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“Are you excited?” she asked. “Layla seems to be more excited about school starting than I remember my kids being.”
Charli leaned a hip against the counter. “I’ll be glad to be back in school.”
“I just want to see all my friends,” Layla said. “Lots of them have been away.”
“You’re such a little social butterfly,” Denise told her with a smile.
Layla smiled back. “I love butterflies.”
Charli got herself some water as Layla went on to tell Denise why she liked butterflies.
The older woman had been such a blessing to them, not just because she helped keep Charli’s home clean, but mainly because she brought another loving relationship into Layla’s life. She treated Layla like one of her grandchildren, and Charli appreciated that.
“Did you want to stay for pizza?” Charli asked.
“Thank you for the invite, but I’m meeting some women from my craft group for a potluck dinner.”
“Oooh. What are you making?”
“I was asked to bring my fried chicken.”
“Good choice,” Charli said. “It’s amazing.”
Denise beamed. “It was my nana’s recipe, so I’m glad people like it.”
“Thank you for making those cookies and keeping an eye on Layla for me. I really appreciate it.”
“Anytime.” Denise gave her a hug. “You know I love spending time with her.”
Since Jay and Misha would be coming for dinner, Denise left their kids with Charli, so she had the older two keep an eye on Ciara for a couple of minutes while she went to her room. She set her bag on her desk, then used the bathroom and freshened up a bit before heading back to the living room.
Scooping Ciara up, Charli sat down in the comfy rocker-recliner that was tucked into the corner of the room near the fireplace. She didn’t have a lot of time to relax before she needed to prepare for the influx of guests for their semi-regular pizza night, but she loved cuddling with the toddler.
Layla came over and snuggled up next to Charli in the chair. It was getting more difficult to do that, as Layla was growing so fast. Still, neither of them minded being squished.
There was no room for Peyton on the chair, but he knelt on the floor in front of them. As fast as Layla was growing, Peyton was growing even faster. He might be younger than Layla, but he was already taller than her, obviously having inherited Jay’s height.
His brown eyes sparkled as he smiled and tickled Ciara. The toddler’s delighted laugh was contagious and soon they were all laughing.
These three represented the next generation of Halversons, and Charli loved each of them with all her heart. The only one missing was darling Timothy, Gareth and Aria’s son, who was just a couple of months shy of his first birthday.
“Can we watch a movie while we wait for everyone to arrive?” Layla asked.
“Do you have one in mind?” Charli asked as she ran her hand over Layla’s long, dark hair.
They spent a few minutes discussing the options, then they left to go to the basement. Since she kept toddler toys down there, the kids took Ciara with them, and Charli made her way to the kitchen.
She got out the ingredients to make a salad to go with the pizza. Normally that would be Layla’s task, but since she was downstairs with the other two, Charli tackled it herself.
She’d just finished the salad when she heard the garage door open, which meant that Will and Janessa were home. They’d continued to live at the house after their marriage a few months earlier, which had made Charli happy.
The house would have been way too big for just her and Layla. She knew that eventually, Will and Janessa would move into a home of their own, but Charli wasn’t going to dwell on that eventuality just yet.
The couple greeted her as they came in from the garage, then Janessa went upstairs to change out of her work clothes. Meanwhile, Will sat down on a stool at the island.
“What can I do to help?”
“I think everything is basically ready. Just need the people and the pizza.”
