I woke up when Jason pounced on my bed to shout, “Anna!”

I groaned but then bolted up to make sure he had not crushed the puppies. He hadn’t; they were on my opposite side and promptly climbed over me to happily greet him. He rubbed both of their heads affectionately. “Mace and I have class all day today,” he pouted. “We are going to be gone from 9-4.”

I groaned and lay back down. “What time is it?” I asked him groggily.

“About eight,” he answered brightly. “Come downstairs. Mason is making coffee.”

I groaned again. I didn’t want to get up, but now that the puppies were awake, they were going to need to go out.

I gave a huge sigh and heaved myself out of bed as Jason grinned at me. “C’mon, Anna, you got a good 9 hours of sleep last night.” I gave him a dirty look but lifted the two puppies down to the floor so they could race Jason downstairs. I threw a hoodie over my cami and sweats and took a quick bathroom break before I followed them down. Hopefully, Jason realized puppies needed to go outside when they first woke up.

I found Mason alone in the kitchen, so I guess that Jason had taken the pups outside.

“Hey, Anna,” Mason greeted me. “You just missed Austin and Cody.”

“Oh, I wanted to say hi to Cody before he left.” I frowned. Cody had been busy last night when the rest of us had dinner. I hadn’t seen him since yesterday during lunch.

“Yeah, they both told us to let you sleep. Jason ran upstairs as soon as they left, though.” I couldn’t help but laugh a little.

“Jason said you guys have class all day today?” I asked him.

“Yeah.” He frowned. “Austin and Cody are going to be out all day, and James is going to do whatever it is that he usually does all day, but Caleb is here and Trevor has a bunch of the guys patrolling the grounds.”

I poured a mug of coffee for myself and looked in the fridge for some creamer to make it sweet and delicious. “You think anyone else will be here for dinner tonight? Or will it be just us and Caleb?” I asked him.

He smiled. “This was supposed to be a surprise, but Cody is having a dining room table delivered here today.”

I gave him a happy smile and walked over to where we would be putting it, envisioning all of us sitting there as I sipped my coffee.

“Cody promised he would be here for dinner tonight. He was very sad that he missed the last two,” Mason teased me.

“I should probably make him some brownies,” I teased him right back.

“Just him?” Mason asked sadly.

I laughed. “If you guys are nice, he might share some.”

Jason ran back in with the puppies chasing him. They ran over to their food dishes and started licking the empty dishes aggressively. “That means they are hungry,” I informed the two guys as they laughed.

“Jace, we need to leave in, like, 15 minutes. I need you to get dressed,” Mason told him.

Jason scowled at him. “Does it really matter if we’re late? Mr. Roberts probably wouldn’t even notice.”

“If Austin asks, we would have to admit we were late,” Mason told him seriously.

Jason gave a sigh but headed back upstairs.

“Do you guys want some sandwiches to take with you, or do you usually buy lunch?” I asked Mason.

“We would love some Anna sandwiches,” he said with a huge grin. I rolled my eyes but turned back to the fridge to see what I could make for them. “You had better get ready, too, Mason.”

He laughed. “I’m packed and ready to go. I even have our breakfast protein shakes already made.” He motioned to the counter, and I was impressed.

I put their sandwiches together while Mason helped and told me about the classes they were taking. “I should start packing you guys lunch bags, like kids get in middle school,” I teased him. “I can pack you drinks, a sandwich, and some snacks to bring with you.” I nudged his shoulder with a grin.

He looked at me sadly. “We never had lunch boxes or lunches packed for us before.”

I immediately felt bad for teasing him. My uncle’s wife had never packed anything for me, but she made sure to always make her own children lunches every day and lined the lunch boxes up on the kitchen counter in the morning for them to grab on their way out to the bus.

I guess I had just assumed that the twins would have also had lunches packed for them. I probably should not have assumed, given what they had already told me about their childhood, but how could anyone not love these two guys? They were probably even more adorable as kids.

Mason looked down at the sandwiches in longing before putting a grin on his face and giving me a nudge back. It was at that moment I decided to get them both some lunch boxes. They made manly lunch bags for men to take to work with them these days; I’m sure I could find something that would work for them.

The guys ran out the door with their bags and sandwiches until I shouted at them that they forgot their protein shakes. Jason ran back out from the car and met me at the garage door to grab them from me. He gave me a peck on the cheek and a grin before running back in the car.

I sighed when I headed back into the kitchen on my own; the house was a lot emptier without them. I rinsed out my mug and put it in the dishwasher for later. The pups needed to go outside for their after-breakfast-potty-time, and then I think I was going to head back to the gym that the twins had shown me yesterday.