Cool Girl

40: Visiting Family

It is two days after Christmas and Aunt Tess has come down from New York to visit us with her twins, Ella and Ethan. Uncle Phil had to leave for some work in England right after Christmas so he isn't here with them. Sebastian is in the back lawn with the children as they play soccer and dad's upstairs in the library, getting some work done.

I'm perched on a kitchen stool as I watch mom and Aunt Tess bicker about how much butter they have to put into the cake batter. They're following a recipe that nanna taught them when they were little.

"Call mom and ask!" Aunt Tess finally screams and then dials a number on her phone and holds it up to ear.

"Tess!" Mom exclaims and yanks the phone from her grip as she ends the call, "It's past midnight in Switzerland!"

"Well, do however you please because I'm calling mom first thing tomorrow morning and proving you wrong." Aunt Tess tells mom.

I rest my chin on my hand as I watch them finally agree on the amount of butter and move on to beating the mixture. Mom steps out to check on dad, leaving Aunt Tess to beat the mixture. But Aunt Tess doesn't adjust the speed dial and a second after she turns the machine on, she's covered in cake batter.

I burst out laughing as she looks down at the dress that she's wearing, now all dirty.

"Hazel, don't you dare tell your mother what happened." Aunt Tess jokingly glare at me before hurrying away to the guest bedroom that she's staying in.

I'm tugging on the sleeves of the red sweater that I'm wearing over white pants as I watch Sebastian chase Ella who has the soccer ball in her hands and is running away from him.

"Merry late Christmas." I hear Ben say from behind me.

"Merry late Christmas." I smile at him as he bends down and kisses me.

"How was your Christmas?" I ask him as he sits down on the stool next to me.

She sighs, "At least mom didn't give me a watch like she does every year. I got cuff-links instead."

"Did you two end up going out for dinner the night after Christmas?" I ask.

"Yes, but she spent a good forty minutes of the one hour that we were at the restaurant taking Conley's phone calls about Charles. And the rest of the time we spent eating." Ben shakes his head, his eyes disappointed in his mother again.

"I would say 'at least she's trying' but this isn't even close to trying." I tell him and he smiles in appreciation of my understanding. I know exactly what sort of involvement Ben wants from his mother and interrupted dinners is not it.

"How was your Christmas? Drama between your uncle and dad?" He nudges me with his arm.

I shake my head, "Grandma kept them both separate most of the time. I'm pretty sure the only time they were even in the same room was Christmas dinner."

"So same old?" Ben raises an eyebrow.

I nod with a smile, "Same old."

His gaze is on me and unable to resist myself anymore I grab hold of his jacket's collar and pull him into a kiss. Our lips have barely touched when Aunt Tess's voice makes us jump apart.

"Ben! How nice to meet you again!" She claps her hands as she walks to the other end of the kitchen where she left the cake batter.

"Nice to meet you too." Ben says awkwardly, making me laugh into my hand.

"So Emma told me over the phone that you two had started dating." She says, her back to us so Ben and I share a glance.

"For nearly three months now." I reply.

"Three months?!" She exclaims.

"Yes." I nod to myself as I take Ben's hand under the counter.

"And it's ready to bake!" She announces as she slides the cake into the preheated oven.

"Are you two going to stay in here?" She asks us.

"Mhmm." I nod.

"Alright then keep an eye on the cake and if I don't come back in twenty minutes to check on it, come find me." She says before leaving the kitchen.

"I got into UCLA." Ben says out of nowhere.

My heads flips around to look at him. Slowly my brain catches up and I stare at him for a moment before I launch out of my seat and into Ben's arms. I wrap my arms tightly around his neck.

"Congratulations." I say, kissing him.

"Thank you." He smiles against my lips.

Before I can kiss him again, the shouts and squeals of Ella and Ethan reach my ears and I pull away my arms but let Ben hold my hand in his. The ten year old children come to a halt in the doorway that leads in from the living room when they realize that there's someone else there with me.

"Ella, Ethan, this is Ben." I introduce them.

"Hi." Ben waves at them. Ethan shies away and takes Seb's hand when he joins us but Ella decides to brave it and comes over to shake Ben's hand.

Thirty minutes later the scrumptious chocolate cake is finally ready. Mom and Aunt Tess help the children and seat them on kitchen stools before taking their cake out to the living room. Once they leave, Seb, Ben and I are ourselves. I obviously cut out a huge slice.

"Can you finish that?" Ethan looks at me with wide eyes.

Ben and Seb scoff at the same time as Ben says, "Watch her." This makes the twins laugh.

I narrow my eyes and shake my head at Ben when he leans forward and kisses my cheek. I hear a fork clutter. I turn to look at Ella and she's staring at us with her fork on the counter top.

Ethan is staring at us with his eyes wide open while Ella shakes her head at him. The three of us burst out laughing at their reactions. We're laughing so hard that we don't even see mom and Aunt Tess walk in.

"Kids, smile!" I hear mom say and I turn just as mom takes a picture with her phone.

Not really proud of this chapter :(

-T