Filed to story: My Life with the Walter Boys Book (I & II) PDF Free
Finally she sighed. “I don’t want to wear a dress,” she said, her voice coming up out of the darkness.
I wanted to tell her that it would be fun, that the right dress could make any girl feel special, but it was the first time she’d opened up to me, and I didn’t want to ruin it. “How come?”
“They’re so girly.”
“But you are a girl,” I said, choosing my words carefully.
“I’m a Walter,” she said, as if that meant something different.
“What does that mean?” I asked. “Because you live with a bunch of boys, you’re required to act like one?”
She considered this for a moment, and I could see her outline in the dark, twisting her blanket in her hands as she thought. “Yeah, kind of. Being one of the boys makes me special. Everyone at school knows who I am—Parker Walter, the tough girl with eleven brothers who can play tackle football and burp louder than any of the guys in my grade.”
I laughed. “But what about at home?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, if you’re just one of the boys, what makes you different from your brothers?”
“I don’t know.”
“Honestly, Parker, you have the best of both worlds,” I said, sitting up in bed. “You can enjoy doing boy things, like watching sports and playing video games. But you can also put on a dress and be a girl. That’s something that your brothers can’t do.”
She was quiet for a long time. “I never thought about it that way.”
“Being a girl doesn’t make you weak, Parker. It makes you special.”
“I guess I can wear the dress, but just this once,” she said. “And you have to promise not to curl my hair.”
“All right,” I told her. “It’s a deal.”
***
Saturday morning did not go smoothly. Since life with the Walters was always unpredictable, I’d set my alarm an hour earlier than needed as I almost expected some kind of tiny disaster to occur. Of course, the extra hour wasn’t near enough time when something did happen. I was standing at the toaster waiting for my English muffin to pop when I heard a scream.
“Katherine?” I asked, rushing into the dining room. “What is it?”
“The cupcakes,” she said, clamping a hand to her mouth in horror. She was standing at the head of the dining-room table, and for a moment, I was afraid they were gone—
how could the boys eat two hundred cupcakes?
—but then, she stepped aside, revealing all of baked treats. “I forgot to frost them.”
“Okay,” I said calmly. “I have some time. Where’s the frosting?”
She disappeared back into the kitchen and I heard the fridge open. “…Just knew something like this would happen. Told George something wasn’t right before we went to bed, but did he listen?” A moment later she was back, carrying an armful of supplies. “So the frosting is already mixed,” Katherine told me, quick to use my help. “You just need to make sure half of the cupcakes are frosted teal and the other half yellow. I have a few icing tubes with different piping tips you can use. Once they’re all frosted, I also have sprinkles that go on top.”
And just like that, I had a huge project on my hands. I thought it would be easy, but I’d never frosted two hundred cupcakes before. It took a lot longer than I thought. I was only about halfway done when I looked at the clock and panicked. I still needed to take a shower, get ready, and do Parker’s hair.
“Crap, crap, crap!” I said, as the frosting in the tube I was squeezing ran out. Refilling the tubes was the messiest and most frustrating part of the job.
“Jackie, are you okay?” someone asked.
I glanced up to see Cole. His hair was damp from a shower, and he was already dressed in his suit. When he leaned against the table, I realized he was eating a cupcake.
“Can you please not do that?” I snapped.
“Do what?” he asked me through a mouthful.
“Eat those! They’re for the wedding.” I yelled.
“Sorry,” Cole said quietly after swallowing. He looked away from me, and I was flooded with guilt. I shouldn’t take my frustration out on him, because none of this was his fault.
“Look, Cole, I didn’t mean to snap at you,” I said. “It’s just that I still have to get ready and help Parker, and this is taking forever.”
“Do you need help?” he asked after a second, completely catching me off guard.
“Thanks, Cole, but you’re already dressed. I wouldn’t want you to get your suit dirty.”
“That’s no problem.” He started to shrug out of his jacket. When that was off, his fingers began working the buttons on his shirt, and I couldn’t help but stare. Soon he was down to his dress pants and undershirt. “Okay, boss,” he asked, setting his clothes aside where they wouldn’t get dirty. “What do you need me to do?”
It took me a minute to regain my composure, but then I breathed a sigh of relief. “Here,” I said, handing him the empty icing tube. “If you could fill this with yellow frosting and start on that row over there, that would be amazing.”
“Sure thing,” he said, taking the tube from me. “And by the way, you have frosting on your nose.”
“Did I get it?” I asked, using the back of my hand.
“Here,” Cole said, stepping forward. He brought his finger up to my face and rubbed it off. Then he stuck his finger in his mouth and sucked away the frosting. “Got it.”
My cheeks went pink, and I turned back toward the table to hide my embarrassment. “Thanks,” I said, grabbing one of the sprinkle containers. “We should probably get to work.”
“Of course.”
I risked a quick glance in Cole’s direction. He was already spooning the yellow paste into the tube, his hands quick, but on his face was the classic Cole smirk. We both knew that he had gotten to me.
***