Aurora wore an undecided look.
“I’m still not sure how this is going to go,” Fitz said, softly to Ronan, who switched out Aurora’s purple paste for a new bowl of cornstarch.
“What do you mean?” Ronan asked, pulling Fitz away from the table.
“We almost had a meltdown this morning when our run ended. Aurora was all sweaty and she’d already had her shower for the day.”
“What did you do?” Ronan asked. He knew Aurora had her own schedule and how important it was to keep to it.
“I washed her off with the garden hose. Made a game of it.” Fitz shook his head. “It worked today, but I sure as hell can’t hose her off in January.”
“Let’s take it one day at a time. I’m a summer child. I don’t want to think of winter until after Halloween.” To be honest, Ronan never wanted to think about winter. With winter came snow and him outside in the cold, shovel in hand.
“Well, the race is in two days and I don’t know how Aurora is going to deal with the colored powder being thrown at her.” As Fitzgibbon spoke, Jude held up the swim masks and goggles he’d gotten at Walmart.
Jude pulled on a snorkel mask. “How do I look?” he asked. Jude’s voice sounded squeaky thanks to the mask pinching his nostrils shut.
“Like a giant dork!” Everly giggled.
“Why are you wearing the mask, Dad?” Wolf asked, looking perplexed.
“They’re for the fun run.” Jude handed a pair to Ronan and Fitz, who struggled with the straps to get them on. “So the color doesn’t get in our eyes. As Jude spoke, Cope threw a handful of pink powder at him, most of which stuck to his hair, shirt, and face. “Okay, who’s the wise guy?”
“You caught me pink-handed!” Cope laughed, holding up his colored hands.
“I wanna try that!” Everly said. Wolf was quick to agree. Jude handed each of them smaller pairs of goggles.
Aurora was the only one not scrambling to get face protection.
“These are for you, honey. Do you want to try them on?” Ronan asked.
“Maybe later.” Aurora went back to mixing her red color paste.
“I’ve got an idea,” Ronan whispered to Fitz. “What if we cut a hole at the top of a dry cleaning bag for Aurora? That way people can throw color, but it won’t get on her shirt.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Jude said. “The only problem is that the plastic bag could make her get hot and sweaty faster than if she didn’t wear it.”
“Fuck,” Fitz muttered.
“Ready! Aim! Fire!” Everly shouted and threw a handful of pink powder at Wolf, who roared with laughter. Quickly reloading, she hit Ten and Ronan next.
Ronan didn’t care if his hair and the kitchen floor were pink. His daughter was laughing and having fun. He turned to Aurora who was struggling to put on her goggles. Ronan quietly stepped over to her and helped put them on. He knelt in front of her and whispered into Aurora’s ear. The little girl’s face lit up like a Christmas tree. She ran to the counter where Jace was scooping colored powder into plastic drinking cups. He handed one to Aurora, who dug her hand into the powder and threw it at Jace. “Gotcha, Dad!” She shouted and ran toward Jude, who stood with his arms crossed over his chest.
“Don’t you dare!” Jude laughed, pretending to run away.
Aurora threw a handful of color at Jude and hit him square in the back. “I got you!”
Fitz squealed when Aurora hit him too. Ronan couldn’t remember his friend looking so happy.
Meanwhile, Everly and Wolf were having their own color fight. Both kids were covered in pink and bright blue like Sleeping Beauty’s ruined ball gown.
“I wanna try,” Aurora said to Everly, still looking a bit uneasy.
“You’re so brave,” Everly said and then dusted Aurora’s shoulder with pink powder just like Tinkerbell would have done.
“That’s it?” Aurora asked.
Ronan wasn’t sure if she was asking about how little powder Everly used or if the light sprinkle was all that happened when the color hit her. Either way, she laughed when Wolf hit her with blue powder.
