"We stick too close together," Julian said to Rob under his breath.
Rob felt a pang but then he realized that was just as much Julian's fault. "Want to split up?" Rob challenged him.
"No. Safety in numbers," Julian said while looking straight ahead.
"They're going to think we're a couple," Rob pointed out to him.
"I'll take that chance," Julian said and his voice cracked a little.
Rob tried to figure him out, but then all the kids ran over clamoring for attention.
"We have to bring leaves to school. Teacher said," Riley explained. "We have to go in the forest."
"You want to go in the forest at night? What if bears eat you?" Wyatt asked Riley.
Sammy gasped and covered Danny's ears. Then Gloria did too.
To get his attention, DJ pulled on Wyatt's jacket sleeve. "You'll scare Danny."
"Oh. I was just kidding," Wyatt said to reassure Danny. "I was talking about teddy bears. Big, fluffy teddy bears."
"I'm not scared. I have Lenny," Danny told him.
"He'll protect you?" Wyatt said eyeing the little dog doubtfully.
Danny nodded and gave Lenny a look of complete faith.
Leaning closer to Rob, Julian whispered in alarm, "Did you hear him? He thinks he's ready to go off on a wilderness adventure just because he got a tiny dog."
Smiling, Rob looked from the overprotective big brother to the little duo. They were both so tiny, who wouldn't want to protect them.
"You guys don't need to go into any forest. We have plenty of leaves out here," Mitch said and pointed to the fenced in back yard, which had plenty of fallen leaves to choose from.
"Does that mean we won't have to rake?" Rico asked.
"Depends on how many the kids pick up," Mitch told him deadpan.
"You're not that lazy, are you?" Rob asked him.
Rico faced him with is chin raised. "Is that a challenge?" He then got distracted when Mitch put an arm around his waist.
"Are you and Lenny going to look for some leaves too?" Rob asked Danny.
"We don't go to school," Danny said speaking for both himself and the dog.
"You and Lenny can still find some good leaves for me and Julian. We like leaves," Rob told him. Julian agreed with that and nodded.
"OK. Look for the good ones, Lenny," Danny told the dog.
Wyatt put a hand on DJ's shoulder and told him. "DJ, you're the oldest so you look after Danny and Lenny."
"No. Me," Sammy said.
"I'll do it," Riley volunteered.
"Me, me, me!" Gloria said and jumped up and down with her hand raised.
Wyatt gave up and put his hands up in surrender. "You can all look after them." But as they went off he gave DJ a wink to let him know he was really the one in charge.
