When Sophie came outin her long, pink unicorn night shirt, her hair looked like it had been through a storm. Purple bruisingwasunder either eye as if she hadn’t gotten any sleep at all.
Who’s a dirty little party animal?
“Did you forget something, Sophie?” I asked, holding up the stuffed bunny.
Her eyes widened as comically as a cartooncharacter's,who was caught trying to break out of jail.
I crooked my finger at her. “You have somesplainin’ to do.”
Susan offered to makebreakfast,but Travis diplomatically explained we had to getthe kids back and thanked her while I practically dragged the two kids back to my house.WhenI got to thefrontdoor, I was greeted by a big ugly orange eviction notice.
Ripping it off, I opened the door andpushedthe kids inside. Travis walkedinandI pushed the notice into his gut.He read itand made a sound like someone had punched him in the gut.“Twenty-fourhours? How is that possible? It’sthefirst notice.”
“No, it’s not,” I said feeling a headache coming on. “I found one shoved inbetween some pots and pans in the kitchenlast week. Shewashiding them.”
“Are we going to be homeless?” Noah asked, he looked as if he were preparing himself to go into battleif need be.
“Because your grandma died?”Sophiesaid, her eyes watering up.
Why didn't they beat me with clubs and release a swarm of angry bees at me while they were at it? Most times I could appreciate the brutal honesty of children, but I couldn’t stomach it right now.
“One crisis at a time,”Travis saidunder his breath, pushing the notice in his back pocket.
“No, I’m pretty sure we are getting all of them at once,” I said.
I held the bunny up to the two kids in pajamas who were suddenly very alert.
“Anyone care to explain?”
Noah started first, “Wheredid youfindMerlin? We were looking for it all night and couldn’t findhim.” The boy was about as good of a liar asadrunk hoboclaiming sobriety whileempty bottles fellout of his coat.
Sophie stuck out her chin in defiance. “I saved you.”At least she was cutting to the chase.
“Excuse me?” If she thought she was the queen of sass, she had another thing coming.
Stomping up to me, she yanked the rabbit out of my hands. “I shouldn’t get in trouble becauseMerlin andI saved you. You should be taking me to McDonald’s and getting me whatever I want right now.”
I turned to Travis. “Are you hearing this right now?”
He lifted his eyebrows and nodded, then with a glance at me he took a step backas if giving me space to work. Well,don’t mind if I do.
I bared down over Sophie, “So let me get this straight, you snuck out of Susan’s house after she took a sleeping pill and managed to follow us to the alleyway while we were doingsomevery dangerous grown up, demon-slaying? Did you think forone second that you could be killed or hurt?”
Her eyes welled up before she burst into tears andclung to her bunny for dear life.“Merlin and Isaved you.Wesaved you and you’re punishingus.” She hiccupped over her words as snot ran from her nose.
Crap, I’d made the kid cry. I rolled my eyes. Didn't she know I was doing this for her own good?These kids were acting like idiots pretending they were superheroes. They were going to get themselves killed if I didn’t stop them from their own idiocy right now.
Wow, I literally just turned into my gran.Next thing you know, I’d be crocheting banana hammocks and wearing that hat with the taxidermy duck on it.
“Okay, okay, don’t cry,” I said, trying to calm her down. Instead of calming down, Sophie flew over to Travis and buried herself in his legs,like he would protect her from the big bad monster that was me.
Noah glared off in theother direction, his face bright red with shame and anger.“We were just trying to help.”
“Well you could have gotten yourselves killed and how do you think that would make us feel?” In fact, the thought of them witnessing Travis and I trying to off ourselves made me sick to my stomach. They didn’t look hurt,but I suddenly had to wonder if they had undergone the same effects from whatever evil forceinvaded that alleyway last night.
“What did you see?” I said in a gentle but firm tone.
Travis had picked up Sophieand now she was cryinginto his neck. Goddamn him for looking manly holding that little girl. I may have nearly come to terms with having a kid, but I still had a long way to go to get adjusted to my own crazyidea.
