There came the sound of muffled voices and another squeal that Callie guessed was her youngest grandchild, five-year-old Rebecca, raging against being buckled into her seat. She was a wiggly child who hated to be contained. Between Hannah and Becca, there was Micah, who was the quiet, bookworm type. He was a sweet boy, but shy as could be.
“Okay, I’m back,” Ariel said a few seconds later. “I’m letting Becca have the full back row to herself, but maybe that’s a mistake because it’s really hard for me to get back there if need be. We should’ve gotten a bigger van.”
“It sounds like Hannah’s helping you though.”
“For now,” she said with a bitter little laugh. “We’ll see how long her good mood lasts. But it’s okay. Everyone’s in the car and I think we’ve got everything.” She breathed in deeply. “I’m just going to take a moment to myself before I get in there with them.”
“Good thinking. Center yourself a bit.”
“Exactly. And I have to run through my list, make sure I’m not forgetting anything.” She verbally checked things off and Callie threw in a few items that came to mind as well. Once they were done going over the list, Ariel laughed softly. “At least I know I packed everything. Now we just have to get through the drive. I’m guessing we’ll have to stop at least twice for pee breaks, since the two little onesinsistedthatthey didn’t have to go before getting in the car... we all know how that goes.”
“One of them will be crying they have to go to the bathroom in thirty minutes, if I had to guess.” Callie chuckled. “But at least the drive isn’t too long. You’ll be here in no time.”
“I just wish I had another adult with me,” she said. “Someone to deal with the kids in the back while the other one focused on the road. It always stresses me out having to do both. You’d think I’d be used to it by now, but not really…”
Callie could hear the heartache in her daughter’s voice. “Honey, I’m really sorry. If I’d known sooner, I would’ve driven out to you last night and then we could’ve carpooled or something.”
“It’s okay. I’ll be fine. Micah has a couple books to read, and I told Becca that she could watch as many movies as she wanted on the iPad, as long as she didn’t bother her older sister. She’s been driving Hannah crazy lately, and now that Hannah’s almost eleven, she’s developing a bit of an attitude, so she snaps back real fast.”
Callie winced. “I would say that it’ll get better, but when it comes to kids her age, things are going to get a lot worse before they get better unfortunately.”
“Yeah… I know. God, I’m really not looking forward to the teenage years.”
“You’ll be fine. And if Chris switches to a new department, then he’ll be there to help a lot more with those years.”
“He better.” Ariel snorted. “And he already promised that he’d be in charge of the kids the entire day of Thanksgiving. He told me he wants me to drink wine, eat a lot of good food, and not lift a finger for the kids. So that’ll be nice.”
Callie’s face softened. Chris was a good husband, even if he was absent more than anyone would’ve liked him to be. “I’ll make sure you keep up your end of the bargain. A break will be just what you need.”
“Especially after dealing with the kids on my own for four days in the rental.” Ariel groaned. “They’re always so much more hyper when we’re on vacation, and this rental is a real no-frills kind of place. I’m not even sure they have a TV, which means I’ll have to find ways to keep the kids entertained whenever we’re there.”
“Well, you’re not going to be there during the day, right? It’ll just be at night.”
“Yeah, I guess… But maybe I could let Hannah sleep at your house for a night or two? Then I can just put on a kid’s movie for the other two and I won’t have to listen to her complain about how she hates cartoons. Oh yeah—that’s her new thing. She’s decided she’s an adult and so she only wants to watch the TV shows that Chris and I watch. It’s been an ongoing battle for months now.”
“Of course she can stay here!” Callie said. “You can all stay here if you want. It’ll be cramped, but we could make it work. You could take the master bedroom, and that way you’d have a king bed.”
“I’m not going to take your bedroom away. Doesn’t dad have to sleep on that mattress anyway? Because of his back pain?”
“Actually, he prefers the pull-out couch these days. His doctor told him it was better for him to be on a firmer mattress, so we bought a better pull-out that doesn’t have springs and has thick memory foam. So, we can sleep on that no problem, and then you and the kids can have the big room. At least three of you can fit in the king bed, and then maybe Hannah could crash with her aunt, Mallory?”
“She would love that idea! Do you think Mallory would mind?”
“Not at all. You know those two are two peas in a pod.”
“Yeah, alright. I guess this could work. But if things get too crazy, we’ll go to the rental, okay? I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes, and I know you’ve got more people in the house than you bargained for already.”
“We’ll be fine,” Callie said, hoping she sounded a bit more confident than she felt. She knew David would have something to say about havingmorepeople under one roof, more prying eyes. However, Ariel needed help with the kids, so it was an easy decision to let them stay at the house. “Don’t worry about a thing, just get here safely.”
“Yeah, alright. Will do. I’ll text you when we stop to let you know what time we’ll be getting to Ferndale.”
“Sounds good. Drive safe, sweetie.”
“See you in a few hours.”
They hung up and Callie let her head fall back into the cushions, breathing out heavily before going back to work.
“Was that Ariel?” Mallory asked as she came into the room. She was wearing a cute, long-sleeved black dress and tights. It was fancier than her usual attire, and if Callie wasn’t mistaken, her daughter had even put some make-up on. There was also a slight curl to her hair. “Is she on her way?”
