Chapter Twelve

"Me an' nana did yoda!" Cori told Drew excitedly.

Olivia was dropping the girl home. Brianna and Trent were shopping for her presents for her dads. Olivia was going to take Cori to a craft shop tomorrow so the child could make her gifts for her parents; she wanted to paint special pencil cups for them.

If Cori didn't mean yoga something new was available.

"I'm barely at the beginner level," Olivia said. "No one got hurt."

Drew smiled. There was nothing wrong with having flexibility for anything but he was glad to hear neither had been twisted into a pretzel. He had seen patients at the E.R. come in locked in strange positions; he still didn't see any point in having your ankles wrapped around one's neck.

Cori happily showed off the boxes of Rick's toy cars.

"I can play with them, right, dad?" She asked Rick.


Brianna decided on the latest Avengers movie for Drew and a book about vintage cars for Rick. Next was a stop at Build-A-Bear for Cori's present, so she could add to Elliott's wardrobe. Trent bought something too. He first picked a pink tutu but Brianna said Cori or Elliott didn't like frills. His older grandchild pointed out a pair of teddy bear sneakers. Cori wasn't a girl for dolls of any kind, so it was either Elliott or Rex that was the target for dress-up.

Everyone, especially Rex preferred it be Elliott.

At Alister-Lincoln home, who was having more fun with Rick's childhood toys was questionable. Rick Lincoln had forgotten how much fun it was to drive dinkies off of ramps of legos was. He pointed out a red jeep saying he spent all of his allowance to get it.

"And I did extra chores for nana to get this one," he picking up a fire engine.

"All this coming from a man who usually forgets half the groceries and has to go back," Drew teased.

"Did my forgetfulness not result in a tasty discovery?"

Two days ago, they had ran out of peanut butter. The family had nutella and jelly sandwiches for dinner.

"Yes, you're a real pioneer."


"Is my present in that bag?" Rick asked Brianna the moment she stepped into the porch.

"Maybe," she said, clenching her shopping bag, grinning. "Could be a lump of coal, you know."

"For me? Never in my life have I got one of those!"

Brianna still didn't know what to get her best friend for Christmas. She would have to e-mail Syd and ask her.

"You're freezing!" Drew said hugging his daughter, kissing her brow.

"It's cold outside," she said. "It's going to snow tonight."

Tomato soup and grill cheese sandwiches were the perfect meal to warm up in cold weather. Yoga and shopping after a sleep-over at nana and papa's must have been very tiring. Both girls were asleep long before bedtime.