Aubrey
The rest of the afternoon was a bit...tense. After the whole hand holding thing at the grocery store Knox has kept his distance from me. He had such a wall around him it was so hard to tell what was going on in his head.
Jackson sat across from us in the living room and I just hoped he couldn't see the slight awkwardness between the two of us. Out of everyone Jackson would be the one to figure out Knox and I's relationship isn't real. Sometimes he was too perceptive.
"Did Aubrey show you around town today?" Jackson asked looking between Knox and I."She did. She said you guys have tons of events going on all week too."
"Oh yeah the Christmas festival." Jackson nodded. "Kind of a staple around here. Mom will probably make us go on the final night.""No doubt she's volunteered at a booth or something.""Typical mom." The two of us shook our heads. Every single year mom had to volunteer for something for the festival. Whether it be runnin
"Why does it keep falling!""You're not putting enough icing.""Yes I am. Look.""
Despite all of our hard work on our gingerbread house and how amazing it actually turned out, Sophie and Charlotte won along with Lucas and Annie. While their house was structurally good because of Annie and Lucas, the decoration was a mess from the girls. Sprinkles everywhere, candy canes, dots, gummy bears and worms just laying around covered in icing.I couldn't even be disappointed that they won by the looks of their faces when my mom pulled out two stuffed reindeer animals; their faces were priceless. It was clear my mom planned on picking them from the beginning. But none of us went empty handed for our effort.All four of us got bags of candied almonds. Not as great as the reindeers but better than nothing. The only person who seemed upset about losing was Jackson. When he heard Sophie and Charlottes names he made a sound like he had been shot. Then preceded to tell my mom she made a horrible mistake.He took her by the hand and showed her every details o
Episode 27"We have a busy agenda today everyone." My mom clapped her hands loudly making me wince.I yawned into my coffee mug as I took a sip, beside me Jackson was scrubbing at his eyes and yawning as well. The only two people who didn't seem annoyed at being woken up early was Olivia and Knox. I'm pretty sure Olivia was only happy to be awake because my mom was taking her to the bakery again today.As soon as she got home yesterday she talked non-stop about it, even when she was covered in flour. Telling both Knox and I every detail of how she learned to make make bread, cookies, and pastries. She even learned to work the cash register. I was 100% certain she ate most of what she baked because she was practically bouncing off the walls.As for Knox being awake so early, well I had a feeling he was use to it. Even after last nights...event,he seemed fine. I had a small idea of what last night was. The way he kept muttering 'no' and thrashing
Stepping foot into my mom's bakery, Anytime Cakes,brought me right back high school and working here. The smell of fresh cookies and bread incase the building and brought a smile to my face.It's been a year since I last stepped foot in here and I was happy to see nothing has changed. The walls were covered with photos of customers and my family. My mom wanted the place to be home-y and friendly so over the years we've gotten pictures with almost every customer that has come here.The handful of tables and chairs scattered about were still the same ones we've had for years. The whole place screamed home to me, making my heart hurt. Just another reminder of how bad of a daughter I've been not coming home more often to help out.The moment Olivia and I stepped foot into the bakery Katie put us straight to work. Katie was a few years older older than at me at 27, the same age as Lucas. She's been helping my parents out at the bakery for years now and basicall
Knox"Of course we get stuck with the heavy lifting." Aubrey's brother Jackson grunted in front of me as the two of us lifted a huge square of wood up."I thought your mom said she only needed a few things done with the booth, not that we had to build it from the ground up."Once we got the piece of wood up and secured with some nails, we stepped back to look at the work we had done so far."That's my mom for you. Makes it seem like an easy task but its not."As soon as Jackson and I made it to where the festival was being held, Aubrey's mom descended on us telling us where to go and what to do. I lied to Aubrey earlier when I said I could handle her mom...she was worse than any drill sergeant I have had, and trust me I've had my fair share.Somehow us helping finish her booth turned into us building the entire thing, with a promise we'd help with others afterwards."You guys do this every festival?" To which Jackson nodded. "How many are
"You are late."Those were the first words out of my mom's mouth when Olivia and I finally got to the festival. The baking competition was almost over even though my mom said we had to be there before it started."Sorry for the last minute rush at the bakery." I lied sharing a glance with Olivia.After learning about their parents Olivia and I spent the rest of our time talking about everything and anything. I told her stories about growing up with two brothers. She told me stories about Knox before he went into the Marines.I'd always wanted a younger sister that I could be close with and have fun with, and I got that today with Olivia. Sure I had Leah who was basically my sister but with Olivia being only 17 I already felt prot
"You snooze, you lose." I stuck my tongue out as I hooked my last ring on the bottle."You are 100% cheating." Knox narrowed his eyes at me."How can I cheat at throwing rings?" I shot him a look, placing my hands on my hips."The fact that you have done this year after year means you are cheating.""I don't...." I shook my head. Deciding to ignore him I turned to point out which stuffed animal I wanted. When the guy handed over the fairly good sized Panda I crushed it to my chest with a grin."Lets go find something you aren't secretly good at." With my new stuffed animal in my arms I brushed past Knox, purposely trailing my hand up his arm and leaning in more than necessary."I'm good at everything babe." With a smirk I continued on past him towards another booth we had yet to go to. I let myself take a quick peek over my shoulder and saw Knox still standing there staring after me. He had an almost stunned look on his face that made me sti
As soon as we got back to the house and warmed up, Olivia tugged me upstairs to her room to finish the photo album for Knox's Christmas present. With Christmas literally being a day away the two of us locked ourselves in the room to finish it.It took us well over an hour to finish up because every picture I found myself staring at. Seeing Knox transform from a little baby to a lanky teenager then to an attractive 18 year old. I saw the pictures of him with his parents and the sight of them made my heartache for both him and Olivia.Their parents looked like a perfect couple. Olivia clearly took after their mom with her blonde hair and green eyes. She was an exact replica from the pictures she showed me. And Knox looked like his father with the same dirty brown hair, wide shoulders, and even the grin his father had seemed to match Knox's.The few pictures that did catch my attention were of Knox in his military uniform. The first few were clearly f