“Nope!” the little boy shouted and ran back into the living room.
“I think that would be a fun day out for the big kids with a stop at Alice’s Tea Room.” Ten’s eyes lit up.
“Really! I’ve always wanted to go there! It’s a dream come true!” Everly and Aurora clapped their hands together.
“What’s Alice’s Tea Room?” Ronan asked.
“It’s a beautiful little tea shop. The kids wear dresses and fancy hats. You’re served high tea with finger sandwiches and desserts. Then, at the end, you get to go into the china room and choose a cup and saucer to take home for your own tea parties.” Ten sounded like he was on board with the idea.
“I don’t want to go to a tea party.” Wolf crossed his arms over his chest. “Tea’s for girls.”
“We all drink tea.” Jude pointed to himself, Cope, Ten, and Ronan.
Wolf grumped but said nothing.
“I was thinking of picking out our garden seeds and planting them.” Ronan loved working on the garden with Everly. They’d had a bumper crop of tomatoes and cucumbers last year, and Ten had loved cooking with fresh oregano and basil. Maybe he’d branch out into peppers and maybe some pumpkins and corn.
“I love gardening. Let’s do that. We could have a sleepover and get dirty putting soil in the little cups. Then we could make cookies and watchFrozen!” Everly looked as if she were ready to hop to it.
“Ilovegetting dirty!” Wolf whooped.
“Idon’tlove getting dirty, but I love flowers.” Aurora grimaced as if she had an impossible choice to make. “I’ll just watch.”
“What if we got you rubber gloves so your hands wouldn’t get dirty? Then you could plant seeds too.” Fitzgibbon always had a backup plan where Aurora was concerned.
“Okay! Daddy, that’s a great idea.” Aurora giggled with Everly. “I’m gonnaalmostget dirty!”
“What about you, Jude? What do you want to do for April vacation?” Ronan knew his friend was bound to have some good ideas on how to spend their days.
“I want to sleep late. Every. Single. Day.” Jude sighed, putting his hands behind his head. Seconds later, he started snoring like a hibernating grizzly bear.
“Dad!” Wolf rolled his eyes. “Go to bed early, then you won’t want to sleep late. It’s vacation week. We’ve got stuff to do!”
“Jude’s got a point.” Fitzgibbon chuckled. “I’d love to sleep late just one day.”
Jude cracked an eye open, shooting Fitz a dirty look before turning back to Wolf. “When you’re older, you’ll love sleeping late and taking naps.”
“No way!” Wolf shook his head, sending his shaggy hair flying.
Ronan wasn’t in the mood to argue over sleeping. He had a hard enough time getting his two kids to bed as it was. “Okay, so back to the concert. Do we need to go shopping for clothes?”
“I love shopping!” Aurora’s eyes glittered. “Me and Everly could get beautiful dresses and high-heeled shoes!”
“And you could put curls in my hair, Daddy.” Everly picked up the ends of her straight hair. “I look beautiful with curls.”
“You sure do, sweetie. After the meeting wraps up, we’ll go check out your closet and see what still fits you.” Ten grabbed a napkin and started jotting notes.
“Okay, but I still want to go shopping with Aurora.” Ever since Fitzgibbon had taken the girls shopping for cowgirl gear, Everly only wanted to go with her friend.
Ronan sat back listening as everyone broke off into their own conversations. The girls chatted about pretty dresses. Wolf and Jude talked about getting Happy Meals for lunch while Ten and Cope bent their heads together. He couldn’t hear what they were talking about, but he didn’t need Ten’s psychic abilities to know their conversation had something to do with ghosts.
Ten had mentioned Cope wanting to help Everly wrangle her gift. They’d had other psychics attempt to work with their daughter, but her gifts were either too powerful for them to help control, or they wanted to take advantage of those gifts for their own gain. Ronan knew Cope would be helping for the right reasons.
All he wanted for Everly was for her to enjoy every second of being a kid. These days were fleeting enough as it was without her having to deal with adult issues. There would be plenty of time for his daughter to adult when she was older.
“I’m content to ride with the tide,” Cope said. “So much of our time is dictated by our schedules. I say we hang loose and see where each day takes us.”
“Sounds good to me,” Fitzgibbon agreed.
