Chapter 38

Jake’s POV

I stared down at Noah, watching his eyelids flutter slightly in sleep. He had been a handful all day, mostly because he wanted to spend time with Kristen and I had to keep making excuses.

“I want to make cookies with Krissy,” he had insisted.

“You made cookies with Grandma yesterday,” I had pointed out, feeling a headache coming on.

“Krissy makes them different,” Noah persisted. “They taste better.”

“No, they don’t.”

“Yes, they do.”

“No, they don’t,” I said, aware that I was arguing with a four-year-old that I couldn’t possibly win. I had heard Noah keep this up for a steady fifteen minutes before, and I usually burned out after two minutes.

“Yes, they do.”

I sighed tiredly and held my head for a moment. “Krissy is busy, kid,” I said. “She’s not going to be around for a while.”

At which point Noah had thrown a full-blown temper tantrum. I had tried everything to calm him down, but nothing worked. In the end, he h