I Remember You

Chapter 29

When had he arrived and why hadn't she been informed that he was coming?

Lily turned back to organize the kids, and they all started fighting about who would go first. Lily laid a few ground rules, chose the order they would go in, then lined them up. Ellie was once again too little, so she was given the very important job of marking everyone's seed when it landed.

Lily was doing her best to pretend that she wasn't standing around in a modest two-piece bathing suit. The bottoms had a little flirty skirt, and the top just about reached her bottoms, but she felt self-conscious as she kept her back to Finn.

The kids all participated, and Colten won with Fiona coming in second. Then more watermelon was ordered and the adult Stevens decided they were going to have a little competition of their own.

Lily decided that Paul needed to be put down for a nap, so she headed towards the house to find a place to leave him. The boy could sleep through anything; it probably came from having three very loud older siblings.

When she entered the kitchen, she smiled as she saw Mike sitting on a stool in the corner. "Hi Mike," she called, would you like to come with me and find a quiet place," she offered.

Mike jumped down and followed her out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

"I know just the place," she said softly.

She ended up in the master bedroom that had a protected bay window with a window seat. She thought it might make him feel safe to have walls on three sides of him.

She laid Paul down, but as with most children; that was his sign to wake-up. "I want a story!" he cried as he cuddled against her when she sat on the bed.

"A story?" she asked, as her mind worked overtime to come up with something.

"Me too!"Ellie said as she entered the room with Mave trailing behind.

They were wet and sticky from the watermelon, but as one after the other piled in she gave up on trying to keep them off of the bed. It would be easier to change the bedding in the end.

"What kind of story?" Lily asked, settling back with all of the kids spread around the room in different places.

"Who are you?" Mave asked, looking at Mike.

"That's my friend Mike." Mave went to sit next to him, and he started to count as she approached.

"No, sweetie, Mike likes to sit by himself, he gets upset if anyone gets to close," she explained.

"That's weird!" Alister called.

"No more weird than you being afraid of clowns Alister," Lily said in reply, "or Colten not liking cheese, or Paul not liking dolls. You all have your likes and dislikes, and we don't judge we accept, got it!" Lily insisted.

They all nodded and then started calling for a story again.

"Alright, I have one." Lily began to tell the story about the man getting stuck up the chimney at Penny and Sam's house. It was a ghost story that was known through the entire town, but Lily told it as a love story, not a ghost story.

Halfway through she noticed Finn standing in the doorway watching her as she told it, but she did her best to ignore him. When she finished, most of the kids had fallen asleep. The only ones not asleep were Mike, Fiona, and Sam.

"That's really a ghost story, Lily!" Sam said as she stood, disgusted in a way only a ten-year-old by could be in her telling it.

"I want to hear the ghost story, tell it to me!" Fiona insisted.