The Kids Grow Up by Trish Hanan (novel24 .TXT) 📖

he said and she shook he head.
“No way, I guess I’ll just have to wait for you to make some,” she whined. When she joined Fran for dinner she was pissed though. “You would think with all of his wine he wouldn’t mind sharing a few bottles with me,” she muttered. Fran smiled but didn’t say anything. She offered her a nice dinner roll she had made with Bisquick instead. Edna took, buttered it and frowned when she bit into it.
“God, I miss flour,” she said. Fran nodded.
A few days later Kate came over when the kids were eating lunch and wondered what they were eating. Harry smiled and offered her a sandwich.
“No, thank you Henry, Barb is making egg salad and I love her egg salad, what are you eating today?” she asked and looked at the table.
“We’re eating pastrami and Swiss cheese on rye bread with mustard and potato salad,” he told her and she nodded. He walked her to the door and then she frowned.
“I don’t remember any of the bread mixes coming in rye bread,” she said. He nodded.
“Oh, yes, we found a case and we love it,” he lied smoothly. She nodded.
“Well, that sounds perfectly dreadful to me,” she said and left. Fran giggled when he returned and he winked at her and sat down to enjoy his sandwich. Jake wagged a finger at him.
“You’re a very bad boy,” he told him. Harry nodded.
“Will you punish me later?” he asked suggestively and Jake felt his heart stop. All he could do was nod. Harry giggled. Jackson looked up.
“Why was Dad a bad boy?” he asked. Harry grinned.
“I told your grandmother a little fib. I didn’t like to do it but sometimes in life you’ll find out that you have to do it to prevent a big fat stink and this was one of those times,” he told them. All the kids nodded.
“Is it because we’ve got flour and everyone else has bread mixes?” Emma asked and Harry nodded.
“You’re a very clever girl and, yes, that’s exactly the reason, please whatever you do; don’t mention to anyone that we’ve got flour, first it’s none of their business and second, it’ll cause a big fat stink,” he explained and they nodded.
“I don’t gossip anyway, I just listen to gossip, that’s more fun,” Cassie declared and Harry grinned.
“You’re a very clever girl too, darling, in fact, we’re raising a houseful of very clever children,” he announced and all the children sat up higher. Danny grinned.
“I like rye bread, can we plant some rye seeds next year?” he asked and Harry nodded.
“Yes, we can, I think that’s an excellent idea,” he declared and they all grinned.
A month later Kathleen was at their house with the other ladies and Harry baked a cake using a mix and they all sighed.
“This just doesn’t taste as good as your usual cakes, Harry,” she said and he grinned.
“This cake is fine, Kathleen, there’s nothing wrong with this cake,” he told her. She nodded but he knew she didn’t believe him. Danny came in the room.
“Can I have some cookies?” he asked and Harry nodded. He came back munching on some chocolate chip cookies and April grabbed him.
“Hey, those look yummy, how about one for your Aunt April?” she teased and he giggled and handed her one. He escaped to the game room where all the kids were playing and she bit into the cookie.
“Oh, wow, this is terrific, I can’t believe you made this with a mix, here, Kathleen, taste this,” she said and handed a piece to her friend.
“Oh, wow is right, Harry, this cookie is great; how did you get this from a mix?” she asked. Harry laughed.
“Now, if I told you that Kathleen, I’d have to kill you,” he teased and they all laughed.
“You are the best cook, Steve and the kids are always complaining about my cooking, I swear if I hear it about my tuna fish one more time, I’m going to scream,” Kathleen told them. Harry laughed.
“Stop putting pickle relish in it, they hate pickle relish in their tuna fish Kathleen,” he explained and she looked shocked.
“But I love pickle relish in my tuna fish,” she said. He shrugged.
“Well, you’re the only one in your house who does, darling,” Harry told her and she giggled.
The next day Kate came over and Harry answered the door.
“Hello, Mom, what can I do for you?” he asked. She smiled.
“You can give me a box of your rye bread mix. Barb says she hasn’t had rye bread in years and she is dieing for some,” she told him. Harry shook his head and she frowned.
“Sorry, Mom, we used up the last box the other day and there’s no more left,” he informed her and she looked shocked.
“But you said you had a case of it,” she stammered. He nodded.
“Yes, but I also have seven children, Jake, me and Fran to feed and everyone loved the rye bread so much we pigged it up,” he explained. She sighed.
“You don’t even have a slice left for your mother?” she asked and he shook his head.
“You should have asked yesterday, Jake ate the last of it this morning for breakfast, he loves his rye toast,” he said. She sighed and went home. Barb was very disappointed when she found out but what could you do? When they mentioned it to Jan she remarked that she didn’t know the bread mixes came in rye, she had never seen that variety. In fact no one they talked to had ever heard of rye bread mixes from Genco.
The next day at school Kate went to talk to her son and found him eating his lunch. She walked up to him and tapped her heels. He looked at her.
“Did you want something, Mother?” he asked politely.
“Yes I do, you know I’ve been talking to a lot of people Henry and no one has ever heard of rye bread mixes from Genco, they didn’t know they made them,” she snapped. He shook his head.
“What exactly does that mean, you think I made them up?” he teased and she frowned.
“No, I didn’t say that, but I find it hard to believe that all of a sudden you have rye bread and then when I ask for some you don’t have any, why are you hiding your rye bread from me?” Kate snapped.
“I’m not hiding my rye bread, Mom, do you hear yourself, how ridiculous you sound,” he laughed and took a bite out of his sandwich which thankfully was on wheat bread. She glared at him.
“Well, how do you explain that out of all the people on the planet, you manage to find the only case of rye bread?” she asked. He shrugged.
“I was the one who looked through most of those bins, Mom. They were my bins and anyway I didn’t find it, Jake was the one who found it,” he told her. She pursed her lips.
“There’s something funny going on here and I don’t know what it is but I know you’re hiding something from me,” she snapped and walked away.
“Have a nice day,” he called to her back and giggled.
“I swear my mother is such a royal pain in the ass,” he told Jake that night as they were getting ready for bed. Jake laughed and rubbed his back. Harry sighed.
“Oh, honey, I would keep you just for the back rubs,” he declared and Jake laughed softly and moved around to the front and pinched his nipples. Harry groaned.
“Only for the back rubs?” Jake teased and Harry shivered as his honey nuzzled his neck.
“Mm, you know all the right buttons to push don’t you,” Harry murmured and Jake grinned and pushed him back on the pillows and straddled him. Harry gave him a passion filled look, his purple eyes dark and half closed. Jake trembled at that look.
“Oh, babe, don’t you ever look at anyone else that way,” he murmured and kissed him hard. Harry wrapped his long legs around Jake’s waist and scratched the inside of his thighs driving him insane.
“Oh, it’s like that tonight,” Jake whispered harshly and he reached for the lube. Harry pinched Jake’s nipples and licked them, sucking hard and drove him wilder. Jake groaned and lost control. He entered him hard and took him with powerful thrusts and Harry kissed him hard, their bodies covered with sweat as they climbed the peak together and exploded as one and laughed and kissed.
“Oh, wow, honey I love you,” Harry whispered against Jake’s smiling mouth. Jake kissed him hard.
“I love you too, babe,” he whispered back. They fell asleep wrapped together.
A few days later Harry was taking several pineapple-upside-down cakes out of the oven when Kathleen came to call. She brought all of her kids who were more than happy to run screaming into the game room and play with his and both parents grinned.
“Oh, yummy, those look terrific, what kind of cakes are those?” she asked. Harry grinned and placed one on a plate and turned it upside down and took away the pan. She laughed when it revealed the pineapples and cherries.
“Oh, it’s a pineapple upside down cake, I didn’t know you could bake those with the mixes,” she said. Harry grinned.
“You can bake anything with the mixes, darling, you just have to be creative,” he told her. He flipped cakes number two and three and put then on the table to cool. “Would you like some coffee?” he asked and she nodded. Jackson came running into the kitchen.
“Can we have some cookies?” he asked and Harry nodded. Jackson grinned and took the whole container into the other room. Kathleen grinned.
“Well, that’s the end of the cookies,” she teased. Harry grinned and reached for another container.
“Only those cookies, would you care for a cookie?” he asked and she grinned.
“Yummy chocolate chip with nuts, my favorite,” she gushed and she bit into it. “Oh, man, Harry, you can’t tell me you made these from a mix, you’ve got to give me the recipe,” she said. He grinned and ate his own cookie.
“Now, darling, you know I don’t share recipes,” he told her and she sighed. Fran came in the room and began to make a sandwich. Kathleen watched out of the corner of her eye.
“That’s weird bread, Fran, what kind is that?” she asked. Fran looked at Harry who winked.
“That’s rye bread,” he told her. Kathleen frowned.
“Rye bread, I didn’t know the bread mixes came in rye, I’ve never seen rye,” she said. Harry shrugged.
“We only had the case and its all gone, that’s the last of it,” he told her and she nodded.
“Well, then you got lucky to get the only case,” she said and he nodded. When she left Fran looked at him. He sighed.
“No, Fran, I don’t feel guilty lying to my best friend because at the last date night she was the one who bitched because I didn’t bring any junpars so she could have a junpar daiquiri and since they had been the special drink the last time, why couldn’t they be the special drink this time