Cooking Up A Plan

"Has any one heard from Rick lately?" Ryan asked as he took a break from dribbling the ball from Roarke.

All the brothers paused, looking at one another to see who had heard from their dear adventurous brother, everyone shrugged except Roarke who didn't give a care.

It is no news that Rick and Roarke don't have a good relationship, both brothers have always been at each other's neck, it could be because they have similar grumpy attitude or because of how blunt Rick is, whose words has always tick Roarke off.

They haven't been on talking term ever since their face-off before Rick left. It was during the time Roarke was moping around the house after Ari's mother left him. While others were tip-toeing around him, Rick was the one who was bold enough to poke the bear, telling him point blank how everything was his fault and he needed to pick up himself and face the consequence of his actions.

"The last time we spoke, he was in Italy" Reese spoke while downing a cold water from the bottle.

"Same here" Ronald added.

Roarke only shrugged which is enough for the brothers to not expect any response from him.

"I've been trying to reach him to ask if he would be coming for Ma and Pa's anniversary"

"Speaking of that, how's the plan coming along?"

"Ma and Serena are handling it" Ryan added.

Roarke's phone chimed and a notification from Ari's school popped up. He scanned the text and made a mental note to call Becca later. Apparently, the school is organising a charity event and needs two representatives from each family to participate in an activity of some sort to raise funds.

"You okay, man?" Ronald asked when he saw the serious stare on Roarke's face intently on the screen.

He waved it off, "yeah, just a notification from Ari's school"

Reese who had been in thought on how to play cupid without getting caught, asked further, "everything all right?"

"Yeah, just something I'll need Becca for"

A lightbulb of idea sparked in his head at that moment, it seems he needed to get in touch with Becca. If Roarke needed Becca's help for an activity happening in Ari's school, then he needed to look for a way to replace Becca with Nessa, oh what a beautiful idea!

All he needed to do is to get the details of the activity to know how to go about it. He hoped Serena will eventually agree to partner with him.

"I need to check up on Ari" Roarke announced, feeling guilty for feeding him too much candies, Reese joined him, "so do I".

They both walked indoor, leaving Ronald and Ryan to discuss more on Rick's whereabouts and how to get in touch with him.

"Hey munchkin, how are you feeling" Roarke gently stroke his daughter's hair while Reese took her little hand in his.

"Fine, daddy, but I'm feeling sleepy" she gave a small smile to Reese in response to him tickling her palm.

"Ok, get some sleep and you'll feel better afterwards" he dropped a kiss on her forehead.

"Sorry for feeding you a little bit too much, sweetheart" sounding apologetic, Reese also dropped a kiss on her head and smoothened her hair.

Ari nodded and clutched her teddy bear closer before giving in to sleep.

Going through the announcement board on the website of Ari's school, Reese was able to see that the event is a charity function to raise money for the country who suffered an earthquake recently. Two representative from each family or pupil will participate in any of the activities like baking, painting etc.

"Perfect!" Reese said aloud and went in search of Serena. He found her in the kitchen. Making sure that his brothers are not anywhere near them, he quickly informed her of the new development.

"I thought I told you to give me some time to think about it and do my findings before joining hands with you on something that might get us in trouble with 'he who must not be named'?

"I know, just letting you on the know"

She puffed her breath to let out her frustration, she waited for some seconds before she replied, "so, how do you intend to replace Becca with Nessa? She raised her eyebrows, waiting patiently for him to come up with something plausible.

"Don't know yet, still thinking about it. I could really use your head" he added, "two heads are better than one. Hurry up with your findings so we can both come up with a less suspicious way to do that"

She shook her head, giving up on trying to extract herself from his mischievous brother in law plan, "I'll make a courtesy visit to Roarke's office to check her out"

"Beautiful!" He exclaimed.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, let's wait and see how it goes tomorrow first. If you need my help, don't hesitate to call" he winked.

"Don't worry, I get it covered". She reassured him.

"Did I tell you, you're my favourite sister-in-law?" Grinning, he spoke.

"Need I remind you I'm your only sister-in-law?" She shooed him away from the kitchen when she saw him trying to snag a drumstick from the chicken bowl.

He bumped into Ryan as he made his way out the kitchen, "what have you been up to? Seeing you tip toeing around the house, I'm sure you're up to no good." Ryan spoke.

He kept a straight face, "I don't know what you're talking about." He took a sidestep, moving far away from Ryan.

Ryan turned to his wife, dropping one hand on her shoulder, "do you have an idea of what he's up to?"

"Nope, I don't." Her dimple deepened.

Seeing how her deepened dimple which is a tell that she's lying, he became more curious, "since when do you keep secrets from your husband?"

She smiled lovingly at him, "never".

Ryan decided to let go of the matter, knowing full well that eventually, he will know everything.