“What are you drinking?” I ask her.
“I told you. We made coffee.”
Shit. “You’re both drinking coffee?” I say in a dead voice.
“Yeah,” Brielle says. “Is that okay?”
Henri rolls her eyes. “I keep telling her it’s okay. She won’t listen. You tell her.”
By the smirk on her face she knows she’s cornered me. Brielle is worried about how I’m going to react because Verity would go ballistic over something like this. I miss Oscar. He knows intuitively what he should and shouldn’t do. We don’t need to discuss shit like this. “Henri?—”
“Seven,” she corrects.
“Seven,” I amend. “I’m not sure your mom wants you drinking coffee. It’s got caffeine in it.”
“So does coke and she lets me drink that and you don’t have any coke so what choice do I have?”
“I doubt she lets you drink coke in the morning.”
“She prefers I don’t.” Henri’s version of conceding.
“My mom doesn’t like it either,” Brielle interjects.
Henri looks from Brielle to me. “We didn’t get to sleep ’til like 3 o’clock, so we need some help waking up.”
I knew they were up late, but it got quiet around midnight so I assumed they’d fallen asleep. “Why’d you stay up ’til three?”
Henri rolls her eyes. “It’s what girls do when they get together. Hasn’t Oscar had a pajama party before?”
He’s had Max over and Sean, Coyote’s kid, but never at the same time. And they don’t call it a pajama party and they don’t stay up until 3 am. And they don’t get up at 7. But I don’t say any of this because I don’t want to give Henri more ammunition to use against Oscar.
Instead, I say, “Oscar’s a boy.”
“Whatever.” Henri replies. “He should start having them. Maybe he’d get some real friends.”
Brielle giggles.
I feel defensive of my son. “Oscar has real friends.”
She smirks. “Sure. If you count Max.”
I rub my eyes as I try to process what I’ve agreed to. I realize I can’t do two more nights of this. I need Selkie here to control her daughter and I need Oscar here because he’s sane. Also, it’s a school day for Brielle and I don’t know what I should do about that.
I call Verity first. “What do you want me to do with Brielle?” I say after our hellos.
“I’ll pick her up,” Verity rasps. “Half-hour. I’ve got her lunch. Make sure she’s dressed and ready to go.” She hangs up without saying goodbye.
I turn to Brielle. “You ate enough breakfast?”
She nods. “Yeah. Three toasts.”
“You need to get some decent jam,” Henri interjects. “Who eats apple jelly anyway?”
I don’t tell her it’s Oscar’s favorite. Instead, I say to Brielle, “Your mom says to get ready for school. She’ll pick you up in a half-hour.”
“She should be able to skip school,” Henri says. “She was up so late she’ll fall asleep in class.”
“That’s on you, Hen…Seven.”
