Black Veil Brides finished their European tour yesterday. I've been waiting for Ashley to come home all day. I know his flight isn't supposed to land for another hour, but I'm already watching for him to come home. I don't want to miss a moment.
"Come on, babe," I whisper.
"Mommy, when is Daddy coming home?" our 4-year-old daughter, Quinn, asks.
"Soon, honey," I smile at her. "He'll be home before you know it."
She pulls me off the couch and away from the window.
"We need to make him some cookies! A coming home present!" she exclaims.
"Let's get the ingredients together, then. Go grab your stool and I'll preheat the oven. We'll do it together," I lead her into the kitchen. I set the oven to 350 degrees and begin gathering the flour, sugars, butter, chocolate chips, eggs, baking soda, salt, and vanilla. Quinn meets me back in the kitchen, dragging her stool behind her. I help her up to it so she can reach the counter. She helps me put the butter, sugars, and eggs in. I get out the beater and Quinn covers her ears from the noise. I smile at her. We mix in the rest of the ingredients and I let her use the beater to mix everything together, which she thinks is the best thing ever.
"It's so loud!" she yells over the beater. I laugh and nod. I help her turn it off. I get out a pan and we begin to roll the dough into balls and put the unbaked cookies on it. We've made about 24 jumbo-sized cookies (Quinn's idea) by the time the dough is gone. "Put it in the oven, Mommy! Quick, before Daddy gets here!"
"I'm going, baby. Daddy's going to love your cookies, Quinny!" I say excitedly. My daughter claps her hands and twirls around the kitchen. As I shut the oven and set the timer for 15 minutes, my phone vibrates.
Just landed. I should be home in about 25 minutes... See you guys soon!
"Quinn, Daddy's on his way!" I shout. She answers me with an excited squeal.
"I need to go put on my new princess dress! Daddy hasn't seen it yet!" Quinn runs loudly through the halls to her room. Her door slams, letting me know not to help her or come in.
I wash the mixing bowl and beaters, then I wipe the counters down. I don't want Ashley to come home to our kitchen being a complete disaster from our 4-year-old making cookies. I hear little high heels clomping on the hardwood floors and I chuckle to myself.
"Did you get all dressed up?" I ask her happily, looking at her outfit.
"I gotta look my best! Duh!" she sings. She definitely got her inner fashionista from her dad, since I'm always in a t-shirt and baggy jeans. Quinn twirls around, making her dress go up and making glitter fly across the floor.
"You are definitely your father's child," I pick her up and give her a kiss.
"You should get dressed up, Mommy," she suggests. I look at my glitter-filled Metallica shirt. I shake my head lightly and ruffle her hair. "Don't!"
The timer for the cookies goes off and I take the hot pan out of the oven.
"I want to eat one!" Quinn immediately says.
"We have to wait for them to cool down, silly goose! And besides, we need to wait for Daddy, remember?" I remind her.
"Is he close?" she asks me, running towards the window. I go over and join her, waiting. "He needs to come faster."
"I agree," I put my arm around her.
Minutes later, we see Ashley's black car pull into the driveway. Quinn goes ballistic, dragging me outside.
"Come on, Mommy!" she yells, taking off running towards the car. I stand back on the porch, watching my two favorite people see each other again. "Hi, Daddy!" she says happily as soon as he opens the door.
"Hi, Quinn!" Ashley says excitedly. He climbs out of the car and scoops her up in his arms, giving her a hug. "Is that a new princess dress?"
"Yes! I put it on just for you! And we made cookies! Mommy said we had to wait until you got home to have them, so let's go!" she rambles excitedly.
"You made cookies for me?" he exclaims dramatically, grabbing his bag out of the trunk.
"Come on, Daddy! Let's go!" Quinn grabs his hand and basically drags him towards me.
"Hey, (Y/N)," he smiles, kissing me quickly on the cheek. Quinn continues to drag him inside. "Let's go have some cookies!"
"Race ya!" I say, jogging past them. Quinn starts screaming excitedly, trying to beat me to the kitchen. I let her, staying back to hug my husband. Ashley picks me up off the ground, spinning me around. I wrap my legs around him.
"Missed you, baby," he whispers.
"Missed you more," I whisper back.
"Impossible, (Y/N). Impossible." I kiss him softly.
"Come on, guys!" Quinn yells impatiently, tugging at my jeans. Ashley puts me down, taking my hand. We go into the kitchen. I give Quinn a cookie first (obviously). As we all eat our cookies, Ashley begins talking about all the cool stuff he saw on tour, exaggerating a little bit. He winks at me. "Did you see any spiders?" Quinn asks worriedly.
"No spiders," he assures her. He breaks the rest of his cookie in half and feeds one half to me. "Quinny, can I take your mommy out on a date tonight?"
"Only if you promise to play with me tomorrow," she raises her eyebrows at him.
"Of course!" he says like it's obvious. "Nana and Papa are gonna play with you tonight and then I will tomorrow."
"You set something up with my parents?" I question.
"Oh, baby. I planned the whole night. Just for you."
"Now you have to get dressed up, Mommy!" Quinn says.
"Only if you help!" I say, picking her up. "You get settled in. I have a feeling this will be a while."
