“Not today,” Teagan murmured.
Too short to get it down by herself and too short on time to drag in the ladder, she grabbed The Slugger. Leaping in the air, she swung and missed. She swung and missed so many times that Garbage Disposal began to think it was a game.
Teagan would jump. He’d jump. Over and over the game went until Teagan made contact and hit the ceiling hook so hard it was ripped out of the ceiling. Sheetrock dust and pieces of plaster rained down on her blue blouse, but it was worth it. She gathered up the swing, wrapped the crocheted rope around the seat until there was just enough left to tie a pretty little bow, and placed it in the middle of Harley’s bed, then decided to text her own personal hurricane.
WTF
YOU NEED TO BE MORE
SPECIFIC THAN THAT.
THERE ARE MANY OPTIONS.
1) WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?
2) YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO
DRIVE THEM TO SCHOOL TODAY.
3) WHAT HAPPENED TO
“NO SUGAR UNTIL AFTER LUNCH”?
IT WAS THE ONLY THING THEY’D
EAT.
YOU’RE THE ADULT. AND WHY
WOULD THEY EAT WHOLE
WHEAT WAFFLES WHENPOP-TARTS ARE AN OPTION?
IWAS RAISED ONPOP-TARTS
ANDI TURNED OUT JUST FINE.
NO COMMENT.
Teagan felt a tiny bit bad for that last crack.
Harley’s upbringing had been unconventional. Teagan could only imagine, after the few summers she’d spent with their dad, how unstructured and unpredictable it must have been. But sins of the father, and all that, would not touch her girls. She’d refused to let Frank’s bad decisions affect them; there was no way she’d let her own dad’s bad influence on Harley creep into the girls’ life.
ITHOUGHTIWAS SUPPOSED
TO TAKE THEM ONTHURSDAY.
TODAY ISTHURSDAY.
ALL DAY.
YOU SURE?
Teagan didn’t bother to respond. She barely had the energy to get her kids out the front door, let alone reunite with her estranged sister, when they were about as compatible as clown shoes and a minefield.
As hard as her situation was, Teagan always behaved like an adult. Harley, on the other hand, had zero concept of personal space, zero filter, and zero adulting skills to speak of.
She also had zero money in her bank, leaving Teagan with a freeloader of a tenant, who had a problem showing up.
