“Yes, you do,” he said, laughing. “I’m going to take payment on it the minute we can.”
“I’ll find a way for it to happen so we aren’t waiting too long. You know, like I might have taken Monday off... but shush.”
“You did?” he asked, his eyes lighting up.
“Yep. I thought I’d need a day to unwind. Sunday I’ll be cleaning up everything once the kids are gone and then sittingon the couch staring into space so that I won’t be able to get anything else done I normally do on the weekends.”
“I might have to sneak out and come see you.”
“I fully expect you to do that,” she said. “Then maybe we can think about you spending the night again. I’ll see how Archer reacts to this.”
“Mom! They are walking up the front.”
“Here we go,” she said. “They know you’re here, so I can introduce you to the parents.”
“I figured you’d tell them.”
“You met Colin’s parents. He’ll be here. Then there is Brandon.”
“Got it,” he said.
She got in front of him and opened the door. “Chelsea,” she said. “Come in. This is Jayce McCarthy. He’ll be helping me tonight.”
“I heard about you,” Chelsea said.
“You did?” Farrah asked.
“Melanie mentioned she saw you both out getting ice cream.”
“Oh. Yeah. Jayce is very responsible. We’ll both be here, but I wanted you to know and meet him also.”
“I’m not too concerned,” Chelsea said. “Is your brother married to Elise Kennedy?”
“Yes,” he said.
“I went to school with Elise. She was a year ahead of me. So I guess we kind of know you and who you are.”
If it worked in their eyes, that was fine with him.
“Colin is here,” Archer yelled.
Archer and Liam ran out the front door to wait. He saw Melanie get out and remembered her.
Both mothers had their arms filled with bags, the kids carrying their sleeping bags.
It was bringing back memories of his youth.
The last kid pulled in. Had to be Brandon. Met the kid’s parents and away all the adults went, leaving him and Farrah ready to tackle four kids.
“Mom, what can we do first?”
“What do you want to do?”
“Lawn games,” Archer said. “Then can we play basketball and you and Jayce can play and we can have three on three.”
“I’m all for it. I’ll cover your mom, since we’re the two adults.”
“You’re on,” she said, shoving his arm.
