“Here they go again,” I heard Carter say.
“I’m going to kick his ass,” Robert growled.
I giggled. He was always threatening one of our boys’ lives.
“Leave him alone. Besides …” I jutted my head in Carter’s direction. Our eldest had already lost interest in us as he whispered something in Michelle’s ear, making her blush.
“Chip off the old block,” Robert stated proudly.
Once the men left, the ladies and I had our planning session. Patience and I would be the close to full-timers while Kayla, Destiny, and Michelle would put in a few hours at the shelter given they still had full-time jobs, in addition to their very full homelives.
“This all looks great, ladies,” I stated, standing up from my chair and stretching. “I think I need to get to my yoga class in the morning.”
“I’ll join you, if you don’t mind,” Kayla inserted.
“I’d love that.”
It wasn’t unusual to attend a yoga or some other workout class with one or more of my daughters-in-law.
I glanced at the watch on my wrist before looking up and noticing Patience cover her mouth as she yawned.
“Boys still keeping you up at night?” I questioned.
She smiled. “They’re doing better,” she responded. In addition to seven-year-old twins, Aaron and Patience had a set of nearly one-year old twins. “I’ll be right back,” Patience stated, before standing and exiting.
I lifted an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. Instead, I went over and worked with Destiny as she decided on what type of financial literacy courses she wanted to conduct in the five to ten hours she’d spend at the center throughout the week.
But I wasn’t oblivious when I saw Michelle get up and follow Patience out toward the restroom. I smiled to myself.
Chapter Five
Michelle
I headed to the space where the soda and snack machine had been set up already. Thankfully, the soda machine did have ginger ale as an option, but the snack machine didn’t have the saltine crackers I was hoping for, so I got the next best thing.
After grabbing the snacks, I exited the cafeteria area and headed farther down the hall toward the restroom. Just as I pushed the door of the multi-stall bathroom open, a toilet flushed and Patience exited one of the stalls wiping her mouth. She paused when she saw me enter.
I held out the contents in my hand.
“Animal crackers?” Grinning, she took the soda and crackers from me.
“The snack machine didn’t have saltines. We should work on that.”
She nodded. “I’ll make a note of it.”
I watched as she opened the can of ginger ale, taking a sip. “I would ask if it’s that obvious, but …” She held up the snacks I’d given her.
I giggled. “You two don’t quit, do you?”
It was meant to be a joke but Patience’s smile dimmed, becoming replaced by a forlorn expression.
“Hey, what’s that about?” I questioned, moving closer.
She shook her head, her long sisterlocks falling over her shoulders, semi-covering her face. Pushing her hair back, she lifted her head.
“Aaron’s going to be pissed.” She sighed, placing the hand that held the unopened animal crackers to her belly.
I frowned. “Why would he—” I stopped myself, remembering. “Oh.”
