I look to the front seat, hoping for a little backup, but Blake’s just sitting there, fighting a grin as she looks between the girls, then spins back to keep doing whatever the hell she’s doing on her phone.
Gritting my teeth, I hold out my hand and give Nichelle a pointed look. Her eyes well with tears as she places her doll into my palm. Curling my fingers around it, I smile down at the doll’s face and talk to her. “Hey, little one.”
“Daddy.” Kendall giggles. “What are you doing?”
“I’m talking to Nichelle’s doll.”
“But you all growed up.” Kendall wrinkles her nose. “You not talk to dolls.”
“I can if I want to. And you know what this one is telling me?”
Kendall leans forward, her eyes wide with wonder. “What?”
“That she wants to hang with her mommy right now, not her Aunty Kendall.” My eyebrows rise as I stare at my toddler. “And Aunty Kendall needs to let that happen.”
Her lips part, and then she scowls at the doll like it just betrayed her. With a huff, she crosses her arms and thumps back against her seat.
“So, now that we’re clear on that…” Kissing the doll’s forehead, I hand it back to a now-smiling Nichelle and lean in close to talk to Kendall. “You already have a doll on either side of you. You can play with them. Nichelle wants her doll right now, and she’s allowed it. Now, you behave yourself, young lady.” She pokes out her tongue at me, and I narrow my eyes at her. “Watch it.”
Another huff spurts out her nose as she glares at me some more while I quietly close the door.
Slipping back behind the wheel, I turn to remind the girls of one more thing. “You need to talk nicely to each other. No more yelling, no more fighting, or you won’t be getting your iPad time.”
“Should we just give them the devices now?” Blake reaches for her bag.
“No.” I shake my head. “We said one hour after we left. We need to stick to that.”
“But it’ll be so much quieter and easier if we do.”
“iPad. iPad!” Kendall yells.
“No,” I growl. “We said an hour. That’s only thirty minutes away, and then you can go on the screen until we stop for dinner.”
Kendall huffs again and goes back to hating me while Blake shoots her a sympathetic smile.
And great. Now I’m the bad guy again.
Starting the car with a sigh, I pull into traffic and softly whisper, “Thanks for the backup.”
“What?” Blake glances at me, then rolls her eyes, because yes, we have had this conversation so many times before. I always end up being the big bad wolf because she’s never willing to discipline them. It’s like she’s averse to routine, rules… any kind of regulations. And it’s become even more glaringly obvious since we’ve had kids.
It’s like she’s going out of her way to make sure she never corrects them, like she’s worried they won’t love her anymore if she dares to do something they don’t like.
I shake my head. Seriously, I feel like a solo parent some days. I’m the only one willing to bring a little order into this family, and it’s driving me insane.
“They shouldn’t be yelling and fighting like that,” I whisper-bark. “We can’t just let that stand. And I thought you agreed with me on not letting them have too much screen time. They’re three and six.”
“They should be allowed to express themselves,” she mutters.
“Without killing each other in the process would be handy.”
Blake laughs. “They’re fine.”
“And now we’re running even later than we already were.” I glance at the time on the display and wince. It’s gonna have to be a quick dinner. If Kendall hadn’t gotten into Blake’s makeup, we would have been fine. But washing that goop off a wriggling toddler was hard work, not to mention de-stickering poor Maverick. He was so good about it. I love that boy. He’s the most well-behaved member of the family.
And of courseIhad to be the one to clean up my kid and dog, because Blake was ready to say Kendall was allowed to walk out of the house looking like a clown from a horror movie.
Blake rests her head back with a sigh. “I hate running late too, but it’s okay. We’ll all be dribbling in tonight, and then we can start the real celebrations tomorrow.”
