I Live by the Woods [On Hold]

Chapter 10: Cute Family

"Papa Johns; Love at 425°"

"How did you know the guy was gonna say that?"

"I've seen the commercial too many times."

"I'll say," I muttered under my breath. "Speaking of pizza, can we get it on the way home? I could go for some three meat right about now."

Enoch chuckled as he passed Stephanie to me. "It's a possibility. Unless you want to make pizza." He paid the daycare worker and grabbed Steph's bag.

"YEAH!" Thomas piped in. "Homemade pizza is the best! Please can we make it, Isabella? You can even help!"

A tiny part of my brain throbbed as a new memory flooded in. My eyes widened.

"Crap! Cindy Bloomsbury will not be happy if she doesn't get her thirty two orders of cream brulé by tomorrow. I'll have to work all night to get those finished, not to mention buying a new blowtorch since my other one broke, restocking on supplies to even make the orders, and getting a new delivery basket because the one I have now will not hold all those comfortably. I hope I can afford all these upgrades... Ugh! Why didn't I start on those last week?!"

I paused my rant to look at the two boys in front of me. "What?"

"Your girlfriend is weird," a girl to my left told Enoch. His eyes widened and my cheeks tinted crimson as we both declined that we were together.

In unison, might I add.

The girl looked back and forth between us before settling her gaze on Enoch again. "You both are weird. You totally deserve each other." She stalked off and Thomas barked out laughter at Enoch and I's stunned faces.

"Not funny," Enoch attempted to silence Thomas.

Stephanie's sleeping figure shifted in my arms and I looked down at her adorable face.

An idea popping in my head, I quickly tried my turn at silencing Thomas.

"Shush! You'll wake up Steph!" My attempted furious voice whispered.

Thomas instantly shut up, covering his mouth to stop the laughter. I smirked and walked ahead of the two boys before the rant settled back in.

Turning, I stared at a smiling Enoch. "Can you drop me off at my old house?"

"Uhh, sure? May I ask why?"

"I'm going to make the cream brulé orders there," I lied. I needed to keep my haven secret for as long as possible.

"Your house has been empty for a month or two."

"It has?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Your mum can't live in it since she's not exactly living anyways, and Carl is in prison. You are being fostered by my family."

"Right. Forgot about that, thanks."

"Patience is key," was his response as we reached the limousine taking us home. I curled Steph closer to my chest and slid inside, making room for Thomas and Enoch. They hopped in and the driver did his job.

"You can make them at our house. I'm sure we have everything," Thomas offered. I shifted Steph to my other arm and considered it.

"You probably do, but I wanted to make them at my haven. I know how to use everything there. At your house..." I trailed off.

"Gotcha."

"I would like to use your ingredients and blowtorch though. So maybe you can let me grab the things and then drop me at my old house?"