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“No. It’s fine.” Harris stared at Josh. “I just need to talk with you for a few minutes then you can run away from thehouse and we’ll totally understand your choice to save yourselves from Nathan’s bad mood.” He gestured toward the back of the house. “Outside.”
“That sounds like an order,” Josh said with an awkward laugh.
Harris was already walking toward the back door. “Feel free to take it that way.”
Rachel waited until the door shut and the men were outside to talk. “Is everything okay?”
Elisa noticed she didn’t seem as happy as Josh. She wore an unreadable expression and kept fidgeting. Rubbing her hands together then shoving them in her pockets.
“Nathan’s having a bit of a day.” An understatement, but this was nowhere near their worst day.
They were lucky. Nathan rarely had tantrums. He was a happy kid. As he started to do more on his own, he was learning how to self-calm. That skill apparently abandoned him today, but learning how best to express his concerns was a process. Elisa still preferred this to the moody teen years she knew loomed ahead.
She also preferred the thumping to the foul mood Josh might be in after a talk with Harris. She decided to prepare Rachel. “Come into the kitchen and we can—”
The back door slammed open and Nathan ran inside. He sang at the top of his lungs as he raced around the kitchen stools and the table, “‘Because I’m happy . . . !’”
Rachel’s eyes widened. “What’s happening?”
Elisa took pity. As an only child she wasn’t really raisedwith much noise and assumed Rachel had a similar experience, especially since her upbringing sounded a bit sad. “This is what too much energy looks like.”
Nathan started clapping to the song he changed in his head. “Happy, happy happy!”
“I don’t get it,” Rachel said.
“Because you haven’t heard this song nine thousand times. It’s from a movie, but he makes up his own lyrics.” She raised her voice over the singing. “Nathan, that’s enough.”
He ran in circles and sang, “We should all be happy!”
Elisa’s headache had kicked up to big band levels now. “Nathan, stop.”
Rachel looked concerned. “I’ve never seen him like this.”
“Sometimes he gets upset and he’s not old enough to know how to control it or harness it for good use.” This time Elisa caught his arm as he ran by. “Hey, I said no.”
The song cut off. “You can’t tell me what to do.”
It was going to be one of those nights. “Nathan. You’re done.”
Harris and Josh walked back into the house. Elisa didn’t see or hear them until Harris was practically on top of her.
He looked down at Nathan. “What’s going on in here?”
Rachel was the one who answered. “A sing-along.”
Just as Nathan started singing again, Harris cut him off. “Nathan.”
Elisa had had enough. More than enough. The rounds of activity had her head spinning. She pointed to the kitchen chair. “Sit. Now.”
“I don’t like you,” Nathan said in a soft voice. But he did sit.
“Come on, buddy.” Josh sounded surprised by his nephew’s behavior.
Elisa wasn’t in the mood for either of them right now. She looked at Nathan. “I love you, but your behavior is terrible.”
Nathan folded his arms across his chest. “I don’t like zebras.”
“Uh...” Josh glanced at Harris with what looked like a request for help. “I’m confused.”
