While the Salazar-Roberts family was in the living room, Ricky was being slightly scolded back in the kitchen. "Well, at least you're alive."
"It was just a little ice. We've been through much worse," he countered.
"I know, but since we now have control, we shouldn't be putting ourselves in those kinds of situations," Nia disciplined.
"Don't worry. I already got in trouble with Nini for still coming over."
"Told you so."
"Did you call just because you wanted to criticize me?"
"No, I wanted to let you know that the power has gone out."
"Really. Damn it."
"Yeah, it's definitely not great."
"No need to freak out; I'm not driving at the moment."
"You might even end up staying the night over there."
Ricky's eyes bulged out of his head. "Wait, seriously?"
"Have you not checked the weather recently?"
"Yeah, but I didn't think it was that bad."
She shrugged even though he couldn't see her. "We'll just play it by ear."
"Ok. Is Noah ok?"
"Yeah, he's fine. It's not like this is new, but he's not freaking out over anything. He's just kinda bored without the TV."
"Well, at least he's calm. I'll be home as soon as possible."
"Just don't do anything stupid and start trying to drive through the mountains of snow."
"Hey, you know that car is built to withstand anything."
"Yeah, the car can; that doesn't mean you will."
"Don't worry so much."
"That's all there is to do."
He just chuckled. "Put Noah on."
Ricky talked with Noah for a few minutes, the boy saying they needed to build a snowman as soon as possible. The father grinned and promised that that would be the first thing once it was safe to go outside.
Once the call ended, Ricky went into the kitchen, expecting to see the other three but was greeted by an empty living room. "Guys!?" he hollered. Footsteps came pounding down the stairs, and both kids were soon standing at the bottom. He looked at them suspiciously. "What's going on?"
"Come upstairs," Jayden said. "We want to show you something."
Ricky was still wary of the situation but followed them nonetheless. He hadn't seen the upstairs of the house since that day when Nini invited him over... and he learned they had children together. He felt his heart grow heavy as he thought about that day and soon felt disappointed in himself once again. He quickly changed his face and put a smile on.
The kids led him down the hallway, passed Nini's room and the bathroom. Lauren put her hand on the doorknob to her left and said, "This is my room." She opened the door and gestured for Ricky to go in. (He heard Jayden slip away behind him.)
He stepped inside and took in all the decorations: there was a queen bed in the corner farthest from the door; sliding closet doors next to the bed; and a desk with a small lamp. It wasn't perfectly clean; Ricky could see some clothes sticking out from under the bed and a mound of shoes building by the desk.
The one thing that stood out the most to him was the keyboard on the stand on the opposite side of the shoe pile from the desk. It had clearly been worn down yet still appeared in decent condition. He went over to it and just gazed. "Mom gave me that for my tenth birthday," Lauren explained. "I wanted to learn, and she was tired of me constantly touching hers."
That caught Ricky's attention. "Your mom has a keyboard." He couldn't remember if there had been one in her room before.
"Mhm," she nodded. "It's so old though. I'm surprised it hasn't quit yet."
"This one looks taken care of," he observed.
"I try. I've knocked it over many times though," she chuckled.
"I can tell," he said, noting the scratch marks on the corners.
As he was admiring the keyboard, something else caught Ricky's eye: a light brown bear nestled between the pillows. He hadn't seen it from the doorway since a few of the pillows blocked it, but he did now. Ricky went over to the bear and asked, "What's this?"
Lauren quickly jumped onto the bed and held the bear. "Franklin. Mom gave me him when I was... Well, she says two, but I obviously wouldn't remember that."
The bear was worn down and even had a small tear in the ear. The shoes were browner where they should have been white, yet one could still tell that they were red. The glasses were surprisingly the cleanest part of it. "C- Can I see it?" he asked nervously, holding out a hand.
The brunette nodded and handed him the bear. Ricky held the fragile toy delicately, feeling that the stuffing had flattened. He remembered Nini telling him that the kids had some stuff from their childhood, but actually seeing it caused memories to flash in his mind. "Wow," he muttered. He handed the bear back to her before he started crying. "I, uh... I like your room," he mumbled. It reminded him of Nini's childhood bedroom but smaller.
Before she could respond, Jayden burst through the door and asked, "How's everything going in here?"
"Just finishing up I think," Lauren answered.
"Great! Come see my room," he urged.
Ricky chuckled and followed the boy across the hall. Jayden jumped onto the bed the second the two entered the room. His room was less put together than Lauren's, but it was obvious that he had at least tried to tidy up. I'm surprised Nini didn't just clean it herself. He obviously had more clothes under the bed compared to his sister, but his room was almost a mirror of Lauren's with the furniture placed similarly.
Once again, an instrument caught his attention. It was an old guitar (very old); it was sitting on a stand in the corner of the room. He went over to admire it as well, and Jayden said, "You can pick it up. Just be careful; it's not exactly brand new."
Ricky nodded and carefully grabbed the guitar by the neck. "This is really nice," he said, looking at it closely. "I had a similar one."
"You play guitar?" The boy was intrigued.
"Yeah, but that was... many years ago. I haven't, uh... I'm a little rusty."
"I feel like it's one of those things you just can't forget."
"Well, when you're out of practice for over a decade, it's not like the skill sticks around."
"I'm sure it wouldn't be impossible to relearn. Mom knows, and she's self-taught, which I think is impressive for this thing."
Ricky spun on his heel and questioned, "Your mom can play the guitar?"
The boy nodded. "Mhm. She can play quite a few instruments."
Ricky thought that was a little strange since he could only remember that she played the ukulele and piano. Her knowledge of the ukulele did not translate when he tried to teach her, and she kept getting the notes of the two instruments mixed up, so she stuck to the ukulele.
He placed the guitar back on the stand at the same time there was a knock. The two turned to look at the door and saw Nini standing there with her fist resting on the door frame. "Hey, there you guys are," she began, stepping into the room. "Jayden, why don't you and Lauren get started on lunch, yeah?" The boy nodded and hopped off his bed, quickly heading downstairs.
"Is this... Salazar-Roberts room shuffle?" Ricky wondered.
Nini chortled and said, "No. I just figured it'd be nice." She stood in front of him and slowly wrapped her arms around his torso.
"Yeah, it was." He placed a kiss on the top of her head and mumbled, "I almost cried in Lauren's room."
Nini moved to rest her chin on his chest, looking up at him and asking, "Over what?"
"Franklin."
She snorted and hid her face in his chest. "You have three human children, and the one you cry over is Franklin?"
"He brought back a lot of memories, ok!" he defended.
She just shook her head, her forehead still pressed against his front. "Such a child as always."
He kissed her again and muttered, "Shush. You know you love it."
Her arms got tighter around him, and she smiled to herself. Love. Her eyes gradually closed as she rested her head on his chest.
"As much as I'm enjoying this," Ricky began, "do you want to go check on the twins?"
"Not yet," she answered. "I want to show you something else first." Nini grabbed his hand and pulled him down the hall and to her room.
"I think you people are playing some weird game with me now," Ricky chuckled.
"Not exactly." She opened the door and had him sit on the bed with her. "I have a couple more gifts for you," she said, pulling out an envelope from under the blankets.
Ricky examined it for a moment. It was just white with no label on it. "What's this?"
"Open it," she said cheerily.
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I just finished writing this, like, two seconds ago because I have been so busy with Just for a Moment that I forgot I didn't have a chapter for this book for this week.