden and I take the rest of the day off school with all our excitement over the surprising news of twins, and organised for all our family and the Scotts to come over for dinner so they could tell them the news. Usually we do a Sunday family dinner, but Dad decided to shift it to tonight claiming we wouldn't have the time with our grand final footy game all day Saturday cutting into food prep time. But really, he just couldn't contain his excitement and wanted to let the whole world know as soon as he could.

We spent the rest of the day organising dinner, Dad cooking the biggest batch of pasta sauce that ever graced our kitchen, refusing to let Sadie stand and help, which she did not appreciate. "I'm not a damn invalid, Ruben."

"No, you're my wife and the mother of my four children, two of which require further baking. So, from now on, I'm taking over the cheffing in our kitchen while you take care of those in the womb." She couldn't keep the smirk off her face, completely smitten with both my dad and his excitement over their pregnancy. So much so that she forgot to be annoyed at him for stealing a small piece of her independence.

Watching them reminded me of Logan. Not that I was picturing her having my babies or anything. That would be both premature and ridiculous. More just her propensity for forcibly reminding me that she is a fiercely independent and autonomous person, and that I already admired that about her probably as much as Dad did in Sadie.

I missed her. I hadn't spoken to her since I left Byron's party on Saturday night. I didn't have her number to call or send her a text, and I didn't want to be the desperate one searching her out on social media. Byron and I had spoken, obviously, but he hadn't mentioned her in conversation, and again, I just didn't want to appear desperate and bring her up out of no where. Especially considering she was his cousin and one of his best friends.

"Jetty, can you help me in here for a sec," Dad asked as I moved around furniture trying to make room for everyone to sit and eat when they arrived.

Even without the twins on the way, we probably would have had to do an extension in the house at some point with how big our extended family was. There was now Dad's parents—both sets of them—his mother Lani and her husband Troy, and his father James and his partner Ange; Sadie's parents and their partners, Mary and Luca, and Ray and Bonnie; Sadie's brother Seth and his fiancé Kadence; Sadie's other brother Brayden and his fiancé and Sadie's other best friend Landon; and Sadie's sister Hadley, the only one of them not yet in a relationship. It's a good thing that Dad was an only child, otherwise there isn't any way we would have been able to fit them all in our house.

"What do you need, Dad?" I said, pulling out a tea towel and beginning to dry the dishes he was washing.

"I was just wondering, you know, considering there is so much food here, whether you wanted to invite anyone around for tea?" he asked.

"Am I supposed to know which 'anyone' you're hinting at?" I could probably take a guess . . .

"Dunno," he answered coyly. "The regular boys, the new boy, his family . . . and extended family, perhaps?"

I laughed at him, grinning down at me with his hands elbows deep in dirty dishwater. "You want me to invite Logan to dinner with our whole family?"

"Well, technically I just said to invite the boys and the Fyres. You elaborated and explicitly suggested Logan, which I think is a wonderful idea, by the way. You should ask her," he said, nudging me with his strong hip.

"I can't invite a girl to my family's surprise pregnancy celebration dinner," I said incredulously, while trying to find another way to rationalise how I might just get in touch with her to ask.