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CHASING CARS
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seven. friendsgiving
▬▬ CASSIE RUSHED AROUND the kitchen, her hair in a messy bun, her eyes wide, her breathing heavy ― she was cooking for Friendsgiving while babysitting Claire Young. She huffed when the oven dinged and she ran over to take the turkey out, she sat it on the stove and closed the oven before rushing back over to finish the dressing.
Charlie walked into the kitchen ― which he had been told to stay out of ― to see Claire playing with a toy keyboard, but she stopped and smiled up at him. She quickly got to her feet and wrapped her arms around his left leg and he smiled. "Hey, kiddo." he patted the top of her head before scooping her up into his arms.
"Hi." she grinned at him, she had come to like the Chief of Police in the few weeks Cassie had been watching her ― it was mostly weekends with the occasional night during the week, which she spent at Jacob's and the boy always helped with the three-year-old.
"Hey, Cas, how's the cooking?"
"Stressful." the teenager mumbled as she put the pan of stuffing into the oven and set the timer. "I always forget how much I hate cooking, then November comes and I never want to see an oven again." she told him as she washed her hands and he chuckled as he carried the kid over to her.
"I didn't know you had Claire today." he stated, sitting the kid on the counter.
"Aunt Emily was gonna watch me."
"But Emily was swamped so I offered." Cassie told him then she smiled at the kid. "Now, you and I have thirty minutes to do anything you want while that's cooking."
"Hide and seek!" The girl cheered, bouncing up and down. "Charlie can play with us."
"Oh, uh, I have to get to work." he shook his head as he took a step back, wanting to get out of the kitchen before either of the girls could convince him to stay. "Maybe next time." he waved and then disappeared.
