THE MORNINGchanged into warm and sunny gradually, and Lotte dropped off the play yard around ten.
“Here you go!” She helped Emil lift the thing onto the front lawn.
“Thank you so much. This might not keep them safe for long, but at least it might slow them down a bit.” Makai grinned at her.
“Where’s Joie?” Emil asked, closing the back door of the SUV for her.
“They’re with their dad this week. He wanted to take them to Disney and stuff, the usual vacation bonding thing he wants to do in as flashy way as possible,” she said, frowning a bit. “I mean he’s not a bad guy. He just feels guilty and goes overboard.”
“I think that’s a lot of parents who only see their kids occasionally,” Emil mused.
“Oh yeah, definitely. He’ll let them do whatever they want, and once he drops them off, it’s like… where did my nice kid go and where’d this monster come from, you know?” Her tone wasn’t serious, and she smiled slightly.
“Have you thought about the kitten thing?” Makai asked her. “I mean that would make them behave for sure if you need leverage.”
“I think I’m going to give in, to be honest. It would be nice to have a pet, and they’ll be old enough to take care of it, especially when there’s no walking involved.”
“I can build you a run if you want. I’ve seen some nice ones online, and I thought of making one for Mouse. It goes against the house, and the cat can go in and out through the window.”
“Ooh, that’s actually a great idea. I’m sure Joie would love to help you plan it.”
“We can totally make it a project. They could help with the building and stuff, too, where they can.”
“This is a great idea. Thank you, Makai!” Lotte came closer to give him a very soft hug. “I can figure out things to incorporate around it, like math and stuff. For the whole homeschooling bit, you sometimes have to take inspiration where you can.”
Emil laughed. “I’m sure you can come up with a great plan for the project. Plus, now you have all the leverage you need if they misbehave. They’d never risk getting the kitten.”
“It’s still weeks away. I won’t be giving them away before they’re twelve weeks old, so you got time,” Makai reminded her so she wouldn’t get stressed. “And the cat won’t need the run immediately. Plus I have my own healing to do anyway before I can get back to building.” He lifted the cast a bit.
She checked the time on her phone. “Right. Well, thank you in any case, and I’m gonna be late for work if I don’t go now.”
They said bye, and Emil and Makai started to figure out how to assemble the play yard for maximum use.
They were putting the two separate fences together, and Makai went to find zip ties from the shed. A car rolled into the yard just as he got back out with the ties.
“Hey, Dad,” Emil was saying, and Makai couldn’t help but feel suspicious, guilty, and glad at the same time. He’d probably always have problems with Emil’s father, being that he was the law, quite literally. He could also admit that he liked the man now, a lot.
Makai saw them hug and smiled at the sight. “Morning, Sheriff,” he called out as he crossed the distance to the others.
“No uniform, so would it be too hard for you to call me Kalle on an off day?” Emil’s dad smirked and held out a hand for a fist bump.
Makai chuckled and bumped his fist, then nodded. “Sure, but only if there’s no uniform.”
“Good.” Kalle looked at the fence parts. “What do you have here?”
“Lotte dropped them over. We’re thinking about putting them together for a bigger one so we can fit inside. The kittens will love being outside,” Emil explained.
Kalle looked thoughtful as he took in the fences and the yard. “Why don’t you put it against the house? It’d double the space, and depending on where you attach one end, it could have the front door on the inside so they can run back and forth?”
Makai went closer to the wall and nodded slowly. “Yeah, we could make a sort of a latch here, so we can open it easily when we need to get to the car and such, same with the other side for going to the shed. I mean, for now, I won’t be working there anyway, so I don’t need to have it out of the way. And to be honest, I can just step over it if needed.”
Emil grinned. “You two make plans, I’ll go make lunch. Dad, for you too?”
“Sure, sure,” Kalle said absently. “And coffee if you have any?”
“I could take some too.” Makai stopped and coughed for a moment.
The Newman men frowned at the sound, but Emil went inside anyway. Kalle, on the other hand, looked worried. “How’s the healing going?” he asked and went to examine the ends of the pen parts.
