*
Shauna made a stop on her way and ended up getting to Pepper's townhouse about nine-fifteen Saturday morning. She rang the doorbell and heard the pounding of little feet before the door opened. Standing before her were Pepper and little April, neckties wrapped around their heads at a cockeyed angle, rolled up magazines held up to each of their eyes like a telescope.
"Uh?.good morning?" Shauna said questioningly as Pepper eyed her up and down through the rolled magazine. She could see now that the necktie he wore covered one eye, while he looked through his make-believe telescope with his other eye. The tie on April's head had become somewhat skewed, just sort of wrapped around her head. The little girl lowered her telescope and looked up at Shauna.
"Shauna, we're playing privates," April beamed out.
"Pirates, sweetie. Pirates," Pepper corrected as Shauna started to chuckle.
"Yeah, pirates. Wanna play?"
"Uh?I?uh?"
"Arrgghh," Pepper said, putting on his gruffest pirate voice, "I don't know if we should allow this red-haired lass aboard. She looks like some kind of hooligan."
"I don't care if she looks like a hoodigan," April said, reaching for Shauna's hand. "I want Shauna to play."
"Permission to come aboard," Pepper said in his own voice. Shauna handed him a grocery bag as April pulled her into the house. Shauna was given her own magazine which she quickly turned into a telescope, the three of them playing some form of pirate hide and seek before playing 'I Spy' as they looked at objects out the window.
"Does anybody feel like making cookies?" Shauna said after April had tired of the pirate games.
"I do, I do," April said, jumping up and down.
"Okay, you can be my sous chef."
"My name's not Sue."
"Okay, you can be my April chef then. How does that sound?" Shauna asked.
"That sounds good. Is it hard to be a April chef?"
"No, dear, it's not going to be hard to be my April chef, as long as you don't mind sticking your hands in cookie dough."
"That sounds messy."
"But it'll be fun though. Trust me. Especially when you get to eat that yummy cookie dough off your fingers."
Shauna opened the grocery bag and started taking out the supplies she'd picked up on the way over, having no idea what baking supplies Pepper might have in his house. When April raced to the living room to get one of her toys, Pepper stepped up to Shauna and gave her a quick kiss.
"Mmm, that was nice," she said, kissing him back.
He leaned against the counter and watched as she continued to lay out the supplies. "What's with all this?" he said, gesturing to what looked like a year's worth of baking supplies.
"Well, I thought she'd like making cookies, and I had no idea what you had in the way of baking stuff."
Pepper stepped over and opened the door to his pantry. "You seem to have forgotten who my mother is," he said, pointing to a shelf full of everything Shauna had brought with her. "My mother was basically raised in a bakery. She'd disown me if I didn't have what she calls the necessities of life in my kitchen."
"I'll have to remember that next time."
Pepper grabbed a stepstool from the garage for April to stand on, and the girls went to work. He watched the way Shauna was with April, and she made everything she did with the child look as natural and effortless as she had when he'd watched her cook. April was squealing and laughing and making faces as Shauna set her about her duties. When the final tray was in the oven and the little girl had licked her tiny hands clean of the cookie dough, Shauna announced her as "the best April chef ever."
"Thank you, Shauna," April said, jumping from the stool into the woman's arms and wrapping her hands her neck.
Shauna staggered for a second and then gave the girl a big hug in return as she looked over at Pepper, who was leaning on the counter smiling at both of them.
When the timer went off, Pepper opened the oven door. "These cookies will make a great dessert after the lunch I've got planned," he said as he helped by sliding the cookies off the baking sheet onto a cooling tray.
"You've already got lunch planned?" Shauna asked in surprise.
"Yeah, what do you think, that I'm a useless uncle? No way, woman. We're making pizzas for lunch."
"Pizza, yay!" April let out a squeal and clapped her hands.
"You can just keep colouring, sweetheart. Lunch will be in a little while yet," Pepper said as his niece went back to the crayons and colouring book she now had open on the kitchen table. Shauna joined her and borrowed some crayons. Once the cookies had cooled a little bit, Pepper brought them both one to sample with a glass of milk for each.
"Mmm, yummy," April said.
"Yes, yummy," Shauna said. "And they always seems to go better with a glass of milk."
"Do I have a milk moustache?" April asked after taking a big drink from her glass.
"Well, you sure do." April made Shauna laugh as she made no move to reach for a napkin but just used the back of her hand.
"Is that better?"
"Oh, that's much better. Pass me that purple crayon."
Pepper walked into the living room and checked his phone. He was happy to see that there was no message from Wallace. He quickly checked the Reaper site. Still nothing from The Sandman there either. The guy was in the wind, and Pepper had a bad feeling about it. Shrugging it off, he went back to the kitchen where the girls were still busy at the table.
"Who's ready to help make their pizza?" he said as he opened the pantry.
"I am, I am," April said, dropping her crayon in mid-draw and running over to the counter.
Pepper tossed three round flatbreads on the counter and plunked April atop her stool, right in front of the middle flatbread. He went to the fridge and pulled out some things he'd gotten ready first thing in the morning, including a bag of mozzarella he'd already grated.
"Well, look at you go," Shauna said as she walked over and leaned on the counter, her turn to watch him at work in the kitchen.
"Okay, April, the first thing you need is a spoon." Pepper handed her one from the drawer before taking the lid off a tupperware container filled with sauce. "Now carefully spoon some sauce out onto your pizza?..that's it?that's the way. Now use the back of the spoon to spread it all around, get as close to the edges as you can."
"Like this?" the little girl asked, carefully pushing the sauce around on top of the flatbread.
"That's perfect. Now how about doing mine and Shauna's?"
"Okay." The little girl was thrilled to be able to help, and only spilled once on the countertop.
"Now it's time for the toppings. Do you want anything besides cheese, April?"
"One piece of pepperoni, please."
Pepper looked up at Shauna, who was grinning from ear to ear. "One piece?" he said.
"Yes. One piece, right there, but I want it on top of the cheese," April replied, pointing dead centre in her pizza.
"Okay, one piece it is-on top," Pepper replied.
He opened the other containers he'd brought out of the fridge and he and Shauna decorated their own pizzas, with April's help.
"I don't like mushrooms," April said, even refusing to touch them. "They taste yucky."
"I didn't like them when I was your age either," said Shauna, "but I love them now."
April took on the job of cheese girl, dropping and sprinkling the mozzarella on the three pizzas, Pepper and Shauna occasionally having to reach in and make a few adjustments.
"Don't forget your pepperoni," Pepper said, handing April the single piece he'd set aside.
"Oh yeah," the little girl replied, carefully placing it right in the middle of her pizza.
"All right, time for these babies to go into the oven," Pepper said, sliding the baking sheet into the middle of the oven and setting the timer.
The pizzas were a big hit. April picked her single slice of pepperoni off and eating it first thing. Pepper didn't have a booster seat for her, so he let her
sit with her knees on the chair. The cookies followed for dessert, and there were three happy campers by the time they were done.
"Shauna, will you read me a story?" April asked, sliding off her chair and standing next to Shauna, her tiny hand idly reaching up and stroking the woman's red hair absentmindedly.
"Of course, sweetheart," Shauna said, looking over at Pepper.
"Go ahead, she can lie down on the couch while you read to her. I'll get this," he said, gesturing to the dishes.
Pepper stood at the sink and took care of the dishes as he looked across to the living room. April was lying on the couch with her favourite toy tucked under her arm and a throw blanket pulled over her. Shauna sat in the easy chair next to the couch, reading from one of the books April had brought with her. Pepper watched as the little girl's thumb crept into her mouth and her eyes fluttered closed, finally dropping fully off to sleep before Shauna had finished the first book.
"Scot, she is so adorable," Shauna said quietly as she rejoined him in the kitchen, the two of them looking over at the sleeping girl.
"Yeah, she is," Pepper said, rinsing off the baking sheet and letting it rest in the draining rack.
"You're lucky with the family you have," Shauna said. "I envy you."
Pepper paused as he thought about what she'd said. "Yes, they're all right. We have our moments, but I wouldn't trade any of them." He reached out and tenderly stroked her arm. "I'm sorry about what happened to your mom and dad. That must have been a horrible thing."
"I think you always know that at some point, you're probably going to lose your parents. But the hard part with the car accident was that it was both of them at the same time, and so fast. Sometimes life really sucks."
"Yeah, that must have been hard." He gave her a hug, which is what she seemed to need right then, her eyes getting misty. "Would you like a cup of tea?"
"That would be nice," she said, drawing in a steadying breath.
He made tea for both of them and they sat at the table and talked quietly while April continued to sleep, her stuffed animal clutched tightly under her little arm. A short time later they heard a car in the driveway, and Pepper got to the door before his sister rang the bell. He didn't want to wake April just yet.
"Oh my gosh, he's so cute," Shauna gushed as Marina stepped into the house, the tiny face of the Maine Coon kitten looking all around as she clutched him in her arms. The little guy had a mottled brown and butterscotch coat that looked smooth as silk, and big gold eyes that wanted to take everything in at once.
"He's been so cuddly all the way home, I love him already," Marina said.
"April's going to be thrilled," Shauna said, stroking the cat's fur. "Oh wow, his fur is so soft."
"Look at those ears, he looks like a lynx," Pepper said as Matt came in behind Marina. Shauna reached forward and tickled the kitten behind the tufted, pointy ears, his eyes closing for a second as he wiggled his head to and fro.
"Yeah, those ears are distinctive with that breed," Matt said, closing the door behind him.
"Where's April?" Marina said, eager to see how her baby reacted to the kitten.
"She's sleeping on the couch," Pepper said, gesturing to the room behind them. "She crashed after lunch."
"That's standard for her," Marina said, walking quietly into the living room. As the other's stood back and watched, she set the kitten right down on the little girl's belly. The cat tentatively sniffed the reclining girl, and then crept closer to April's face. He did a quick circle, and then settled right down in the crook of her arm and started licking her chin.
"Oh, that is so cute," Marina said, watching her little girl begin to stir.
"I think it's the milk moustache he's after," Pepper whispered to Shauna.
April came awake and surprisingly didn't freak out when she saw the kitten perched next to her. She just reached up and grabbed it in her tiny hands, holding its little body over hers, the kitten's front paws flailing a bit as it looked her in the eye. "Mommy," April said, spotting her mother standing in front of her. "It's a kitty."
"I know, dear," Marina said, sitting down next to her daughter on the couch.
"Is it ours?" April asked, sitting up and tucking the struggling kitten under her arm like a stuffed toy.
"Yes, dear, it's ours. But be careful, honey, that's not a toy. Be gentle?there?that's better."
"Is it a boy kitty or a girl kitty?" April asked, holding the kitten with one hand while stroking it with the other.
"It's a boy kitty," Matt said. "What would you like to call him, pumpkin?"
"Cookie!"
The others all laughed as Cookie reached up and pawed at April's face, looking for more of that milk moustache.
"Well, Cookie it is," Marina said, getting up from the couch.
April wouldn't let the kitten go as Matt and Marina gathered up all her belongings. "I swear she needs more stuff for three hours here than I pack when I go away for a week," Marina said as Matt lugged all the stuff out to the car. "Shauna, Tee, thanks so much for watching her. We really appreciate it."
"That's fine, she was no trouble at all," Pepper said as they made their way to the door.
"What do you think, Shauna?" Marina said, a smile on her face. "Did my brother take good care of my baby?"
"He did a great job. I don't think you have anything to worry about there."
"Hold on, April," Marina said as April buzzed past her, cat tucked under arm. "Let Mommy sit in the back with you. We'll hold Cookie together."
"Is it always like that?" Shauna said once they'd waved their goodbye and went back into the house.
"Pretty much."
"That's nice. I like it."
They were back in the kitchen and she stood with her back to the counter. Pepper stepped up close to her, his eyes locked on hers. He reached forward and put his hands on her waist as he lowered his face, his lips seeking hers. Her arms went up around him as he pressed his mouth to hers, her lips velvety soft and warm as a summer rose.
He kissed her deeply, passionately, feeling his body respond. She returned his kiss willingly, pulling him against her, pressing her curvy body against his. He slid his mouth down to the side of her neck, his lips kissing the tender skin along her jawline and the lobe of her ear before returning to her mouth. She purred, just like the little kitten had, her hand sliding down his back to his hip, holding him close. They finally broke from the kiss and she looked up at him, those gorgeous green eyes darkening with passion.
"So, is this the 'little more fun in my life' you asked me here for?" Shauna said, nipping at his bottom lip before taking his hand and leading him towards the bedroom.
Every Breath You Take Page 38
