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Two days later, Ronan sat at the kitchen table ready to do his part in the color run assembly line.

Earlier that morning, he’d added the two leaves to the kitchen table, extending it nearly into the living room, and taped down newspaper to protect the surface.

Next, he’d spread out bowls of cornstarch and brightly colored icing dye, while Ten measured and cut parchment paper for the mixture to dry on.

They’d also grabbed popsicle sticks to stir the mixture and large zippy bags to put the dried mixture to crush into the colored powder that would be thrown at runners.

“I think that’s everything,” Ten said, taking a seat at the table. “We’re going to have so much fun throwing color.”

“You mean instead of running through it?” Ronan asked.

“Hey, you were the one who volunteered to run. I could have done it, but you wanted to go head to head with Jude and Fitz.”

“Don’t say it like that. We all spent the morning trying to make the kids understand that the fun run isn’t a race and that it doesn’t matter who wins or loses.” What Ronan wasn’t going to say out loud was that every word he’d just uttered was pure, unadulterated bullshit.

“Bullshit!” Ten half-shouted. “You are the most competitive man I’ve ever known, with Jude and Fitz coming in a close second and third. You want to win more than anything.”

“That’s not true.” It was totally true. He pulled Tennyson into his arms and kissed him, hoping his magical lips would distract his husband from their conversation.

“Stop kissing! Everyone’s here!” Everly shouted from the living room.

Jude and Fitz’s families were coming over to help make the color powder for the fun run. When Everly opened the door, chaos ensued with hugs and shoulder slaps, as if they hadn’t all seen each other two hours before.

“Come into the kitchen,” Ronan called. “We’ve got everything set up. The kids are going to mix the colors. Jude and Cope are going to spread the paste on the parchment paper to dry. Fitz and Jace are gonna break up the dried color paste into powder. Questions? Concerns? Round of applause?”

“Let’s get to it!” Everly grabbed a bowl of cornstarch and the pink food dye.

Ronan, who had been briefly disappointed no one clapped for him, watched as each of the kids expertly stirred the mixture to even out the color. “How did you guys learn to do this?”

“YouTube, Uncle Ronan,” Aurora said, as she tugged on her latex gloves, something Ronan thought all the kids should be wearing, the adults too. By the end of the afternoon, they were all gonna look like rainbows threw up on them.

“It never crossed my mind to look at videos.” The kids had a real handle on technology, Ronan was lucky if he could set the time on the microwave after a power outage.

“That’s because you’re old ,” Aurora said with authority only a six year old could possess.

Wolf and Everly burst out laughing.

“Well, I guess that means we’re gonna have broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussel sprouts for dinner. I’m too old to call out for pizza.” Ronan limped around the kitchen.

The table erupted into laughter. “It’s okay, Uncle Ronan, my Daddy isn’t as old as you. He can call for pizza, right Super Dad?”

“You got it, Wonder Wolf.” Jude mussed his son’s hair.

“I’m done!” Everly held up her bowl with bright pink cornstarch paste.

Jude took her bowl and handed Everly another one. This time around she chose yellow food dye.

“Is everyone all set with their costumes?” Ten asked. “I’ve got Jude and Wolf’s capes with their letters sewed on.”

“We’re gonna look so cool, Dad!” Wolf held up a bright green hand to high five with Jude. Both father and son looked like Bruce Banner ready to go full Hulk.

“Did you get our shirts from the school this morning, Uncle Ten?” Aurora asked.

“I did!” Ten agreed. “While all of you fabulous athletes were running, Cope and I picked up the shirts.”

“I can’t believe they’re bright white!” Fitz shook his head. “What idiot thought white shirts were a good idea for a color run?”

“That’s the point, for the white shirt to be covered by color,” Everly said. “I want my shirt to have every color in the rainbow.”

“Me too!” Wolf added, dripping orange food dye onto his left hand.

Aurora wore an undecided look.

“I’m still not sure how this is going to go,” Fitz said, softly to Ronan, who switched out Aurora’s purple paste for a new bowl of cornstarch.

“What do you mean?” Ronan asked, pulling Fitz away from the table.

“We almost had a meltdown this morning when our run ended. Aurora was all sweaty and she’d already had her shower for the day.”

“What did you do?” Ronan asked. He knew Aurora had her own schedule and how important it was to keep to it.

“I washed her off with the garden hose. Made a game of it.” Fitz shook his head. “It worked today, but I sure as hell can’t hose her off in January.”

“Let’s take it one day at a time. I’m a summer child. I don’t want to think of winter until after Halloween.” To be honest, Ronan never wanted to think about winter. With winter came snow and him outside in the cold, shovel in hand.

“Well, the race is in two days and I don’t know how Aurora is going to deal with the colored powder being thrown at her.” As Fitzgibbon spoke, Jude held up the swim masks and goggles he’d gotten at Walmart.

Jude pulled on a snorkel mask. “How do I look?” he asked. Jude’s voice sounded squeaky thanks to the mask pinching his nostrils shut.

“Like a giant dork!” Everly giggled.

“Why are you wearing the mask, Dad?” Wolf asked, looking perplexed.

“They’re for the fun run.” Jude handed a pair to Ronan and Fitz, who struggled with the straps to get them on. “So the color doesn’t get in our eyes. As Jude spoke, Cope threw a handful of pink powder at him, most of which stuck to his hair, shirt, and face. “Okay, who’s the wise guy?”

“You caught me pink-handed!” Cope laughed, holding up his colored hands.

“I wanna try that!” Everly said. Wolf was quick to agree. Jude handed each of them smaller pairs of goggles.

Aurora was the only one not scrambling to get face protection.

“These are for you, honey. Do you want to try them on?” Ronan asked.

“Maybe later.” Aurora went back to mixing her red color paste.

“I’ve got an idea,” Ronan whispered to Fitz. “What if we cut a hole at the top of a dry cleaning bag for Aurora? That way people can throw color, but it won’t get on her shirt.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” Jude said. “The only problem is that the plastic bag could make her get hot and sweaty faster than if she didn’t wear it.”

“Fuck,” Fitz muttered.

“Ready! Aim! Fire!” Everly shouted and threw a handful of pink powder at Wolf, who roared with laughter. Quickly reloading, she hit Ten and Ronan next.

Ronan didn’t care if his hair and the kitchen floor were pink.

His daughter was laughing and having fun.

He turned to Aurora who was struggling to put on her goggles.

Ronan quietly stepped over to her and helped put them on.

He knelt in front of her and whispered into Aurora’s ear.

The little girl’s face lit up like a Christmas tree.

She ran to the counter where Jace was scooping colored powder into plastic drinking cups.

He handed one to Aurora, who dug her hand into the powder and threw it at Jace.

“Gotcha, Dad!” She shouted and ran toward Jude, who stood with his arms crossed over his chest.

“Don’t you dare!” Jude laughed, pretending to run away.

Aurora threw a handful of color at Jude and hit him square in the back. “I got you!”

Fitz squealed when Aurora hit him too. Ronan couldn’t remember his friend looking so happy.

Meanwhile, Everly and Wolf were having their own color fight. Both kids were covered in pink and bright blue like Sleeping Beauty’s ruined ball gown.

“I wanna try,” Aurora said to Everly, still looking a bit uneasy.

“You’re so brave,” Everly said and then dusted Aurora’s shoulder with pink powder just like Tinkerbell would have done.

“That’s it?” Aurora asked.

Ronan wasn’t sure if she was asking about how little powder Everly used or if the light sprinkle was all that happened when the color hit her. Either way, she laughed when Wolf hit her with blue powder.

“We’re gonna need to call that steam cleaning company next week.” Ten laughed.

“Yup!” The kitchen was an absolute disaster but Ronan couldn’t care less.

All of the kids were having a great time and they’d found a way to get Aurora involved without her having a meltdown. Prep for the color run couldn’t get any better. Or could it?

Ronan knew the one thing that would turn the assembly line into a party. Ten would probably kill him, but what a way to go.

Operation Glitter was a go!