Lost

Chapter 28 - Final Say

Later that evening, Jodee, Caleb, and Ace were out to dinner. It was the only dinner they would be spending in California as their flight home left in the late afternoon tomorrow.

The trip had been pretty successful so far, although short. Traveling was already expensive and both boys knew that they needed to save up for the bigger expense — moving. So the duration of the trip had to be confined, even though it broke their heart to see Jodee so happy on a vacation, and take that from her, practically right after she got there. There was a plus side to that however — Jodee enjoying their trip meant that she really would like California and it being their destination of moving was a good idea. Eased both of their worries.

From Ace's worrying body, his mind finally started to settle seeing as there was a great house available to them and Jodee was enjoying California and she also seemed to like the house, although she was a little too tired to really express her opinion. He planned to ask her about it at dinner.

Ace had done some crazy research for this trip to the point where he was left to research things that didn't really matter, like places to eat. So today, he had selected a pretty nice restaurant for them to go to for dinner. It had a wide variety of "adult food" such as steaks, salads, fish, etc. with a very — more than usual — extensive kids menu mirroring those of Red Robin which Ace knew Jodee loved.

"Again, again!" The little girl next to Ace giggled, bringing him back into reality. She looked between both of the boys holding her hand, her smile large and cheeky and her laugh contagious.

Caleb lifted one of his eyebrows up, shooting her a goofy look as his dimpled smile mirrored that of the little girls.

The three of them had taken an Uber but were currently walking through the shopping mall until they got to the restaurant which was only a couple feet in front of them now. Jodee held onto both of their hands, her left hand in Ace's and her right in Caleb's, finally coming out of her shell as she did one of her favorite things. Jodee loved when she could hold both of her brothers hands and they would lift her up and swing her forward and back. Due to the larger frame and size of the two boys compared with the slender and petite frame of the little girl as well, Jodee was able to get pretty high which she loved.

"No." Ace ruled, firmly holding his sister's hand so that she was unable to swing even when the other boy started.

Both boys had trouble saying no to their little sister, but for Caleb it was a little worse. He had zero restraint.

Jodee pouted almost instantly, her eyes dropping and her lip plumping out. She turned to her brother's best friend, hoping for support as she laid her head down on his hand clasped onto hers.

"Your brother just means we're at the restaurant so we've got to go inside." Cal explained sympathetically, ruffling her hair affectionately.

That just made her pout some more.

She hated when they sided together.

Ace opened the door to the restaurant for his siblings, closing it behind them as he quickly moved to take up position next to Cal who now had Jodee placed in front of him, both hands firmly on her shoulders.

"Reservation for Chambers?" Caleb asked the hostess politely.

This place had been able to reserve online instead of on the phone so Ace had put his name down. Although, come to think about it, sometimes Caleb would put Ace's name down anyways — it was a tradition of sorts.

"Ace?"

"Yes." Caleb responded politely.

"Right this way." The young woman responded, smiling warmly and looking at Jodee with a sweet expression on her face. She led them to a booth in the corner — Ace was happy with that — and set three menu's down on the table. "Your server will be with you shortly." She responded, leaving quickly.