April 27th

Chapter 1

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One

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"Alright, ladies keep it moving!" Hannah O'Brien yelled, pushing open the double oak doors that led to the beach house kitchen. "We have mouths to feed!"

April stood next to Amanda, watching her expertly chop a ball of white cabbage into strips, her hands moving like machines.

She wondered how on earth the knife hadn't sliced her friend's finger yet.

"Did you two hear me? It looks like we're gonna need more salad. How're the veggies coming?"

"Almost done with cabbage," Amanda announced, turning the chopping board over. "April's the jobless one."

Hannah placed her arms akimbo. "April, do something."

"You already banned me from chopping stuff," April objected with both hands up in surrender. "And Amanda won't let me taste anything so I can't do that, either."

Hannah placed a hand to her chin for a second, then snapped her fingers. "Fine, grab a tray. You'll be on serving duty with me. Paige, how's the salmon?"

Paige wailed from the other end of the kitchen.

Hannah wrung her hair and let out a frustrated groan that made April pity the pretty woman. She was about the same height as April, with shoulder length, California blonde hair and a face that could hide no emotion. Hannah was usually really sweet but that moment, it was obvious: she was about to crack.

She crossed the room to the other end, where Paige was—in every sense—battling with the salmon in the pan. She sighed, took the spatula and began correcting Paige's use of it.

"How many plates should I take?" April raised her voice, deciding to save Hannah the stress by taking on waitressing duty alone.

"Five!"

"Five," she muttered and set the green tray down, followed by the octagonal bowls, which she arranged in a pattern. Two at the top, one in the middle, and the last two at the end.

Chef April at your service!

"Mom, it wasn't even burning!" She heard Paige voice as she left the busy kitchen.

Their beach house was big and resembled one from a resort. It had been in their family for a long time, even though they had never thought to use it until now.

The area they were in was near the staircase in a huge, white and brown themed space that served as the lounge room. In the center of the room was a wide table and lining the edges were several plush leather sofas that one could easily sink into. The smell of spicy food escaped the fairly closed kitchen, filling the air.

Her father sat in the midst of his 'friends', easily distinguished by his head of grey hair. When April was younger, she used to believe he had that color because he was very old. It had taken some time to realise that not only old people had hair like that.

She set the tray down on the table before them as perfectly as she could.

"Thank you, princess," Patrick said with a small smile.

A relieved sigh passed her lips at his good mood. "You're welcome, dad."

"Move," A deep, male voice came from behind her. From the way he growled, she knew it could be none other than her brother, Nathan. At twenty three, he towered over most of the adults in the room. She took a step to the left to let the brunet skyscraper pass. If he was grumpy, she had no business with it.