Summer Days

Chapter 61

Kota looked thoughtful. "I don't think anyone else would want to do it either." He said. "They'd probably help you since there's grocery shopping involved if Mr. Blackbourne can't fit it into his schedule, but I don't think any of them is under the illusion that it's a fun and exciting job." He scratched his head.

"So, wouldn't you somewhat agree that if I'm the heart of the family, the Wendy to all my Lost Boys, it would make sense that I was the family lead and in charge of making sure everyone's doing okay or making the call when Silas really shouldn't go on that job for another team even though we really could use the favors?" I asked.

Nathan smiled. "Makes perfect sense to me." He said, squeezing my hand. "It would keep North calmer about your role in the Academy, to be honest."

"Explain."

He shrugged. "He's going to be nervous about any offers that come your way to do jobs. That's just how it is for Academy birds." He said. "If you're family lead, you get more say in what you do or don't accept to do AND as the family lead, it puts you in the position to decline certain things that make you uncomfortable because you have anywhere from five to ten different things that five to nine of your various family members need you to take care of for them because you've managed to get them all scheduled on assignments and don't you know it, Luke desperately needs back up before he scales the side of that building again and darn it if it doesn't need to be you because no one else can handle Luke and the side of a building."

I laughed because the whole situation with Luke and the side of a building was one I could see happening frequently. "I like how you put that, Honey."

"And now that you mention it..." Kota smiled before continuing. "I don't like to handle Luke and the side of a building so yeah, this could work out well for you."

I squeezed his hand. "I can handle Luke and the sides of buildings seven days a week."

They both gave a huge sigh of relief that had me laughing again.

"So, is that something off the list then?" Kota asked.

"I guess. But how do we tell Sean and Owen?" I asked.

Kota shrugged. "I can just go with the suggestion that I want to step away from it and you volunteered to take over and we didn't think anyone else would mind. They can challenge if they want to but we all know you flipped North over your head, so I don't know that they'd want to do that." He teased.

"Oh, that's an excellent point. It's been ages since I was able to practice flipping." I smiled.

"Maybe later this week." Nathan said. I nodded before glancing around for a moment. "Now what?"

"Well, as much as I love my room here." I smiled. "And we've got a lot of mixed memories of spending time here, but have you ever thought about seeing if you can't just cut your dad off completely about having a reason to come back to town?"

He frowned slightly. "By doing what?"

"Well... I was thinking about our housing situation for a while the other day and I couldn't help but notice, or maybe it was a realization... about where the Taylor's live. That's a huge house, plenty of rooms. Plenty of space for garages or storage or even if we needed a trailer or manufactured home or two, there's room for those too."

Kota's gaze narrowed as he considered what I was describing. "You're right. There's more than enough rooms in the house but if we needed separate spaces for offices or if Victor wants a studio for a piano or Gabe for painting, we could easily create that."

Nathan ran his hand over the back of his head. "So, we talk to Uncle?"

"Maybe see if he wants to trade houses." I said, sitting up. "I'm sure we could figure out some way to basically buy your dad out of this house..." I reached for a notebook and calculator. "Being here would put him closer to the diner as well as be in position to keep an eye on things we want taken care of." I said, punching in some numbers and jotting down the total on the notepad.