The next couple weeks were busy. Colby and I really got into the swing of me working.
Jenna and Carter's birthday was today so we were spending the day doing whatever they wanted.
I couldn't believe my baby brother and sister were turning fifteen. I would be lying if I said I wasn't very emotional today about it.
It felt like just yesterday I was changing their diapers and helping them with potty training.
"Jules." Colby said, breaking me from the thoughts. "Yeah?" I asked as he chuckled and pointed to the smoky pan in front of me.
"Shit." I hissed and pulled the pancake I was burning off of the stove.
"You're supposed to be the one who's good at cooking." Colby said with a laugh as I nodded.
"I got distracted." I said with a frown. "What's going on?" He asked with concern as I took a step back from the stove.
"They're getting so old." I said quietly. "Ah, Jules." Colby said, pulling me into a hug.
"It's stupid, I know. But they're fifteen! That's too old." I said as he kissed my head.
"Yeah, that's around the time I started getting into the gang stuff." He said causing me to gasp and pull away.
"Don't say shit like that! Are you dumb?" I asked as Carter and Sam walked into the kitchen.
"What's burning?" Sam asked as I sighed and pointed to the stove. "I tried to make birthday pancakes for Carter and Jenna but I got distracted." I said then walked up to Carter.
"You didn't have to do that, Jules." He said as I gave him a hug. "You're just getting so big." I said causing him to laugh.
"You sound like a mom." He said but hugged me back anyways.
"I mean, she basically raised you guys." Colby said as Jenna came into the room. "It smells so bad in here." She said then looked at Carter and I.
"What are you doing?" She asked as I frowned and opened my arms.
"Happy birthday." I said and hugged both of them. "Thanks, Jule. Are we having our party tonight?" Jenna asked as I nodded.
"Yeah. Colby is going to take you guys shopping while I set up for the party, understood?" I asked then went over to the stove.
"What are we going shopping for?" Carter asked as Sam came to help me.
"Your presents. Colby and I are lame and know we wouldn't get you the right things, so as lame as it is...you get to pick out whatever you want." I said then watched as their faces lit up.
"There's a catch though, right?" Carter asked as Colby chuckled. "Nope. Whatever you guys want." He said as Carter jumped up and down.
"Let's go!! Right now!!" He said with excitement. "Go get dressed and ready." Colby said with a grin causing the twins to run out of the room.
"Did you wanna go with them or are you staying here with me?" I asked Sam as I ruffled his hair.
"I'll stay and help decorate. Are you making their cake this year?" He asked as I nodded. "It's tradition. Wanna help?" I asked as he nodded.
"Great. You me and Juniper will have fun while they drag Colby around." I said and looked up at Colby.
"I'm nervous as to what they're gonna get." I said as he shrugged. "I won't let them get too wild, but Sam should start thinking about what he wants." Colby said then ruffled Sam's hair.
"My birthday isn't until April." He said as Colby nodded. "Yeah, I guess we should start thinking about Jules' birthday then." Colby said then looked at me.
"No, we should be thinking about the twins' birthday, which is right now." I said then started remaking the pancakes that I burned.
"Well look who it is." Colby said as Juniper walked into the room, rubbing her eye with her fist. "You okay?" I asked as she frowned.
"Nobody woke me up." She grumbled and walked over to Colby.
"It's Saturday, you're allowed to sleep in." I said as Colby scooped her into his arms. "But I'm missing out!" She said as Sam laughed.
"The only thing you missed is Jule burning a pancake." He explained as Juniper rested her head on Colby's shoulder. "Fun." She said as Carter and Jenna came back into the room.
"Let's go." Jenna said causing Colby to laugh. "Jule is making you guys breakfast." He said as I shook my head.
"Take them to Starbucks or something. These are for my party planning crew." I said and looked at Sam and Juniper.
"We get to plan the party!?" Juniper asked with excitement. "Yup. We're making a cake and decorating so Jenna and Carter's friends think they're cool. No lame stuff." I said and looked at the twins.
"You're going to embarrass us." Jenna said as I shook my head. "We're way younger and cooler than all of your friends' parents. It's gonna be the coolest party of the year." I said and plated a couple pancakes for Sam.
"That's what lame people say." Carter said as I nodded. "Great. Are you guys leaving?" I asked as Colby set Juniper on her feet.
"Yep. Right now. Let's go." Colby said then started to shoo the older kids out of the room.
"Bye, sweetheart." Colby said then came over and gave me a kiss. "Bye. Make sure to check your phone a lot in case I need you to pick something up." I said as he nodded.
"You got it." He said then waved to Sam and Juniper.
"Bye guys." He said then waved. "Bye best friend!" Juniper squealed. "Bye, Colby." Sam said with a smile as I cut up Juniper's pancakes.
"He's really cool, ya know." Sam said as I nodded. "Don't tell him that or he'll get a big head." I said with a laugh then started cleaning up.
"What kind of cake are we making?" Juniper asked and took a bite of her pancake.
"Well..Jenna wants a vanilla cake with strawberry frosting and Carter wants chocolate chocolate so we are making both." I explained.
"That's a pain." Sam said as I nodded. "Yeah, the twins suck." I said with a laugh. "That's mean." Juniper said as I nodded. "You're right, it is. I'm just joking." I said then looked at Sam.
"I'm not joking." I mouthed causing him to laugh. Once the kitchen was cleaned up I started getting stuff ready to make the cakes.
I was no baker and never would be so we were going to use box mix and canned frostings.
When we were growing up and poor I would buy boxed mixes every year for the kids' birthdays but once I got a job I splurged and got them a store made cake.
It turns out they liked my shitty homemade cakes better which was sweet but I knew these ones had to look nice.
The last thing I wanted was to embarrass them at all.
Sam, Juniper, and I spent the rest of the morning making the cakes for Jenna and Carter.
I really only let them help with the baking because the design would be the embarrassing part if it wasn't done well.
"Sam, can you tie the balloons if I blow them up?" I asked as he nodded. "Yup." He said as I sat on the ground and started blowing up the silver and gold balloons.
There wasn't really a theme for this party because they were "too old" to have a themed party, so we just went with shimmery colors and basic decorations.
Once I blew up a balloon, I handed it to Sam so he could tie it and hand it to Juniper so she could throw it somewhere.
It was honestly a great system but we were no where near ready for the party that was starting in only a few hours.
"Sam!! Look how cool this is!" Carter said as he ran into the room with some sort of game console.
"No way!!" Sam said with excitement as Jenna came into the room. "What did you get?" I asked and looked up at her, handing Sam another untied balloon.
"I got a kindle and Colby said I can get a bunch of books. We also got me an outfit for tonight." She said causing me to smile.
"Do you love it?" I asked as she nodded. "I really do." She said with a genuine smile.
"Where's Colby?" I asked then stood up. "The kitchen." She said as I nodded and went to go talk to him.
"Hey." I said and walked into the kitchen. "Hey, I picked up the pizzas and thought we could keep them warm in the oven." Colby said as I smiled. "You're really good at this." I said quietly.
"I'm good at what? Everything? Trust me darling, I know that." He said causing me to roll my eyes. "You ruined it. Thanks for getting the pizza." I said then went over and gave him a kiss.
"I have to decorate these cakes, can you make sure that chaos doesn't ensue in the living room?" I asked as he nodded.
"You got it, boss." He said then went to go watch the kids.
I spent the rest of the afternoon decorating the cakes and finishing up some of the details.
I wouldn't say the cakes would win any beauty awards but they weren't so ugly that the little shit teenagers would make fun of Jenna and Carter.
Once I was done decorating the cake I went up to Colby and I's room so I could get changed. "I put Juniper down for a quick little nap because she wants to get wired on sugar later." Colby said as I walked into the room.
"Very dad of you." I said causing him to laugh. "Listen, Juniper is fucking crazy already. I don't even want to know how crazy she can get with sugar coursing through her veins." He said as I walked up to him and wrapped my arms around him.
"Hey..you okay?" He asked as I nodded. "Just tired and a little worried." I said and rested my head on his chest. "Worried about what?" He asked as I sighed.
Before I could answer though, his phone started ringing. "It's Corey...." He said with confusion as he looked at his ringing phone.
I watched with confusion as he brought the phone to his ear.
I wanted to get mad at him for answering and possibly putting us in danger, but with how confused he looked I had to imagine Corey never called him like this.
"Corey?" Colby asked as I pulled away from him, watching intently. "Woah. Calm down, man. Explain what's happening." Colby said with a serious tone.
After a couple more seconds of silence his face went completely white, his eyes moving to mine.
"I'll be there soon." He said then hung up. "Colby...what's going on?" I asked nervously as he turned to go towards the closet.
"Colby." I prompted again as he turned to me again. I don't think I have ever seen him this shaken up which was actually scaring me.
It felt like an eternity before he finally spoke.
"Sam went missing."