beautiful mistake - joe burrow

46

The next morning the whole family met again, this time at Tammy and Easton's, for brunch. Slept in and in a good mood, Elle, together with her parents, entered her brother's house at ten and was immediately greeted by Ian, who was still running around in his dinosaur pajamas.

"Good morning, Ian. Where are your parents?" she greeted her nephew, ruffling his already tousled hair. "In the kitchen, stressed" Tammy's panting voice could be heard.

Grinning, Elle walked into the kitchen where her sister-in-law was stirring stormily in a bowl. "Well, are you regretting inviting us already?" she asked as Tammy frantically hugged her and immediately resumed stirring. A towel hung over her shoulder, her hair tied in a disheveled braid at the nape of her neck.

"no, I rather regret having a child who thinks five in the morning is a good time to get up and a husband who does everything at the last minute" she sighed, wiping away batter splattered on her face with the towel.

"Speaking of which, where's my beloved brother?" Elle asked, grinning. "I banished him from the kitchen ten minutes ago to set the table, so hopefully he's out on the patio" Tammy sighed in annoyance.

"What else needs to be done?" Tammy sighed again. "Actually, just the pancakes and coffee for anyone who wants one. Well, and I have to change too" she pointed at her baggy outfit.

"Alright, I'll take care of the pancakes then..." Elle took the bowl of batter from Tammy. "...And you get ready, ok?" "you're a sweetheart" she pressed a kiss to Elle's cheek and ran out of the kitchen.

Amused, Elle looked after her before finding a pan and starting to make the pancakes. She had barely finished two, it wasn't that easy with only one operational arm, when Leila entered the kitchen accompanied by Eric.

"Well, well, you're not the lady of the house, are you?" Leila asked with a laugh as she greeted Elle with a quick hug. "Tammy is upstairs changing, that's why I'm helping out" Elle explained laughing.

"And where is the man of the house?" Eric asked laughing and putting the champagne they had brought in the fridge. "Ian is probably with mom and dad somewhere" Elle smirked.

"Very funny Elle, apparently had a clown for breakfast this morning huh?" Eric shook his head with a laugh. "Easton was supposed to be setting the table, but no idea where he really is" Elle replied.

"Honey, how about you go find your brother and make sure the table is really set and I'll stay with your sister and help her, ok?" Leila smiled at Eric, who nodded in agreement and immediately left the kitchen.

"That's sweet of you. It's really not easy to make pancakes with one arm" Elle handed Leila a second pan and the bowl with the batter.

"Actually, I just wanted to get rid of Eric to know what Joe wrote you last night that made you beam so much" grinning Leila nudged Elle with her elbow before picking up the pan and flipping the pancake in the pan with one swing.

"Impressive" Elle commented on Leila's show before shrugging her shoulders. "Nothing interesting. He just texted that he hopes I have a nice evening and that he's looking forward to tonight because we agreed to spend time together once I get back to Cincinnati. And then he wished me a good night."

"How sweet. Relationships this fresh are still so romantic" Leila smiled at her. Elle grinned. "First of all, Joe and I aren't really in a relationship yet, and secondly, Eric and you haven't been together that long now either. Are you saying it's not romantic between you anymore?"

"I didn't say that. You won't believe this, but every now and then your brother can be really romantic" Leila laughed. "Eric? Really? I can't even imagine" Elle joined in Leila's laughter.

Tammy had really overdone it with breakfast. In addition to the pancakes, which Elle and Leila proudly brought out to the patio when they were done, there was fruit salad, homemade bread, three different kinds of cereal, fresh orange juice and porridge with berries.

The table was set, thankfully, but as it turned out during dinner conversations, Elle's mom had ended up being the one to set it while her dad had been watching Ian and Easton and Eric had once again been chatting about football.

In general, though, the meal had been a bit of a mess. Tammy was frantically jumping back and forth between the kitchen and the dining table, handing out champagne and coffee or picking up things that were still missing, even though Leila and Elle had said several times that she should sit down and one of them could go.

In addition Elle's mother tried all the time to get Ian to eat, who had nevertheless rather his fun in letting his toy dinos bathe in the porridge.

The men didn't seem to notice anything of all the fuss and continued to discuss the NFL and football.

It wasn't until everyone was full and Ian finally ate his porridge rather than use it as bath time that peace returned to the Simmons family table.

When it was time for Elle and her dad to leave, though it was only two o'clock but her dad would eventually have to drive the three-hour trip back and forth, Elle said goodbye to the rest of her family with a heavy heart.

She promised that they would see each other again as soon as possible and suggested that they could just visit her in Cincinnati. When she had hugged everyone tightly, she got into her parents' car and waved goodbye to everyone until they were out of sight.

The car ride was entertaining, in part because her dad put in his 80's Best Hits CD to cheer her up, which Elle knew inside and out, causing them to sing along loudly to the music.

They arrived at Elle's apartment at just before five o'clock and her dad helped her carry her bag into the apartment before pulling his daughter into his arms to say goodbye.

"Take care, kiddo. I'll see you next week" he pressed a kiss to her hair "Next week?" Elle asked, confused. "Oh yeah, we haven't told you yet. Zac got tickets for your mom and me so we can watch your first game on the sidelines at Paul Brown Stadium next Sunday" her dad grinned at her.

Squealing, Elle fell around her dad's neck. "That's so great. That's awesome as hell. I'll see you next week then" she beamed happily.

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