Page 17 of Tuesday

“Yeah, we know what you mean,” Ana says, and I ignore the twitches of the Girl Gang’s lips. I’m sure if they thought about it deep enough they’ll see that I am correct.

Leaving them to it I make my way to the rug where my little family sits, Chomper at the center, soaking up all the attention.

“Babe, did you know baby girl ate all her scrambled eggs?” Rhodie says, and I’m sure that’s a look of pride on his face. Sometimes he looks at me like that and it makes my chest hurt in a good way.

“Good work, Laney!” I say, with enthusiasm because children like that kind of thing. Also, I’ve heard Vi’s sister Jazz speak like that to the MC kids and she’s a teacher so she should know the best way to get their attention and teach them things.

Laney gives me a smile and a clap and I can’t help but grin back. The same smile stays on my face as I share a look with Rhodie, because clearly the child we have chosen is very clever. I can see how easy it is for parents to brag about their children. Although many parents have mediocre children. I’ll need to research how to make sure Laney advances at the right stage for her age, or maybe even beyond.

“Babe? You’ve got that look on your face, maybe park that idea for a moment, yeah?” Rhodie says in his rough voice, like he’s been gargling rocks his whole life.

“What idea?” I ask, avoiding eye contact.

“Not sure, but I can read you like a book and that look is a ‘fall down the rabbit hole’ look. Remember we decided we’d spend as much time having Laney get to know us as possible over the next few days.”

“Yes, yes, trust me, I can multitask. I got this.” I wave him off and move to stand.

Laney tilts her head back and moves to stand with me, gator stuffy held tight in her left hand as she reaches up for my hand with her right.

“Come on, Laney-May, it’s reading time. Reading for good brain development should be done in little short bursts at your age, for optimum language absorption.”

Rhodie snorts, picks up Chomper and waves a hand. “Lead the way, Professor Chewy.”

Rhodie

“What is this music?” Cove whines in her overly loud voice.

“It sounds like an invasion!” Jovie adds in, messing around with a huge dinosaur Rider gave her.

Chewy ignores the question, instead concentrating on reading some type of chapter book to Laney, who is nestled in a beanbag. I doubt if she even knows what the hell Chewy is talking about, but she’s quietly listening, her chubby fingers playing with her stuffy’s feet. Her little fat foot is slowly moving back and forth over Chomper’s tail as he snoozes.

“It sounds bad. SO bad. Why are we listening to this and not Metallica?” Cove asks.

“Because Metallica isn’t good for brain development. Baroque music is,” Chewy says, before turning the page and reading on.

“Metallica is good for dancing. This isn’t good for dancing.” To illustrate Cove raises her rock on horns and bangs her head in some type of frantic movement to match the beat.

If I’m being honest, it looks pretty identical to how I’ve seen her dance to rock, but what would I know? Jovie giggles and gets up to copy Cove while Elio sits ramrod straight next to Laney’s bean bag listening to Chewy. His brain is probably soaking up all the classical music and shit. As if the kid needs to be any smarter.

A heavy hand lands on my shoulder and I turn in the tiny fucking kid chair Chewy made me sit in to see my dad smiling down at me. Grinning, I jump up and throw my arms around my dad, giving him heavy thumps on the back to match his on mine.

“Fucking good to see you, old man!”

“Yeah yeah, smartass. Now, is that one my grandbaby?” Mad Dog’s eyes are laser focused on Laney, a look of awe on his face. “Fuck, you couldn’t get a kid that looked more like you and Chewy if you birthed her yourself. Holy shit, Rhodie!”

I nod in agreement, because he’s right. Laney is the perfect mix of me and Chewy. Her head is full of wild, dark curls, she has tanned skin and big green eyes, identical in color to mine. At this point we have no idea what her personality will be like or how much what she’s been through will affect her in her life, but it doesn’t matter. She’s ours, through thick and thin, good and bad. I mean, shit, it’s not like me and Chewy are perfect. We fucking kill people for a living. A frown pinches my brow before I remember what Chewy tells me all the time when I sink into the darkness.

“We do what we do, to keep others safe. We protect them from the bad and we give them their lives back. With our actions they get closure. Rhodie, you are a good person that does bad things to make the world a better place. That’s one of the things I love about you. The other is your big cock.”

I huff out a laugh as I shake off the memory.

“All good, Son? Lost ya there for a bit.” Dad’s green eyes, just like mine and Marx’s assess me, looking for what, I don’t know.

“Yeah, just had a moment.”

“You went dark, huh?”

I nod, eyes still on my family.

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