Adopted

Chapter 10

"Happy morning after birthday breakfast!" Brendon said, flipping a pancake onto a plate.  He put two pieces of bacon beside it and a spoonful of scrambled eggs.

"I probably should have mentioned that I keep strictly kosher," I said, picking up a piece of bacon.

"What?" he asked, his face blanching as he spun around and I took a bite of the bacon.

"Kidding."

"You fit right in with your dad," Sarah said, coming into the kitchen and kissing my head.

My dad. I like the sound of that. I smiled.

Brendon and Sarah kissed each other. I looked away. Brendon looked over at me and laughed.

"I think our kid is a little embarrassed by mom and dad kissing," he said, sweeping Sarah against him and planting a big wet kiss on her lips.

"Gross," I said into my pancake. "Do you have any syrup?" I asked.

"Coming up my wonderful child," Brendon twirled around the kitchen.

Sarah came over to me and leaned on the counter in front of me.

"You alright sweetie?"

"Yeah," I said.

"Did you sleep okay after your nightmare? I didn't hear you again."

"Yeah. I did. Thanks,"

"What was all the yelling about this morning?"

"I tripped over d- Brendon and bumped my nose. It bled a little and I didn't want him to touch my blood."

"Sweetie. It's okay. We know how to be careful."

I shrugged.

Brendon placed a bottle of Mrs. Buttersworth in front of me then scrutinized me.

"Are you a coffee drinker? Latte? Cappuccino? Espresso? Double Espresso? Macchiato? Con Panna?"

"Orange juice? Or milk?"

"Sigh, my child. We have so much to teach you. But for now, I will honor you wish of a plain, boring glass of orange juice. Freshly squeezed by our good friends at Tropicana," he said, taking a jug of juice out of the fridge. The label said Dole.

"My mistake. Fresh squeezed by our good friends at Dole," he said, looking at the jug. He poured a glass and put it down in front of me, then stole my second piece of bacon.

"Hey! I'm a growing girl, you know!"

He winked at me and put another piece of bacon on my plate.

"Do you want ketchup for your eggs? Oh, do you want toast?"

"Yes please and no thanks," I said.

"Yes ketchup, no toast?"

I nodded.

"You are clearly my child. Though I would have also taken the toast."

Sarah and Brendon made themselves plates and once we were done eating, Brendon cleared way the plates and shooed us out the door.

"Go, my women-folk. Off to the markets with you to hunt and gather provisions for tonight's feast. As well as the communication device previously discussed. And coverings for the child. I shall tackle the crockery from this morning's provisionary meal. As well as prepare the dwelling for tonight's feast. But first, girl-child. Did you take your medications?"

"Yes, da - Brendon," I said, laughing.

He looked at me and smiled.

"Good, girl-child. Now, go with the matriarch of our little clan and be productive!"

"Is he always like that?" I asked Sarah as we got in the car and I did up my seatbelt.

"That's nothing. Wait until you meet the rest of the guys tonight. You have no idea what you've gotten yourself into," she said, her eyes twinkling before she put on a pair of sunglasses.

We drove to the Glendale Galleria and parked outside the Target.

"We'll go in through here, but let's go to the Apple Store first, and get you a phone and get you set up. Then we'll do some clothes shopping, then Target for the groceries and bedding. Well, we'll stop at the butcher for the meat but we can get potatoes and salads here. How does that sound?"

"Efficient," I said.

Sarah put her arm around me and gave me a side hug.

I was looking at the phones with Sarah, who was muttering about the best plans and which phone to get.

"I don't need an iPhone," I said, looking at the prices of the phones.

"Well, Brendon and I are Apple people, and your laptop is a Mac, and an iPhone will connect with it. And it's our pleasure to be able to get you one. Consider it your birthday present. Since we didn't know yesterday was your birthday until yesterday," she smiled.

"But they're so expensive," I said.

"Your world is about to be much, much different, sweetie. You don't need to worry about things anymore."

"It's just so weird," I said.

"Hi there. I'm Chris. Can I help you two?" a staff member came over to us.

"Yes, thank you. I'm here to buy my daughter a new phone. Which is the best for an active 13-year-old?"

"Well, the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus just came out. The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are also still good phones. The main difference really is the 6S has 3D touch."

"What's that?" I asked.

"You can press on the app, and it'll give you options to open, delete, or other features. It differs from app to app."

"I don't need that, I don't think," I said, looking at Sarah.

"It's a bit too new, anyway. First-generation stuff tends to have bugs. And I think you're a bit small for a plus. You have tiny hands," she marveled, looking at the 6 Plus and the 6.

"Okay, we'll take the 6, 128GB. What color do you want?" she asked me. I looked at the displays.

"The space gray, I guess," I said. Who'd want a pink phone?

"Will you need to set up a phone plan on this?" Chris asked.

"We have a Verizon account. Would you be able to add her to our account?"

"Absolutely. And will you want a case?"

"Of course. Hon, go look at the cases over there while we get your phone set up, I happen to like the Otterbox cases because they're really durable. But you choose, okay?"

I shrugged and went over to the wall of cases. I saw one in purple and teal that I liked, but I also saw that it was locked on the wall. I shrugged and went back to Sarah.

"Did you find a case?"

"Yeah, but it's locked on the wall."

"Yeah, those get stolen a lot. Especially the Otterboxes. Which one did you like?"

"The purple and teal one," I said.

"Ah. The Mighty Ducks colors. Are you a hockey fan?"

I shrugged. I didn't even know there was a team called the Mighty Ducks. I thought that was a movie. By Disney.

Sarah and Chris got the account set up and then Chris worked with me to set up my Apple ID and make sure the SIM card was working on the phone. Sarah tested it by calling my phone.

"Bonus, now you have my number in there," she said. I went into the settings and made her number a contact. I stopped when I had to put in a name. Sarah noticed.

"Whatever you feel most comfortable with, sweetie," she said. I put in "Sarah" and "Mom" as her last name. I saw her smile.