She smiled back and shook her head at him. “Really. It’s only two more days and next week you should be at your new school.”Note to self: call Bree this morning. She needed to make sure Bree was good with them moving this weekend. At the very least, she could use the address and drive the kids to school if she hadto.
“Yay!” Kaden scrambled up and jumped up and down on thebed.
Kimber squeezed her tight and let out a smallsqueak.
Denise smiled at how easy it was to make them happy. Her joy was marred by the twinge in her back that reminded her she was sleeping on the floor and why. She rubbed her eyes. She should talk to them this morning before they went to therescue.
Patting Kimber’s shoulder, she rolled up. “All right. Quit jumping before you break the bed. Go put clothes on while I startbreakfast.”
Kaden jumped one more time, landing on his butt, and launching himself off the bed. She winced when he missed the corner of the wall by inches.Note to self: research health insurance for the kids.She was running out of mental sticky notes.Note to self: write all this shitdown.
“Aunt Denny! Mr. Chris is asleep on the couch again,” Kadenyelled.
“Not anymore he’s not,” Denise mumbled. “I know, honey. He stayed to make sure we were safe after what happenedyesterday.”
Standing up, she braced a hand on the back of her hip and twisted, cracking her lower back. Shooing Kimber in front of her and out of the bedroom, she pulled her hair up into a messy bun and secured it with the hair tie from around herwrist.
“Why did he have to make sure we’re safe?” Kimberasked.
Denise stared down her. Should she tell them now or wait until later? She looked up and found Chris watching her from thecouch.
God, he was sexy in the morning. His early scruff had a slight tinge of red and framed his lips perfectly. It’d taken all her energy last night not to kiss him goodnight. It wouldn’t have been a simple kiss and after yesterday morning, she didn’t think she had the willpower to stop it from going further. She couldn’t afford to be that distracted with the kids so close in the nextroom.
“Why don’t I make breakfast?” He stood and shuffled into thekitchen.
Distracted like that. “Okay, new plan. We’re going to talk first and then we’ll get dressed and havebreakfast.”
She herded them onto the couch, pulled the coffee table close, and sat facing them. Her parents were supposed to be here to help her get through this. She couldn’t keep relying on other people as the first line of defense. They needed to be backup, not the primary response. How was she supposed to start thisconversation?
“Is this a grown-up talk?” Kadenasked.
“What’s a grown-uptalk?”
“You know, when you tell us serious stuff like we’re grown-ups,” Kimbersaid.
“Did your mom have grown-up talks withyou?”
“Yeah. But only when it was something really important,” Kadensaid.
“Like what?” She was woefully unprepared for the responsibility Sarah had lefther.
It was her own fault. She’d assumed her parents would get guardianship and they’d already done it twice. They were pros. She’d just had to figure things out until they took over. Sarah had been too weak to give her all the sage parenting advice she needed by the time she dropped that bombshell on Denise. All her will had stated was Denise got custody and her dad was the executor of herestate.
Note to self: Google “how not to fuck up parenting.”That should covereverything.
“Private parts are private and only pacific people should see them,” Kimbersaid.
“Specificpeople.”
“Right, pacificpeople.”
Denise pressed her lips together. Did laughing at your kids fall under being a shit parent? “Whatelse?”
“Don’t talk to shifty people,” Kadensaid.
She frowned. Was that another misspeak? “Who are shiftypeople?”
“Grown-ups who ask kids for help,” Kadensaid.
