Blended Family

Lin

I'd only been with the kids for five hours, but I was exhausted.  I'd forgotten how much work little kids could be.  Joey had been an only child, so I'd never had two at the same time.  Alex was mostly potty trained, but had had an accident in the afternoon.  She still needed a lot of help.

I collapsed on the couch, hearing music blaring from down the hall.  I scrubbed a hand over my face, shuddering at the thought of making dinner.  Take-out it was.  After relaxing for a few moments, I wandered back to Joey's room and knocked.  She paused her music as I poked my head in.

"I'm too tired to cook," I told her.  "Where do you wanna order from?"

"Fresco's?" she requested.

"Pepperoni?" I asked and she nodded.

"What happened with the Richards?" she asked hesitantly.

"We'll talk about it at dinner," I told her, shifting my weight.  "But Pippa and I are sharing custody."

"Sharing custody?" she asked, confused.  I nodded and rubbed at the back of my head. 

"Not ideal, obviously," I said.  "I'll call you when the pizza's here."

I dialed up Fresco's and ordered a large pizza and breadsticks.  Forty-five minutes later, it arrived.  I yelled for Joey and she joined me at the table after grabbing two pieces of pizza and a breadstick.

"So...the kids will live here sometimes?"

I nodded as I finished chewing.  "The judge said Pippa and I can arrange it however we want.  They could live with us half time, or however we decide to arrange it.  We'll both have to get lawyers to work it out."

"Don't...don't you, like, hate her?" she asked, peeling off a pepperoni and putting it in her mouth.

"I don't hate her," I clarified.  "She's just unfairly blamed me for her brother's problems."

"The one who tried out for Hamilton?"

"That's the one," I said.

"It's not your fault he's a spaz."

"Exactly," I agreed.  "Did you serve your in-school suspension today?"

"Yep," she said, cracking open her soda.  "I should get in trouble more often.  I'm ahead in my readings for class, and got a good start on my project for Social Studies."

"I wouldn't make a habit out of it," I told her.  "And what was that about you getting detentions from your Social Studies teacher?"

She scoffed as she chewed.  "He was talking about World War II and never even talked about women's roles.  I called him sexist."

"Joey, you can't insult teachers like that," I told her.  "You need to be respectful."

"But isn't it disrespectful to the women who served our country not to mention their contributions?" she asked.  There was the lawyer in her.

I raised my eyebrows at her.  "Be nice."

She giggled a little and we continued eating.  The conversation shifted to the weekend, when she'd be back at her mother's house.  Joey's mother and I had divorced when she was about four.  We'd been college sweethearts, but married too young when we both were different.  She and I got along just fine, but Joey was reaching the age when she was starting to fight with her mother a lot.  Clarita was a lawyer and Joey had inherited her fighting spirit.  The two of them sparring could get quite heated.

After Joey had gone back to her room to finish homework, I called up Pippa with a few things on my mind.

"Are her parents taking care of the funeral?" I asked her, wondering whether anyone was taking care of the arrangements.