Travis's Gift (Riley's Pride #3)- Sandra R Neeley Page 0,16
first? Craft stuff, building supplies, or grocery?” Travis asked, doing his best to make this afternoon as pleasant as he could.
“Building supplies, I think,” Libby answered.
“Building supplies it is,” Travis said.
Chapter 6
Maia stirred the pot of chicken and andouille gumbo. She took out a clean teaspoon and scooped up some of the luscious broth, bringing it to her lips to taste. “Mmm!” she moaned at the flavor of the rich tastes all combined into one. “Mama has made one hell of a gumbo, Bastian,” Maia said. She checked the rice and reduced the heat below the pot to simmer before turning back to Sebastian who was sitting in his infant carrier, watching her with his little eyebrows pulled down low over his eyes.
Maia chuckled at him. He was growling at her each time she tasted something he didn’t get to taste. “You’re not supposed to have it! It’s too rich for you.”
Bastian squirmed, kicking his feet out, and his tiny chest rumbled to let her know he was not happy.
“Here,” she said, “eat a teething biscuit.”
Maia handed Bastian one of his teething biscuits, and he looked at it critically before sticking the end of it into his mouth and beginning to gnaw on it.
“See? It’s a good biscuit, isn't it?” she asked as she spread butter on French bread.
“Unh!” he said, while thrusting his teething biscuit toward her.
“You want some butter on it?” she asked, looking around to be sure no one was watching. Then she pulled her own eyebrows down. “You know what? You’re mine. If I want to put a touch of butter on your teething biscuit, I can put a touch of butter on your biscuit!” she said, taking the hard cookie from Sebastian. She used the butter knife she’d been using and really just put the rest of whatever remained on the dull blade on the end of his biscuit, but it didn’t matter. He’d seen her add some of the food she’d had onto his biscuit, and that was all he needed.
As Maia handed it back to him, he cooed at her and took the finger shaped biscuit from her with his eyes alight like it was the best thing in the whole world, immediately shoving it into his mouth.
He gnawed happily away while Maia smiled at him. “I agree. Butter is life. Just saying.”
“Maia?” Riley called as he walked through the front door.
“In the kitchen,” she answered. Then she looked at Sebastian. “Daddy’s home!”
“Hey, baby,” Riley said, striding right up to Maia and pulling her into his arms for the kind of kiss that just thinking about it makes you breathless. “Missed you,” he said, finally pulling his mouth from hers.
“I missed you, too,” Maia answered.
“Hey, little man!” Riley said, reaching toward the infant carrier and unbuckling Sebastian’s safety strap. He lifted Sebastian from the carrier and into his arms. “How’s my little man?” he asked.
Sebastian, grinning from ear-to-ear with drool dripping from his chin and waving his teething biscuit over his head, launched into a minute long babble of serious sounding baby speak. He finally stopped when he showed his daddy his half-eaten biscuit.
“Really?” Riley asked. “Okay, alright. I see! It looks really delicious.”
The back door opened and Cristie burst through it. “Doddy!” she called out, running toward him with her hands full of leaves.
“Hey, baby girl! What ‘cha doing out there?” Riley asked.
“Mama said I could go collect some leaves for my art project, as long as I don’t go past the back fence,” Cristie explained.
“What are you going to do with them?” Riley asked.
“I’m going to put them between two sheets of paper and color over the top of them to make an imprint, then I’m going to use them to decorate a wreath I’m making.”
“Why don’t you just use the leaves for the project?” Riley asked.
“Because every part of it has to be made by us,” Cristie answered, rolling her eyes.
“Sounds fun,” Riley said, faking enthusiasm.
“It might be later, but it’s not now,” Cristie said, holding up a red leaf for Sebastian to see.
“Baby, put your leaves away, and get washed up for dinner,” Maia said to Cristie, walking over to kiss the girl on the head before she set the bowls she carried on the table.
“Yes, ma’am,” Cristie said. She stopped halfway out of the kitchen and looked back at Riley. “Doddy, Mama called Aunt Avaleigh to learn how to cook her gumbo!”
“You better hurry then. If I eat it all, it’s not my fault,” Riley teased.