Page 45 of Red River

River grumbled something, clearly irritated, and sighed deeply.

"Don't worry, I have my methods. When I was a kid, Family Services took me from my dad and sent me to my alpha father's house. He found a way to combat my dislike for exercise and pretty much… everything else. I was a real mess when they brought me in, but my father… you could say he saved my life. My dad tried to give me drugs when I was just five."

River knew my story, and I saw sympathy in his eyes. The boys looked at me in surprise.

"Why did your dad do that?" asked Lake.

"Maybe because he drank and took drugs himself. Luckily, good people intervened before it was too late. Training is what helped me, and I believe in its benefits for the mind and in inspiring discipline."

The younger boys stared at me for a moment, gaping, so I decided to change the mood. I was pretty sure Thomas never encouraged them to exercise, so it was all way too abstract for them.

"So, shall we check out the chicken coop? I see you've finished eating. Put the plates in the dishwasher, and let's go!"

I got the impression that River usually cleaned up after them, given how awkwardly they loaded the plates into the dishwasher, but I wasn't going to add to River's workload. He watched me the whole time, biting his lip.

I headed for the patio doors, but when I turned back, I saw River looking at Igor's plate. He glanced up at me, seemingly embarrassed that I'd caught him. I shook my head slightly. He swallowed and followed us outside.

We soon reached the chicken coop, where I showed them my chickens: three silkies, one black and two white, and two Polish crested chickens, one golden-laced and one silver-laced.

"They're beautiful! Look at those crests!"

"Can we pet them?"

"How old are they?"

"Do they lay many eggs?"

I was bombarded with questions and happily answered them. I also promised them that by the end of the week, we'd get some new chicks to increase our flock. The boys came up with names for the current chickens: Spidey, OmegaHen, Chili, Draco, and King, though they had a hard time agreeing on them.

River remained silent the whole time, fidgeting with the end of his braid.

When we returned to the house, it was time to take the kids to enroll them in school.

"Van, call Igor. We'll all go in my Jeep," I instructed.

Van bit his lip but obediently went upstairs. He was gone for a good five minutes, and I was worried he wouldn't bring Igor back, but then he appeared with a scowl on his face.

"I'm hungry!" Igor announced, standing by the table.

"The food Oliver made for you has been waiting for half an hour."

Igor glanced at Oliver, who was watching him with a gentle smile, and muttered, "Thanks."

"No problem, enjoy."

Igor devoured his portion in a few minutes, and we all headed to my car. River brought their documents along.

On the way, the younger kids kept talking about the chickens and expanding the coop. At one point, Aiden looked at the sulking Igor and said, "You better get ready—starting tomorrow morning at 6:30, it's jogging time!"

Igor scoffed. "We'll see how Archer makes me do it!"

Van chuckled. "I'll bet my best water bottle he'll succeed."

"We'll see who wins. That bottle with the hologram? It's gonna be mine."

"If you lose, you'll post some of my best bouldering videos on your channel and give a shoutout to my channel."

"Deal."

---