Mandy

Chapter 35

Oh how He loves me.
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Mandy snapped the lid back onto the container of flour as she watched Ethan add it to the bowl.

Amilee turned on the mixer, then carefully watched as the ingredients combined.

On the other side of the kitchen, Jason was frying up a couple batches of veggie burgers.

"They are all mixed." Amilee told her mom as she turned off the mixer.

Mandy removed the bowl from the stand and set it on the table.

"Can I make the frosting?" Amilee asked eagerly.

Mandy looked at her. "Ami, the brownie batter isn't even in the pan yet and you already want to make the frosting?"

"Yes?" Amilee answered hesitantly.

"Ami, can you get me another roll of paper towels?" Jason called from the stove.

Amilee left Mandy's side as she ran to fulfill the request.

Mandy grabbed a spatula and started to fill one of the greased pans with batter.

"How are you able to make so much of everything without even a moments hesitation?" Jason asked her.

Mandy ignore the fact that he had snuck up behind her. "When you live with three men who eat a lot, you get used to it."

   "You lived with three men?" Jason asked incredulously.

While Jason had grown comfortable around them, and them around him, neither had ever made a move to share any part of their past.

"Yes. Two ladies and a little girl too." She replied, grabbing the pans and sticking them into the oven.

"Wow." Jason stated.

Mandy smiled as she set the timer on the oven before turning back to him. "Yeah, there were a lot of us."

"Mandy?" Jason asked.

"Yeah?"

"You and Caleb are siblings...right?"

Mandy nodded. "Most days I claim him."

"Then why do the kids call you their mom and him their dad?"

Mandy sighed. "Well, Amilee is biologically my niece. Caleb's too, for that matter. When her parents passed two years ago, I adopted her.

Ami and Ethan, who is my son, started calling Caleb their dad soon after that. They wanted a dad, I suppose, so decided he would fill the position. Neither of us minded, so..." She trailed off.

"Is Caleb legally responsible for them?" Jason asked.

Mandy pushed a piece of hair behind her ear. "No. I have full guardianship of Amilee, and of course, Ethan as well. Unless something happened to me, Caleb doesn't have any legal rights." She explained.

   "Ah." Jason replied.

   She smiled. "That's just one piece of my life and it's already confusing and unusual."

   He grinned. "I know how that is."

   Mandy didn't ask questions. She didn't want to push him, she knew how it felt to be pushed to open up to someone.

   "Ann, look way I found." Caleb exclaimed as he walked into the kitchen.

   Frowning at the catalog he held, Mandy sat down on one of the barstools.

Caleb sat down beside her. "I know, I know. Never buy anything new. But seriously, this is worth it." He told her, setting the magazine in front of her.

Mandy scanned the page. "We can find bunks at an auction." She told her brother, pushing the catalog away.

"Look at it. Mandy, we can use the small wall in our room and put in the bunks. Two sets of them. Double bed on the bottom, single on top. They would take up less space then the beds we currently use; and with these you wouldn't need to share a mattress." Caleb urged.

   Jason looked at the catalog over Caleb's shoulder. "These wouldn't be hard to build." He said to no one in particular.

   Caleb swore he saw his sister's eyes light up. "We still need to buy new mattresses." He stated.

   "Mandy, mattresses last ten years. I'm willing to bet yours are older than that." Jason interrupted before she had a chance to protest.

   "But-"

   "Mandy." Caleb looked at her pleadingly.

   She sighed. "Fine. But I'm not happy about it. At all." She said, then slipped off the stool and left the room.