"Are you sure? You know it would ease my mind. Well, since you have business there…"

My daddy smiles at me as I walk into the kitchen the next morning. He is leaning against the breakfast bar, talking on the phone.

"I'll talk to you about it later…exactly. Bye."

He hangs up the phone and walks over to me. I am still standing in the doorway rubbing the sleep from my eyes. He wraps me in his arms and kisses the top of my head.

"Morning snowball."

"Hey," I mumble, fumbling my way over to a stool. "Who were you talking to?" I ask with a yawn.

"An old friend."

He gets out a bowl and a spoon and places it in front of me. Then he bends down and pulls out a couple of boxes of cereal and places them next to my bowl. Then he walks over to the refrigerator and gets out the gallon of milk.

I open up a box of cereal and pour it into the bowl. Then I take the gallon of milk and pour it on top.

My daddy knows exactly what I need.

"Thanks," I say with my mouth full.

"No problem. I gave you that trait, the least I can do it help you with it."

He smiles and I laugh.

"Hi daddy," Ashleigh says as she comes running into the kitchen.

Daddy scoops her up in his arms. Ashleigh is the spitting image of him…only in female form. Her hair is very curly and light brown. Her eyes are blue. Even her nose, eyes and lips are shaped like his.

"Morning daffodil. You sleep well?"

She nods.

"Good, because we're going to spend the day at the lake," he says, setting her down.

"Oh good," she says running over to get herself a bowl and a spoon out.

She sits down next to me and grabs a box of cereal.

"Morning," I say, looking down at her.

"Hi," she says cheerfully.

Mama comes walking into the kitchen. She still has on her pajamas and her hair is a mess.

"Who does she take after?" I ask, nodding my head toward Ashleigh. "Because right now, it sure doesn't look like either of you."

Both of my parents chuckle.

"We're not sure. We think it skipped a generation," daddy says.

Mama yawns and leans up against daddy. He wraps an arm around her so she doesn't loose her balance.

"Have you called Grandma and Grandpa yet?" I ask.

"No, I was getting ready to do that," he says picking up the phone and dialing.

Mama slowly walks over to the coffee maker and pours herself a cup of coffee.

Daddy walks into the other room.

"I have such a headache," mama says, rubbing her temple before she takes a sip of the coffee.

She sighs and smiles. "I love him."

"Who?" Ashleigh asks.

"Your daddy. Not only is he handsome, but he makes one hell of a pot of coffee."

I giggle. I'll have to remember that line one day.

"They can both make it. They'll be here in a couple of hours," daddy says as he walks back into the kitchen.

Mama walks over to him and pulls his head down for a kiss.

"What was that for?" he asks when she pulls away.

"For the coffee."

He smiles. "Anytime. I mean that," he says winking at her.

"Now, someone has to get Cody up," I say before I drink the remaining milk from the bowl.

Mama and daddy look at each other.

"I think it's your turn," mama says pointing at daddy.

"No, I did it last Sunday. It's your turn."

I laugh at the exchange.

"What's so funny? You try it," mama tells me.

"I'll go do it," Ashleigh says cheerfully as she starts to get down from the stool.

"No," both of my parents say.

Her lip quivers for a second. "Okay," she pouts.

I put my arm around her and squeeze her to my side.

"I think they would be scared for you if you did."

"Why?" she asks, obviously still upset by the outburst.

"Because he's injured people who have tried to wake him up."

"He wouldn't hurt me," she says.

"Not on purpose," I say.

Mama walks over to us and she kisses the side of Ashleigh's head.

"I didn't mean to scare you. We were kidding around. But, it's not fun to go wake your brother up."

Ashleigh leans into mama's warmth.

"Okay," she says.

"I'll do it," daddy sighs as he heads into the other room and up the stairs.

After a couple of minutes we hear a thunk coming from upstairs.

"Maybe I should go check on him," mama says, biting her nail.

"Oh my God, I can't believe you guys are like this. He's your son," I say.

Daddy walks into the kitchen.

"You okay?" mama asks.

"Yeah. He threw a shoe. I thought I had moved everything out of his reach," daddy shrugs.

"Where is he?" mama asked, looking behind him.

"I picked him up and put him in the shower and turned it on."

My mouth falls open and I cover it with my hand.

"Ohhh, he's going to be mad," I say.

"Was he dirty?" Ashleigh asks.

"His mouth was," daddy mumbles. "Yes, he needed to take a shower…help wake him up," he winks at my sister.

Once we are finished eating, we all retreat upstairs to get ready for the lake.

There's a knock on my door.

"Come in," I say.

"I need you to help me pick something out," mama says as she enters my room.

"Okay," I say, looking up from the bag I'm packing.

"Which one?" she asks holding up two bikinis.

"Um, I think the pink one will look better."

She screws up her nose. "Really?"

I laugh. "Yes. Why don't you just go ask daddy. He'll let you know."

"He's talking to Cody. I have no idea what's wrong with that boy today."

"He's twelve. Enough said," I shrug.

The doorbell rings.

"Oh shoot. Grandma and Grandpa are here," mama says.

"I'm done, I'll go let them in."

I grab my bag and walk out of my room. Mama heads toward her bedroom and I go downstairs.

Ashleigh has already let them in.

"There's my angel," Grandma says as she leans over and kisses my cheek.

Grandpa Paul pulls me into a hug and kisses the side of my head.

"Hi…I'm so glad you guys could make it today."

"Grandma…come look at this," Ashleigh says pulling her toward the playroom.

"Oh my," Grandma laughs as she's drug behind Ashleigh.

"You getting excited?" Grandpa asks me once they leave the room.

I bite my lower lip. "Yeah," I say timidly.

"You have to do better than that," he says as we walk into the kitchen.

"I'll be fine…once I'm there."

"You'll be great," he says taking my hand.

"Hey, thought I heard the doorbell," daddy says as he walks into the kitchen to join us.

He gives his dad a hug.

"How are you?" Grandpa asks him.

"I'm good. Having pre-teen problems, but we'll survive."

"Cody?"

"Yeah. I'm seriously thinking about making him stay here while we all go out, but I don't trust him by himself."

"He's not that bad," I say.

Daddy looks over at me.

"It's a phase," he tells me. "He got worse when you were away," he chuckles softly.

His tone has me worried.

"I picked the pink one," mama says as she walks into the kitchen.

"Pink what?" daddy asks.

"You'll see. Where's mom?" she asks looking around.

"Ashleigh drug her into her playroom," I tell them.

"I showed Grandma my picture I drew," Ashleigh says as she and Grandma walk back into the kitchen.

"You did?" mama asks her. "What did she say?"

"She liked it," Ashleigh says, blushing slightly.

"She's got real talent there."

"Yeah, she does," daddy says, walking over to Grandma to give her a hug and a kiss.

"We ready?" Grandma asks, looking around. "Oh, where's Cody?"

"I'm here," he mumbles, walking slowly into the kitchen.

"Hi honey, come here and give me a hug and a kiss," Grandma says holding her arms out.

He looks up at daddy and glares at him and then walks over to Grandma. He lets her hug him but he doesn't put his arms around her.

Mama glares at him and he sees this out of the corner of his eye so he lightly places his arms around her back.

Mama and daddy quickly look at each other.

"Let's go," daddy says, getting the cooler off of the table.

"This is nice," I say as I lay out next to mama.

"It's the perfect day," she agrees.

"Mama, is Cody okay?" I ask, making sure no one can hear me.

"Yeah. He'll be fine. We're dealing with some things right now."

"Like what?"

She glances over at me.

"Honey I know you're concerned but let's just leave it alone, okay? Your daddy and I are trying to deal with it."

"Okay. He's not sick is he?"

"No."

"Okay. Is he doing okay at school?"

Mama looks at me again.

"Adriana, drop it," she says gently.

"Sorry."

"Mama, watch," we hear Ashleigh say.

Mama sits up so she can see where Ashleigh is standing on the side of the boat.

"One…two…three," she says before she jumps off the side.

"Oh good Lord," mama says as he hand flies to her chest.

We hear daddy laugh. He pokes his head around the corner.

"She's got a life vest on," he says.

"But still."

"She's fine," Grandpa says. He was in the water, waiting to catch her.

Ashleigh climbs up into the boat and walks quickly over to us.

"Did you see?" she asks.

"Yes, that was very good," mama says, handing her a towel. "Sit down so I can put more sun screen on you."

"Okay," she says sitting down on mama's lap.

"Justin?" mama yells.

"Yeah?"

"Come here so I can put more sun screen on your shoulders."

He comes around the corner.

"How do you know if I need more sun screen?" he asks trying to look at his shoulders.

"Because…our daughter, who favors you so much, needs it, so I know you need it," she says as she rubs the sunscreen on Ashleigh's shoulders.

"Oh," he says, tapping his finger on Ashleigh's nose.

"There you go," mama says, patting Ashleigh's bottom so she knows she's done.

Ashleigh gets up and walks to the other side of the boat to sit next to Grandma.

I turn over so I'm lying on my stomach.

"Have I told you how much I like bright pink?" I hear daddy ask.

Mama giggles. "No. I wasn't sure if I was going to or not."

"I knew it," I mumble.

"Adriana helped me decide."

"Good choice," he says, patting my leg.

I laugh then I hear them kiss.

"Sissy, you're on the radio," Ashleigh yells.