Page 3 of The Ones We Fight For

“Right, uh, okay. Give me a minute to figure this out.” Turning around, Walker rushed back into the kitchen. “Colin, I’m gonna run to the store really quick. Can you make sure everyone’s ready to walk out the door by the time I get back?”

“Yeah.” Colin nodded.

“Okay, one… two… three… Pearl’s upstairs… and…” Walker trailed off in the middle of counting all of his nieces and nephews, still unsure of the whereabouts of one. “Where’s Carter?”

Colin just shrugged, and Walker let out a long sigh before jogging back up the stairs in search of the long-lost sibling.

Lo and behold, when Walker found him, Carter was still curled up on his bed with the covers over his head. Silently cursing himself for not checking on him earlier, Walker reached down to shake his nephew awake, suddenly feeling sorry for every time he had overslept and Cole had to forcefully pull him out of bed. Teenage boys were the worst, and Carter, in his first year of high school, wanted all of the freedom and none of the responsibility. Out of anyone, Carter was probably the most similar to Walker, even though he was adopted. Walker’s own personality was finally coming back to bite him in the ass.

“I’m not going,” Carter mumbled, reaching for the covers, his muscular limbs only visible for a second before he burrowed back down under the bedding.

“You have to.”

“Can’t I just skip one more day?” Carter complained, rolling over and squinting at the bright light fixture above his bed.

“No. The more you guys are away from school, the more you fall behind. Look, I know it’s shit, but you have to go back at some point,” Walker reasoned. “You gotta be an example for Pearl and Coop.”

“That’s what Perfectionist Piper and Correct Colin are for,” Carter shot back.

“As much as I enjoy your use of alliterations, you still need to get off your butt, out of bed, and get ready. No time like the present to get back out into the world. We’ve all been wallowing, and now we need some fresh air.”

The pep talk felt like it was more for himself than his nephew. It was what Walker had been telling himself every day he woke up to this never-ending nightmare. The thing was, with five kids all stuck in the hell that they were now in, there wasn’t a whole lot of time allotted for Walker to wallow. He had too many responsibilities, and, out of anyone, he needed to be the strongest. How he would become the rock everyone needed to make it through, he had no idea, but there was no room for failure.

“Now, I have to deal with a small emergency and run to the store. Can I trust you to get up? Do I need to come back with a bottle of water to dump on you?” Walker cocked his head at Carter sternly.

“Yes,” Carter grumbled.

“To the water or the getting up?” Walker questioned, amusing himself.

“Get out.” Carter pointed at the door.

Pulling the covers off of his nephew, Walker threw all the bedding to the ground so Carter would have to comply, at least to re-cover himself, if anything else.

“Jesus, wear some freaking pajamas when you go to bed,” Walker huffed, walking toward the door.

“Nah, I like to be free.” Carter grabbed one of the sheets off the floor to cover himself as Walker shut the door behind himself and jogged back down the stairs.

“All right!” Walker shouted, bolting toward garage entrance. “I’m taking my bike. If I don’t get back in time, Colin, you drive, and I’ll bring Pearl’s stuff to the office for them to give to her at school.”

“No!” Pearl cut in, emerging from the living room. “Please don’t do that!”

“Then I’ll… bring it to you personally?” Walker tried again.

“Just make it back on time,” Pearl begged.

“Right.” Walker nodded and grabbed his motorcycle helmet off the bench next to the door, along with his riding gloves and padded jacket.

???

It was nice out, and the breeze felt good against Walker’s clothes as he raced through the streets to the nearest store that carried feminine hygiene products. The weather was the only agreeable force working with him that morning. He should have thought about the fact that his nieces would need different things than the boys. His latest round of toiletry shopping woefully lacked anything feminine other than the vaguely fruity-looking shampoo that he’d thrown in the cart. His brother would have known.

Cole would have been prepared if it had just been Paisley, but that’s not what had happened. It was a pipe dream to wish it had just been one of them. What Walker needed to do was focus his energy on attainable goals, such as researching everything he needed to know about raising five kids.

You can do that. It’s just like the research you do for your books, except this is real life and there are no editors to fix your mistakes. No pressure.

When Walker rounded the corner, a mile out from the nearest store, he was halfway through making the mental checklist of items he needed to take care of.

Call to check up on everyone throughout the day. Look up some sort of a recipe for dinner tonight that doesn’t suck. Get some writing done. Prepare for the rest of the week with a more thought-out schedule.

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