Page 90 of An Unfinished Story
Whitaker moaned with delight.
“I’ve had three already,” Kari admitted from her chair. “It’s dangerous coming over here.”
Jacky set the plate back on the counter and looked at Claire. “They’re made with coconut sugar. And they’re vegan. I’m trying to teach them about eating healthier without cramming it down their throats. These boys have eaten a lot of fast food in their lives.”
“How can you possibly cook for so many?” Claire followed her question with another bite, tasting the coconut this time.
“You’re running a restaurant,” Whitaker added, catching a crumb falling from his mouth.
“Oh, they help,” Jacky assured them. “A couple of them have a real talent in the kitchen. Oliver’s one of them.”
An idea came to Claire. She brought up Leo’s South, and though Jacky had never eaten there, she’d heard of it. “Well, I’d love to host all of you for breakfast or lunch sometime. On me, of course. And I could give them a tour of the kitchen, introduce them to my chefs.”
“Oh, they’d love that! Would you like to meet everyone?”
Claire and Whitaker nodded eagerly.
Walking into the living room, they found four happy young boys of various skin colors sitting on beanbags playing UNO. Her nerves toyed with her as she took in the scene. Two guitars rested on stands next to an amplifier. There was a keyboard near the window, which looked out back toward the pool. Board games filled the built-in bookshelves. And she noticed an Xbox set up under the television.
“Everyone,” Jacky said, “meet Claire and Whitaker.”
A collective chorus of “Hi” greeted them.
Claire waved and met eyes with each of them. “Nice to meet you.” She couldn’t have imagined navigating the world without stable biological parents at such a young age. And yet here they were, more than dealing with it.
“Who wants to tell Claire and Whitaker what we did today?”
They all seemed eager to speak, but one young man beat the others to the punch. He had big blue eyes and flashy silver braces. “We went to a nursing home.”
“Yeah, and what did you do?” Jacky asked.
The other boys were giving her their full attention.
“We helped them out with their phones and tablets.”
“That’s incredible,” Claire said, looking at the boy with braces and then the others.
“You wouldn’t believe how helpful they were.”
“Oh, I can believe it.” Whitaker turned to the boys. “My mom has no idea what she’s doing with technology. Just entering the right password is an accomplishment. And she’s only just learned how to use emojis. Let me tell you something, gentlemen. Baby boomers should not be allowed to use emojis.”
“Jacky never knows her password,” one boy said.
Everyone smiled.
“It’s true,” Jacky admitted. “I don’t.”
Jacky poked each of them about their favorite subjects in school and then said to Claire and Whitaker, “They all have As and Bs. Not one C in the bunch right now.”
As Claire and Whitaker made a show of being impressed, Jacky looked back at her children. “But I want to see even more As. Because you know why?”
The boys looked at her, waiting for an answer.
“Because I know you have it in you.”
Once the children had returned to their activities, Jacky gave them a tour. Though she should have been surprised after seeing what Jacky was capable of, Claire was still taken aback when she saw how clean the boys’ rooms were. The beds with Tampa Bay Lightning comforters were made with military precision. The carpet stood tall from a recent vacuum.
“My father would salute these boys,” Whitaker said. “I can’t even make a bed so well.”
