Page 2 of Balance

I stand up and slap my cheeks to wake myself up, heading down the hall to the playroom to see how bad the damage is in there. Every time I clean up a room, I turn around, and it’s a damn mess again everywhere else. It’s like living with mini Tasmanian devils.

I lean against the wall and watch my two youngest girls chase each other around. They’re still in their pajamas, covered in syrup from our pancake breakfast, Tilly even has milk all over her face and shirt.

But they’re smiling and laughing. That's what matters, I guess.

“Daddy!” Nessa squeals and races up to me, crashing into my legs. She just turned four and it already feels like I’ve been hit by a truck. She's so damn solid.

“Hey munchkin. Why don’t we start to clean up and we’ll go to the park after lunch? Then we can do something special afterpicking up Avery?” I glance over to Tilly to gauge her reaction and she shrugs and toddles over to the toys and starts throwing them around. Close, but not close enough.

We, or I, go from room to room filling up trash bags with old, broken toys that are irredeemable. It takes hours, but eventually all of the trash is bagged, filled with ripped up and over-stained clothes, old food, and broken toys.

All of the good toys are cleaned and put away and the furniture back in order. The kitchen is clean, along with the living room, sitting room, and their bedrooms. I glance down at my watch and realize we have way surpassed lunch and need to pick up Avery soon from camp.

I groan as my stomach grumbles and I race to see if there’s anything we can eat before we have to leave. At least they’ve been snacking all day on the food I pulled out of the fridge and told them to eat before it needed to be tossed out. We really need to grocery shop. Again.

“Girls! Let’s head into the bath and then we’ll go pick up Avery… we’ll just go to the park after we have her!” The girls excitedly run down the hall towards their shared bathroom and I collapse onto my knees, filling up the tub and adding their favorite bubble bath to the warm water.

I get them both cleaned up, handing them toys to play with as the water cools before wrapping them up in towels. I grab their brushes and deposit them into their room on their beds and pull out the last of their clean clothes. Shit, the one thing I didn’t get to today, laundry. Maybe tonight after they’re in bed.

“Tilly, do you want to sit on the potty before we leave?”

She frowns and shakes her head, her blonde curls bouncing into her face. “No. Diaper.” I sigh and nod, getting her all suited up in the white diaper and putting her in a pair of leggings, a dress, socks, and boots.

Nessa dressed herself and I brush through her hair, leaving it down.

I’m 6’3” and have massive, muscular hands, there’s no way I could figure out how to braid their damn hair and I have no idea how to even work a hair tie.

Their hair is clean and brushed. That’s good enough for me.

“Okay[1], daddy needs to shower really quick… maybe I can shave… then we’re going to go.” I think about how I can do this without them racing out the front door or destroying the house. I have them follow me to my room as I grab everything I need: a bigger towel, clothes, my body wash and shampoo, and my electric razor. I’ll lock us all in their room and just use their attached bathroom. They can play and not get into trouble.

I hope.

By the time we’re jumping into my SUV, we only have ten minutes to make it to the camp before I get another warning for showing up late, one more time and they’ll tell me she’s not allowed back. No matter how much she loves it there. Or how much money I offer to throw at them.

Assholes.

The girls are buckled and their favorite music is on. They’re dancing and singing while I drive five over the speed limit and park a minute before I’m late. I race out of the car and wave to the supervisor on pick-up duty today and she rolls her eyes at me.

“Cutting it close, Mr. Bale. See you next Monday!” She turns around, her long dark ponytail swinging behind her as she jogs back into the building. I glance down at Avery, her light brown hair is braided on either side of her head and her hazel eyes are narrowed at me.

Someone here must have done her hair today because it definitely wasn’t me.

“If you’re late one more time, I can’t come back, dad. You know this,” she sighs dramatically and hikes up her yellow backpack on her shoulder and stomps to the car, the only one here in the pick-up area.

I frown as I follow her back to the car, pointing to the back seat right before she opens up the front passenger door. “Nice try, Ave. Get in the back in between your sisters.”

She rolls her eyes and climbs in and buckles herself in. “Mom always let me sit in the front.”

I sigh as I turn the car around and head to the closest fast food place. I can’t stomach the shit, but the kids need to eat and they’ll burn the calories at the park. “It’s just not safe. Sorry. Maybe in a few years.”

I ignore her huff and I order their meals before I drive back towards the house. The gated community we live in has a fuck load of amenities that I’m sure the kids never made use out of before I took over. There’s a small lake, a park, an indoor arcade, and even a movie theater. Tall, thick trees everywhere you look.

It's home.

“We’re not going home?” Avery asks as I park and she unbuckles herself before helping Tilly and Nessa out of their car seats.

“Nope. I promised the little ones that we would come here after we cleaned the house. That’s why we were late… and I actually bathed and cleaned up today.” I wink at her in the rear-view mirror and I grab the food, smiling as the three of them race straight to the jungle gym.

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