Page 7 of Waiting For A Girl Like You
Ben grinned at his friend. “Listen here, asshole.”
“Swear jar,” the kids shouted in unison while Jamison clapped her hands. As the collectors of the swear jar money, every child watched Ben like a hawk, knowing he was the one who provided a guaranteed payout.
“I sure as hell—”
“Swear jar!”
“Can cook a damn hamburger—”
“Swear jar!”
“And not fuck it up.”
“Swear jar!” CeCe squealed, jotting it all down in her notebook. “That’s five, Uncle Ben!”
“The beach arcade in Port Michaelson has a new go-kart track.” Samuel sat up and took a huge bite of his popsicle, chewing the hunk of ice mercilessly. “If you keep talking, Dad, we’re going to have enough money for all of us to race together.”
Ben’s eyes narrowed at the mini-version of himself. “Very funny.”
“Fine, Ben can cook them.” Ty wagged a finger at Devon. “But Devon has to season the meat and supervise the grilling.”
“And there goes our alone time,” Simone whispered under her breath. “Told you.”
She gave him a parting kiss, leaving him for her shaded spot on the porch. Officially grumpy, Devon called Selah and Samuel over. “Finish cleaning up.”
The boys whined but did the chore while Ben took Laura Jean and Jamison inside with Evie right behind them. Oddly enough, Toby remained outside, sitting next to his sisters and Annabeth. Once Selah and Samuel had the science experiment boxed up, Devon sent the boys into the house to put everything away while he went to join his wife in the rockers.
“Annabeth, go on and tell your brother to take his shower,” Simone said when he approached. “Then get your things to go next.”
With so many kids packed into one house, alphabetical shower order was the only thing keeping chaos at bay.
“Okay, Mama.” Annabeth trotted off to do as she was told. Where Abe’s head was firmly planted in the clouds, Annabeth was the grounding force between them, keeping her brother in check.
Most of the time, anyway.
Devon took the open chair beside Simone and laced his fingers with hers as they rocked slowly. CeCe and Toby swayed with them while Livy leaned against one of Haven’s white columns, watching the sky’s changing colors as sunset approached.
“Do you think we’ll have enough money in the swear jar to go go-kart racing?” Livy asked.
Ty wandered over, leaning on the opposite column across from Livy. “Hell, yeah, we will.”
The kids giggled, and Devon shared a grin with Simone.
“I don’t know why the hell y’all are laughing,” Ty went on, stoking the fire. “If you get me out on that track, I’m going to whoop all y’all’s as—”
“That’s enough,” Simone warned her brother. “Go inside and make sure no one is causing problems.”
Ty mumbled as he left, but stopped before completely disappearing around the corner. “Asses!”
The girls burst into loud laughter, with even Toby joining in.
“So bad.” Simone acted shocked, her delicate fingers at her throat. “Someone should put him in a time-out.”
“Or ground him,” Toby replied, his voice a little louder. “Get it. Ty likes to garden, so wegroundhim.”
CeCe and Livy laughed at their brother’s joke, making him beam with pride. Devon caught Simone’s eye, and she nodded. They had been told time and again how Toby’s behavior was self-induced, and while Devon agreed, there was something else at play. Something that needed to be nurtured and not left alone to manifest into what might eventually become a problem.
He hated to say it, but they were already seeing such manifestations in his attachment to Evie. The fact that Toby was sitting outside without her was a feat in itself. Working as a teacher, he had seen similar behaviors in a few students, and attachment issues usually went one of two ways. The child grew out of it, or the attachment shifted to something darker, functioning almost like an addiction until a newfixation was found.
