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Mrs. Wry was fisting the shirts of two children who were screaming and fighting with each other. She seemed to have impressive strength for holding back the kids the way she did, especially when the little one with golden curls shoved her left foot out to kick the boy.
“Oh boy,” I muttered, putting my car in park in my driveway.
As soon as I cracked my car door, the sounds of their shouting hit me in loud shrills and angry cries.
“You did it, Cowe!” the little girl screamed, with a little lisp and an insanely cute whine.
“I warned you to stop putting your dumb doll in there!” the kid snapped back.
I eyed my front door, wondering if Mrs. Wry had seen me yet. I couldn’t count the number of times I’d caught her on that front lawn, gripping the collar of those two kids.
“Oh, Bexley!” Mrs. Wry yelped in surprise, releasing the two hoodlums from her grasp.
“Shit.” I hiked my purse up higher on my shoulder. “Problems again, Mrs. Wry?” I eyed the two stragglers in her yard distastefully. They were always doing this—yelling, screaming, fighting. Lord knew they got it from that lackluster father of theirs.
“Well…there seems to be an issue here that we can’t overcome. Anyway…I’m just glad you’re back.” Her wrinkled features softened as she drew closer to my side of the yard and further from the two children.
“Well…of course,” I muttered, unsure what else to say. Different day, same song and dance.
“Where are you going?” Mrs. Wry asked, furrowing her thin eyebrows in confusion.
“To start dinner.” I turned, heading up my porch steps, bending down to check on the potted plants. We’d had a bit of a heat wave and I hadn’t been home to water as often as I usually was. I stood, flicking my gaze one last time to the elderly woman in my yard.
“What about them?” She pointed behind her, sputtering toward the kids.
I watched the siblings with one eyebrow raised.
“I’m sure they know their way home.” I opened my front door and slammed it shut behind me. Setting my things down, I could hear my neighbor yell at the two kids she’d left in her yard. I flipped through the mail that had been set neatly on the little entry table. Cole must have grabbed it earlier. Ignoring the front door slamming and the two hellions who entered, I began tearing into envelopes, silently praying for a random check or marriage proposal from a foreign prince.
“Why did you act like you didn’t even know us?” the dark-haired boy asked, scrunching up his nose.
“Because when you behave like that, I don’t,” I replied calmly.
“Mom,” my seven-year-old whined, throwing himself on the couch, “it wasn’t my fault this time.”
“Well…now doesn’t that sound familiar?” I got up, ruffled his hair, and padded toward the kitchen. Bella was already sitting in front of the fridge with the freezer door open, staring at the three popsicles left inside. They were all red and my little girl hated red, just like I hated chocolate.
“How was your day, Baby Bell?” I swooped down and pressed a kiss to her golden curls.
“Good, but I missed you.” She tilted her head back and smiled at me, her blue eyes dancing with little flecks of gold. She was so cute it made my heart ache sometimes, like I didn’t deserve the love of these two kids because it was so full and so intense and the most perfect form of love I’d ever known.
I constantly thought back to how I grew up and determined my momma must have been born without a heart for her not to love me like this, and my daddy too. Being a parent was the most fulfilling thing that had ever happened to me. It had ripped my chest open, replaced the organ inside with something new and fresh, and then barely sewed it back up so I’d never forget how tender and careful to be when dealing with the two of them.
“I missed you too.” I kissed her nose and the freckle that rested right on the tip then stood up once more. I needed to start dinner, but I was leery of even looking in our pantry. I knew we had almost no groceries left except ramen, and I really didn’t want to eat ramen.
“So, what happened?” I eyed my son, appreciating the fact that he’d let me settle a bit before complaining about his little sister.
His blue eyes flashed toward his sister as his little chin went tight.
Uh-oh…this wasn’t going to be good.
Bella had infiltrated his poor fish tank more than once in the past year, and every single time warranted quite the reaction from my son.
“Beta Baggins is lonely in der! He towd me! Poppy is just making him smile.” Bella cut through my thoughts, adding in her side of this fight with her lisp in full effect.
“You put your Poppy doll in the tank again?” I crinkled my nose at Bella. Her golden curls were barely tied back with a loose elastic, so little pieces were falling in her face.
“Yeah, him’s wonely,” she argued, those blue eyes searching my face for understanding.
