Then it dawns on me. “The crochet club. Should have known.”
“We do know how to use our cell phones. We’re not that ancient.” She winks and then heads out the front door. The girls and I eat dinner, talking about our days and what we want to do this weekend.
“Dad, can we leave the fort up and invite Gia over for a sleepover?” Lauren asks.
“We could have a moobie night!” Leah adds.
“Sure. I’ll see if she wants to come over.” Gia’s only been back in town for two days, and I’m already fighting my need to spend every minute with her. I have to keep reminding myself that we have time now. She’s not going anywhere for the foreseeable future. It doesn’t stop me from wanting to be with her constantly, but it helps to remember that our time isn’t finite.
I’m working on the dishes, and the girls are getting the pillows situated just perfectly in the fort when Knox and Finn walk in the door. Leah and Finn run full force at each other to hug, both of them losing their balance and falling to the floor in a fit of giggles.
I grab a beer from the fridge and hand it to Knox. “They act like they haven’t seen each other in a week.”
He snorts. “Little Romeo over there asked if Leah would like his dinosaur shirt or his robot shirt better.”
Seems he chose dinosaurs over robots. I’d say he knows my daughter well. “Oh my god. That’s fucking adorable. You good?”
“Had to fire a ranch hand today.”
“Ah, shit. I’m sorry, Knox.”
He shrugs. “It is what it is. I’ll be pulling double-duty now until I can find someone else.”
“Let me know if you need me to take Finn after school. He can hang out here for the night, so you won’t have to worry about him.”
“Thanks. I’ll probably take you up on that next week.”
The rest of my best friends and their kids trickle in until I’ve got a houseful of people. It’s loud and chaotic, but always a blast. Our kids are close in age, with Grayson’s daughter, London, being the youngest at four, and Emmett’s son and daughter, Eli and Emma, being the oldest at nine and ten.
The kids pile into the living room to watch their movie. They’ve got bowls of snacks scattered around that will require a few loads of laundry once they’re done, but they’re all content in their fort.
I set up the adult snacks at the table while my friends get settled in their chairs. “Knox, has Finn had any issues with a kid named Mason?”
“Not that I’m aware of, but I can ask him. Why?”
“Apparently, he’s been pushing Leah around to the point where she doesn’t want to go out to recess anymore.”
All three of my friends straighten at that news. Knox is the first to speak. “And Farrah hasn’t done anything about it?”
“I’m actually not sure she knew until today. She asked to meet with me on Monday.” When I checked my email, I saw that Mom was right about Farrah wanting to talk about Leah and the issues with this student.
Knox scoffs. “Yeah, sure. What’s she going to do? Fart sunshine at the kid to get him to stop bullying Leah?”
Emmett, Grayson, and I stare at Knox for a long, silent moment.
“What?” he growls.
“I think we need to talk about this issue you’ve got with a kindergarten teacher,” Emmett responds.
Knox rolls his eyes. “I don’t have a problem with her. She just rubs me the wrong way.”
“I think you might want her to rub you the right way.” Grayson grins.
Knox gives him a dark look, and we burst out laughing. Knox tries to leave the table, but I stop him, shoving him back down by the shoulder. “Why does she bother you so much?”
He sighs, resigned to the inquisition. “Nobody is that happy. It has to be fake, and I can’t stand when people pretend to be something they’re not.”
“Or she could just be that happy,” Emmett counters. “She’s a kindergarten teacher. It’s sort of a prerequisite to be peppy.”
