Portia huffs, then bursts into tears while Harley’s chin bunches, her eyes glassing over before she bolts from the room.
“Harley,” Nylah calls after her, but our little rabbit is gone.
She always does this. When things get too intense, she’ll find a little place to hide, and there’s no point trying to get her out too early. It just makes her retreat even further. I nearly got stuck under her bed once, trying to coax her out of the back corner.
“Leave her for a sec,” I remind Nylah, who stops with a sigh, then turns around to frown at Portia.
“That wasn’t kind.” Her voice is firm, laced with irritation. “You don’t say things like that to your sister.”
“But—” Portia’s argument is quickly cut off.
“No.” Nylah points down at her. “In this family, we love each other and are kind to each other even when we’re feeling angry.”
Portia’s bottom lip sticks out.
“You are going to apologize to your sister. And you can give me that bear too.” Nylah holds out her hand, and Portia steps back with a horrified gasp.
“It isnotyours,” Nylah continues. “That bear actually belonged to me whenIwas girl, and I let you two play with it.”
Portia’s blue eyes dart down to the broken bear in her arms, her lips still curled into a sad pout.
“Portia Denée McAvoy,” Nylah clips, and my kid knows the jig is up, but she still stands her ground until Mama starts to count. “One… two…”
With an annoyed huff, she hands the bear over, then falls into my arms, wailing like she’s just lost a limb.
I stand tall, cradling her against me but not finding any words of comfort.
I can’t believe she said those shitty things to Harley… and I didn’t stop it fast enough.
Now I’ve got one kid wailing in my arms because she thinks Mommy is so unfair, and I’ve got another hiding who knows where because she thinks her sister doesn’t love her anymore.
Parenthood is so fucking hard.
And Nylah thinks I can run a business on top of all this shit.
I love that woman with all my heart, but she’s out of her damn mind.
CHAPTER 24
BLAKE
I come to with a groan, screams and shouting infiltrating my sleepy haze until I crack my eyes open and become aware that I’m in a different house. That’s right. It’s the Football Frat holiday weekend and… why are people screaming?
“Mommy?” Nichelle sits up, rubbing her eyes and looking kind of scared.
“It’s okay, baby.” I pull her close, wrapping my arms around her and smiling with relief when I hear adult voices. “I think it’s just a little skirmish between the kids, but the adults are down there now sorting it all out.”
“What’s a skimish?”
“A skirmish is like a little fight. Not a big deal, but still something that needs to be stopped, you know?”
Nichelle nods, relaxing against me.
“What time is it?” I reach behind me for my phone, tapping the nightstand until I find it.
With bleary eyes, I check the screen and am guessing we’re probably the last ones up. What else is new?
“Hey, should we go downstairs, say good morning to everyone?”
