Page 17 of The Road Back to Us

“They’ll probably eat the toys,” Ben answered, taking the heat for me as Chloe’s face flashed with panic.

“What?” she asked, her cute little face etched in disbelief.

Ben shrugged and took a bite of his food.

“Goats eat anything and everything, so yeah, they’ll eat their toys, too. But we can always get them some toys and only give them to them when we’re out there so they can’t destroy them.”

“Okay, Benny. You’re the best big brother ever, that’s why you’re my favorite brother!”

Ben reached down and ruffled her hair as he laughed.

“I’m your only brother,” he teased as everyone joined in laughing with them.

I leaned back and folded my hands over my stomach as I watched my family and enjoyed how things seemed to be falling into place for us.

Seventeen

Lyric

The first two weeks of working from home and caring for the goats were more challenging than I expected. While I did my best to find ways to balance working and caring for Chloe, I struggled so much that Cole’s mom came over every day to help. I hated that I felt like a failure for not being able to manage everything at once, but I also hadn’t ever been in a position where I had to try to multitask so much.

The night had flown by, and the kids were already in bed as I sat at the kitchen table with my laptop in front of me while I attempted to figure out how to modify my schedule. It wasn’t ideal, but I could switch a few things around and work in the evenings when Cole and the older kids were home. That way, I had more time to spend with Chloe during the day.

I tapped the pencil against the table, noting all of the meetings I had scheduled that I couldn’t get out of. Even if I switched the majority of my work to the evenings, that didn’t solve the issue of the constant meetings that could only be held during the day.

I hadn’t noticed how furrowed my brows were until I caught Cole looking at me with a concerned look on his face as he walked into the kitchen and pulled a bottle of water from the fridge.

“Still trying to figure it out?” he asked softly, leaning against the counter as he took a sip.

I tossed the pencil to the table and leaned back in the chair as I closed my eyes and exhaled deeply.

“Yep. I don’t know that I’m ever going to figure out something that works. I moved all of my design stuff to the evenings so I can work when you guys are home, but I still have daily meetings right now with corporate, so I have to attend those.”

“What time are your meetings?”

“Most are in the morning, but I have a few that are mid-day.”

“I’ll go in late so you can do your morning meetings, and I’ll see if Mom can come help out when you have the afternoon meetings.”

“Cole, you don’t have to do that,” I said with a frustrated breath. “I appreciate the help, but I can’t keep asking everyone to change their day so much. I’ll figure it out somehow.”

He set the bottle on the counter and pushed off as he walked toward me. My breath hitched in my throat as I looked up at him, his dark eyes pinning me in place as heat prickled my skin from being so close to his body.

“Lyric, we’re a team. We figure things out together. No one is asking you to do all of this on your own.”

“I know, but it feels like everyone else is having to make a lot of adjustments because of me. Maybe I should just give up on the whole fashion designer thing and take a regular job. I heard they’re looking for someone at the preschool, which would be nice because then I could take Chloe to work with me.”

“Fashion design has been the love of your life for years. It’s been your dream as long as I can remember. I’m not going to stand back and let you give up on it. We’ll figure out a way to make this work for everyone. Send me the info for your meetings this week, and I’ll let the guys know I’ll be late coming in this week. I’ll call Mom in the morning and see if she and Dad can come by this week to help out.”

“Cole...”

“Nope,” he said, interrupting me as he pressed a finger to my lips to keep me from talking. “This is what we do, Lyric. Please don’t fight me on it.”

I nodded and pressed my lips together because now wasn’t the time to fight with him over any of this. I needed help, even if it was just for a little while longer.

******************************

I woke up with a migraine that was so bad, I threw up the second I got out of bed. I grumbled as I took a shower, trying to force myself to get the bare minimum done so I could focus on getting the kids ready for the day.