Cassia scoop up a huge handful of soap suds. Cassia lifted her
hand and tipped it, dropping the whole sudsy mess right on
Adalynn’s messy bun.
“No! Oh, no freaking way!”
Adalynn shoved Cassia over with her hip, grabbed up both
hands full of soap suds, and threw them at her. They were
mostly water, and the wet splash soaked her sweater further.
Cassia giggled as she backed up further into the kitchen,
retreating rapidly, but Adalynn came after her with a handful
of soap suds that dribbled water all over the big thick
floorboards. “Nooooo!” Cassia screamed, but she didn’t move
back any further, not wanting to wreck any of the furniture or
get something wet that shouldn’t be. It was bad enough that
the floor was a sopping mess.
Adalynn doused her with suds, let them fall over the crown
of Cassia’s head and dribble down her forehead and her nose
to puddle at the end of her chin. The water was warm and not
entirely unpleasant after a hard day out in the hot sun. It would
have been better as a soothing shower with less of a smell of
dish soap and old dishes, but it wasn’t bad.
Adalynn tipped back her head and laughed a wild,
boisterous laugh that started in the depths of her chest and
exploded out from her throat. Cassia stood there and soaked up
that laugh like the big dry floorboards soaked up the dishwater.
Really. Was flooring supposed to soak up water like that?
Cassia didn’t think so, but at the moment it wasn’t on her list
of things to worry about. Actually, there was nothing on her
list, because watching Adalynn laugh like that was so much
better than worrying about anything at all. Watching Adalynn
laugh was magical.