Pulling up, Jacob was waiting out the front with baby wipes in his hands. He rushes over, opening the door before laughing. “Yes! Very fucking funny!” I tell him, snatching the packet off him and removing the crap from my face.
You could still see faint lines but it would have to do. Walking inside, I find Reika looking rather flustered. She hated shops, she hated being around people in general.
I wrap my arms around her and she jumps before realizing it is me.
“You are in so much trouble when I get you home”
“What did I do?” She asks.
“You know exactly what you did. You let me leave the house with scribble on my face,” I tell her and she snickers.
“So what are you craving this time?” I ask her.
“Something yellow, but it has a green nob thing on it. That’s all she gave me” Jacob says looking at the shelf.
“Squash. She was dreaming about them last night,” I tell him.
“That’s in the fruit section Reika, not canned stuff” Jacob says wandering off.
“We need more butter,” she says, walking off.
“There was still some in the tub,” I tell her and she stops looking at me.
“I may have eaten it” she admits.
“You ate butter? Did you put it on anything?”
“Yep! On a spoon, with salt,” she says like that makes perfect sense. That’s bloody nasty.
“You shouldn’t eat butter like that”
“Who says?” She asks, finding the butter.
“It’s not healthy to eat a tub of butter,” I tell her, just as Jacob comes over with a bag full of squash.
“Are these what we came here for?” He asks and her eyes light up. She grabs one out and I take it from her, “You need to cook it first”
“How do we cook it?” She asks.
“You steam it. And I will show you when we get home,” I tell her.
“They have any more?” I ask Jacob.
“Yeah, half a box”
“Go grab it for me. Or you will be back here tomorrow,” I tell him and he nods. “I don’t understand how she can crave something she has never eaten before,” he says before walking off.
We made our way to the check out and I quickly paid for everything before leaving.
“I will take her home. Just put it in my car. I need to speak to her anyway,” I tell him. Reika looks at me but says nothing, though I could feel her anxiety. I knew this would turn into an argument. One I am sick of having. She climbs in, adjusting the seat belt around her belly as I start the car.
Her anxiety played havoc the longer I drove, yet I didn’t feel like arguing over this again.
“You need to let Lucy go to school. She wants to go,” I tell her, pulling onto the dirt road leading to the house.
“She doesn’t need to go. I never went and I am fine,” she says.
“Reika, you can’t even spell your own name,” I tell her, and she growls at me.
“Not my fault! It’s the stupid pencil! Not doing what it’s supposed to do!” she snaps at me.
“No, it’s the person holding the pencil. Do you want her to struggle like you do? And Tyson and Ace can’t keep having days off to help you with her,” I tell her and she sighs.
“Then they can go to school. I am fine with her”
“You’re missing the point Reika. Lucy wants to go and I have enrolled her. She starts tomorrow,” I tell her, I was not backing down, she could pitch a fit but Lucy was going to school.
“You can’t do that! She isn’t going!”
“Yes I can because I am her father. And she wants to go. Nobody will take her from you. school is a normal part of life Reika. Whether you like it or not, she is going”
“Fucking bullshit!” she says looking out the window.
“She deserves to be a kid. Let her be a kid.”
“Fine then! But I want Tim gone. It creeps me out knowing you have him still in the basement. Why is he even still alive?” She says. Probably because I like listening to the bastard scream for me to kill him, I think to myself.
“Fine! I will do it when I get home, but you let Lucy go to school, and you let the doc see you”
“No one is touching me.”
“I will be with you, and she is a doctor Reika. You need to get over this fear you have of doctors. She just wants to check our son.”
“No! She wants to take him from me!” I sigh, frustrated. Anyone in a lab coat comes near her, and she runs, convinced they are going to cut our son out and steal him.
“I won’t let anyone take our children,” I mutter as we pull up. She threw the door open, nearly ripping it off the hinges.
“Deal with Tim!” she yells at me before slamming the door.
I grab the bags from the boot following her inside. Ace, Tyson and Lucy were sitting on the couch when I enter.
Lucy peeked her face over it, giggling and I locked eyes with Tyson and Ace.
“It was Lucy’s idea!” They both say pointing to her.
“Liar! You said we were going to blame it on Ace! It was your idea!” Lucy says, smacking Tyson’s hand away, and I raise an eyebrow at him.
“So it was Tyson?” I ask her and she nods while Tyson looks ready to soil himself.
Tyson darts off toward the kitchen. Just the place I am headed anyway. I hear my bedroom door slam and know Reika is losing her shit up stairs about Lucy going to school.
‘She’s probably up there clawing our pillow in a fit of rage. Glad you have to deal with her’ Brax tells me.
‘You better not ditch me, like last time!’
‘Fuck that! She lets Amanda out, you on your own.’ Brax tells me, bloody wolf scared of some one who barely reaches our chest.
‘She may be small but she is vicious. I’m not getting involved once the claws come out.’ I roll my eyes at him and head for the kitchen.
“Tyson just come here, stop being a chicken,” I tell him, dropping the bags on the counter.
“No way!” I heard him call out. Bloody idiot, just gave himself away. Walking over to the pantry, I opened it. And he was cowering in the bottom of it, holding the broom like it would save him.
“It was all Ace’s idea, I swear on his Xbox not mine,” he says. I rip the broom away from him and he squeals trying to find an escape.
“Please, pretty please with a cherry on top don’t kill me” he begs and I laugh at petrified face, he tries to run between my legs but I close them around his head.
“And not the hair, it just grew back” he squeals as I reach down and grab him. I toss him over my shoulder while he thrashes trying to escape, damn he was getting heavy.