Heart and Soul

6. Being Cute (T)

A/N: Triple update but now I'm late and I have to drive in the woods in the very dark :) you're welcome

Taylen's POV

The boys came home and Adam left. We all cuddled up on the couch for a movie. Each of my kiddos found a way to be close to me as we did, and they had all fallen asleep by the time the movie was over. I carefully got up, trying not to disturb them as I went to make lunch. I decided I would make a large pot of potato soup and feed it to them for dinner as well. Potato soup was one of Eliza's favorites so I thought I would invite her and Rodger too. I called her and put her on speaker phone as I peeled potatoes.

"Hey, girl?" she answered.

"Hello," I replied.

"What's up?" she asked.

"The boys and I were wondering if you and Rodger would like to come over for dinner. We're having potato soup."

"Peter came over today and is staying for dinner or else I would accept."

In a moment of thoughtlessness, I said, "Bring him with you if you want. I'm making a huge pot and we're not going to be able to eat it all."

"You sure?" she sounded hesitant but I assured her it was fine.

"Alright, I'll talk to him and let you know."

"Ok, sounds good. Talk to ya later."

"Bye, Tay."

We hung up and Lucas came into the kitchen. He got a glass of water and chugged the whole thing.

"Want help now since I didn't help you with breakfast?" he sounded like he still felt guilty.

"If you wanna help, then sure, pumpkin."

Lucas washed his hands before grabbing the other peeler to peel the potatoes. There were only a few left so I went ahead and started on the other components of the soup. Lucas was then put in charge of cooking the bacon. Once we had gotten it to the point where it just needed time to cook, we sat down at the bar. I checked my phone and saw that Eliza had said that Rodger wasn't going to be able to make it but she and Peter would be there. I told her that we would eat at about 6.

I didn't know how I felt about Peter coming over. I hadn't seen him very many times in the last ten or so years, so it was weird to me. I had forgiven him for the things he had done and said to me, but he still had a lot he needed to make up for. Not so much to me, but a lot to make up for with Eliza. He had been home for three weeks before finally coming to see her this time. A few times he's been in before, he hasn't even tried to see her. It was ridiculous to me that he could do such a thing, but he seemed to have a knack for shutting people he loves out. If I was in Eliza's position (which I hope I never am), I would have already busted my kid's ass for acting that way, adult or not.

"Aunt Eliza and her son are coming over for dinner," I told Lucas.

He looked over at me with his eyebrows furrowed, "Which one?"

"Peter," I told him, trying to keep the nervousness out of my tone.

Lucas was great at reading people. I had a hard time hiding any emotions from him, no matter how hard I tried. I didn't know why I was nervous. It wasn't that big of a deal. My high school sweetheart that I was engaged to before he broke it off and ran away to Africa was coming over to eat supper with my family and me. Not a big deal.

"Peter, huh? Is that who Ev was talking about last night?"

"Yep."

"How are you feeling about that?" Lucas asked.