Chapter 1684 The Lucky Coin
Since I did tell my daughter that she could take time to think things through, I could not very well pester her to come home without breaking my promise. Fortunately, I had Joseph as my source of information. He told me Summer was doing relatively well, and my worries eased slightly after that.
New Year’s Eve rolled around, and the city was awash in festive colors and lights. High-spirited, Audrey and Gregory had decorated the house with banners and balloons, and I could not help but think how much nicer it would be if Summer were here to celebrate the new year with us.
Audrey noticed the distinct lack of her sister when it was dinner time. Though it was not unusual for Summer to come home late, it seemed to have occurred to Audrey that she had not seen her sister at all for the past few days. “Mommy, Daddy, where’s Summer? Is she coming back soon?”
I did not have the heart to tell her that there was a chance she might not see Summer ever again, so I tried to change the subject. “Hey, Audrey, do you see those puddings over there on the table?” I pointed at the tray of mini puddings I had baked earlier. “Mommy made them. I hid a single coin in one of them. Whoever found it while eating the pudding will have good luck for the whole of next year!”
“Really?” Audrey’s eyes sparkled in excitement, and she made a beeline to the puddings at once. “I’m going to look for the coin now!”
“What are you going to do? Eat all of them by yourself?” I laughed, teasing.
She pouted. “Greg and Shaun will help me,” she said stubbornly, looking at the latter for affirmation. “You’ll help, right, Shaun?”
The subject of her pleading quietly took several puddings to his plate and started cutting them open one by one.
Happy with Shaun’s compliance, Audrey targeted her twin brother next. “Greg, I need your help too,” she wheedled. “I really want the good luck coin!”
Her brother shrugged, seemingly heedless of her plea, though I caught him taking several puddings as well and poking them with his fork.
I bit back a laugh. She has them wrapped around her little finger.
As the coin seeking continued, an unexpected and unwanted guest arrived.
“Happy New Year, my friends!” Lucas announced as he walked into the dining room.
He gave a low, impressed whistle at the table of food. “Wow, that’s a feast if there ever was one. Hey, is that chocolate pudding? I love chocolate puddings!”
Without preamble, he reached to take one of my mini puddings and popped it into his mouth. A second later, however, he frowned as he bit into something with an audible click.
He removed the item from his mouth, the frown morphing into a smirk when he saw what it was. “Oh wow, it’s a coin. Am I lucky, or what?”
I shot him a glare. “Maybe it’s a bad penny. Just like a certain someone here.”
Affected by neither the look I gave him nor the loaded meaning behind my words, Lucas shrugged and pocketed the coin.
It was then that Audrey broke into tears. “I didn’t get the coin!” she wailed. “I won’t have good luck next year!”
Lucas raised a brow. “Seriously? It’s just a coin,” he said dismissively before reaching into his pocket and handing the coin to her. “You can have it. Happy now?”
“No!” Audrey refused to take it and managed to pull an impressive glower for a child her age. “You’re a bad man!”
“Hey, I’m a guest, all right?” Lucas said indignantly. “Didn’t your parents teach you to be on your best manners in front of guests? Don’t act all rude.”
