Just the Three of Us by Jennifer Mikels

Author:Jennifer Mikels
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2011-06-08T00:00:00+00:00

Taylor assumed a thirtieth birthday was a turning point in a person’s life. But Friday morning she awoke feeling no different from the day before. Showered and dressed, she entered the kitchen, guessing she would find Petey there. He seemed to prefer the homey atmosphere, the breakfast clatter.

As she laid a palm against the kitchen’s swinging door, she was greeted with singing.

“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you.”

Touched, Taylor smiled at the group of three serenading her.

“Happy birthday,” Petey yelled, rushing to her. She bent over to receive his hug and kiss. At the stove, Lottie beamed, and, waiting to serve, Leeland grinned. This was her family now, she realized. People she cared about, who cared about her. Her aunt, out of town, had called at daybreak with a birthday phone call, having forgotten time differences. Taylor hadn’t minded the early wake-up. There had been birthdays when her aunt had been living in Europe, when Jared had been barred from the house, when no one except Lottie and Leeland had been around to celebrate her birthday.

“I made your favorite. Blueberry pancakes,” Lottie said now, snapping Taylor from thoughts she decided were meant to be forgotten.

“That’s wonderful.” She looked down at Petey’s homemade card with its crude drawing of his favorite subject. This time he’d drawn a yellow and orange truck. It was the most beautiful picture she’d ever seen, she decided when she opened the folded paper to the words shakily printed, “I love you. Happy Birthday.”

“Thank you, Sweetheart,” she said and leaned down to kiss his cheek. “I love my card.”

“I made this, too. It’s a paperweight.”

It was an irregular square of clay, painted a purplish blue and dabbed with one yellow dot of paint and one red one. “It’s beautiful. I’ll take it to my office.”

He glowed with pleasure from her praise.

She thought this might be one of the best birthdays she’d ever had. What more could she want than three caring people with her, her favorite breakfast, the sound of clanging pots and running water, and the aroma of coffee brewing drifting on the air?

Across the table from her, Petey entertained himself by chasing doughnut-shaped cereal through the milk with his spoon. “But you gotta free the crab,” he was telling Lottie about a new software game. Last night they’d watched several cartoons, then they’d played the computer game.

Lottie swiveled her head to send a look over her shoulder. “How do you do that?”

“You gotta get a key from the eel,” Petey said about the neon green animated creature on the software game. “But you can’t get the key from the eel until you feed it the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. You get that from the little fish’s grandmother.”

Taylor could imagine her mother’s aghast expression if she’d witnessed this scene. “It’s a sweet, well-rounded looking flounder with glasses,” she told those interested in knowing, which seemed to be both of her loyal servants.

“Then you can free the crab.” His eyes bright, he looked at Taylor. “We did it, didn’t we, Aunt Taylor?”

“Yes, we did.

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