Page 38 of A Little Bit More

All Callum could do was shake his head at the state of his legs. It seemed that sometime during the night, they’d suffered an art attack. They were covered in marker pen drawings, pink glitter, and lots of stickers—from hearts to dinosaurs. One of them had a purple ribbon wrapped around its foot. The other had googly eyes on the knee cup.

“It’s going tae be fun explaining this to the prosthetic’s technician,” he said.

“I’ll clean them off,” Isobel said through a grin.

“Not until the munchkin’s seen me with them,” Callum warned.

As though summoned by the discovery of her latest art project, the door to their bedroom slammed open, and Sophie rushed in. “You found them! Dontcha love them?” She scrambled over to sit in Callum’s lap and pressed her hands to his cheeks. “I made them pretty for Vlantes Day, Clam.”

Isobel was laughing so hard tears were streaming down her face.

“What’s all the racket?” Jack, their teenage son, asked from the doorway. He rubbed his eyes before staring at them all as though they’d lost their minds. “It isn’t even seven. Why is everybody awake?”

Isobel held up his prosthetics. “Sophie decorated Callum’s legs for Valentine’s Day.”

Jack stared at them as Sophie clapped her hands. “Aren’t they bwetifool?”

A slow grin covered Jack’s face. “I think Callum should wear shorts today to show them off.”

“I agree,” Isobel said. “You can’t hide art like this.”

“Yay,” Sophie shouted as she scrambled up to jump on the bed. “Happy Vlantes Day to me!”

“You two”—Callum pointed at Jack and Isobel—“are enjoying this far too much. Now pass me the damn legs so I can go get that burger you want.”

“I was joking,” Isobel said. “I can fetch the spares from the closet.”

“Hand them over.” Callum reached for them. “As long as she didn’t put anything inside the cup, I’m wearing them. They’re my bloody Valentine’s Day present. Aren’t they, Soph?”

“Yay!” she shouted as she jumped. “Clam’s gonna be pretty!”

“Damn straight,” he said as he took the legs.

Isobel stepped into him and placed her hand on his cheek. “I love you, Callum McKay,” she said, her heart in her eyes for all to see.

“And I’m going back to bed before you two make me vomit,” Jack said.

Callum looked around his bedroom at his family before looking down at his decorated prosthetics. Could there have been a more perfect Valentine’s Day?