Page 10 of Single All the Way

“Emerson, you don’t have to do this,” Ben said at the doorway as he took his work gloves off and tucked them in a cubby in the mudroom.

I shook my head. “Sure. I’ll just let you do all the chores while I sleep, and then you can feed me too.” I shook my head at him with ayou’re crazyexpression. “I need to pay you for groceries.”

“We’ll split the next grocery run,” he said, not seeming concerned at all.

Iwasconcerned. I was already epically aware of how much we were imposing on him and his family. I’d do whatever I could to pull my weight by helping with the animals and kids as well as paying our fair share for food.

I’d find a way later to even things out. Right now, I had three chattering kids and a large man to feed.

As I turned the burners off and dished up the food, Evelyn and Ruby set plates and silverware around the dining room table as if they did it every day. I suspected they did.

My kids helped out whenever I asked them, but we had a long way to go to get to Holloway standards.

“What can Xavier do?” I asked Ben, who was pouring himself a mug of coffee. I’d found the pot already brewed when I got downstairs, so he must’ve started it before waking the kids.

He glanced toward the table in the other room. “Juice cups.” He took down colorful cups and handed the stack to my son. “Then you can get the jug of orange juice out of the fridge and put it on the table,” he said to Xavier.

My son did as he was told, which wasn’t always how it went with him.

“How do you do this?” I asked Ben quietly as I stuck a serving spoon into the bowl of eggs.

“Do what?”

I laughed dryly because pretty much his whole lifestyle confounded me. “Let’s see, get the kids up before the sun, get them to help with chores and set the table without asking, no arguments along the way…”

I couldn’t even get Skyler to sleep in her own bed, let alone help with chores. To be fair, she wasn’t herself at all. This temporary move was messing with her in ways I hadn’t expected.

“Llamas are cool,” Ben joked. “Who wouldn’t want to get up at five a.m. to help with them?”

I made a face and laughed. “I can think of things I’d rather do.”

“You’re not under ten.”

“Your household is so organized. Remind me to never let you into mine…when I have one.”

He inched closer and said in a low voice, “I made a deal with the kids when we got the horses and chickens. We could only get them if they helped me every day.”

“That was a couple of years ago, right?”

“Going on three. Then we added the llamas earlier this year. Same deal applies.”

“They helpwithout you asking,” I repeated. “Are there special pills for that?”

He laughed. “It’s not always as seamless as today. They’re excited to have your kids here and show them how it’s done.”

I nodded as we loaded our arms with the food and headed to the table.

“And one of mine isn’t even dressed yet.” I set the eggs and toast on the table, then went to the foot of the stairs and called up, “Skyler, you need to hurry. We’re eating breakfast.”

I heard a door squeak upstairs, then the bathroom door close. I’d check on her in a few minutes. She wasn’t the fastest riser in the morning, but this was slow even for her.

The rest of us had filled our plates when Skyler appeared, still in her nightgown. She looked on the verge of crying, then dashed over to me and buried her face in my side.

Ben caught my gaze with a concerned look that matched the feeling in my gut.

“What’s going on, sweetie?” I asked her, pulling her into me.

“I don’t wanna go to school,” she said, her little voice muffled by my sweater.

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