Page 17 of Seal of Approval

“That’s what creative writing is for.”

Rose rolled her eyes. She turned us to the two men next. “This is Ross and Jay.”

They both stood up to shake my hand. Ross had wild curly hair and Jay short brown hair. They were the opposite of what I would’ve imagined.

“If you’re ever sick, Ross will fix you in a jiffy. Last year I was vomiting and vomiting. He gave me this thing that stopped it.”

Ross ruffled her hair. “It’s called a wafer.”

“Yeah. That.”

Jay was smiling. “Jack tells me you’re doing research on the sea lions.”

There was that small-town thing again.

Bailey came over and stood beside me. “He’s going to write a report that’s going to help save them all over the world.”

They were unexpected words. I hoped they were true.

“I hope to help guide policies to ensure their future.”

Jay grinned. “I’m not sure how you get much work done with these two.” He pulled Rose into his lap and tickled her. She squealed in delight.

“I try to give him some peace in the evenings,” Jasmine said. “While I finish off paperwork, the kids do their homework and Ethan works on his dissertation. Then I send the kids off for some quiet time.”

Rose giggled. “Sometimes we’re not very quiet though. Mum uses her mum voice on us.”

I chuckled. It happened just about every night.

“Are you laughing because she uses the mum voice on you too?” Sara asked.

Everyone’s eyes turned to me, including Jasmine’s. I shifted my feet. She’d used it more than once.

Jasmine raised her eyebrows. I shrugged, returning her smirk from earlier.

Jack joined in. “She used it on him the first day at work. All that poor man wanted to do was go out to see the sea lions. All she wanted him to do was his boring inductions.”

Jay shook his head at Jasmine. “So cruel.”

She clenched her jaw. “Inductions are important.”

“I helped her see the error of her ways,” Jack said.

That explained her changed attitude when she came back from the shop.

Jasmine crossed her arms. “I would have taken him on my own.”

Jack laughed. “Sure you would have. When he’d finished every last bit of your requirements.”

Jasmine turned around and set up her chair. It was unlike her to disengage. That was my job.

Rose took my chair from me and set it up next to Jasmine’s and then hers beside me. I listened to the banter back and forth. Lily was unusually quiet. She spent a lot of time looking between Jasmine and me with a little smile on her face.

“How’s the coffee machine going?” Jack asked.

“Great. It’s just what I need in the morning.”

“Does the coffee smell good, Jasmine?” Lily asked.

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