Delicate

Chapter 73

HAVEN MCQUEEN
October 2021

The house is dead silent as I hear Katie's spare key jingling in the back door. She calls out for the twins and announces that she brought them dinner and that they have to love her forever now, but they don't respond. I give her a knowing smirk as she sees me in the living room, gesturing to the two lumps on the couch under the throw blankets.

"Oh," she frowns, feigning confusion as she sets the In-N-Out bags on the kitchen table. "Where are Lily and Jack?"

"I have no idea," I huff. "I've been looking everywhere for them."

"That's so weird," her sneakers tap on the hardwood floor as she crosses over into the living room, calling out their names. Lily giggles. "Well, I guess I can just sit on the couch and wait for them to come out."

Jack screams at the top of his lungs as she starts to sit on him without putting her full weight down, to which Katie gasps and whips around to yank their hiding spot away from them. Lily yells out, "Boo!" with her wild brown waves and curls in her face, and pink cheeks.

"There you are, you crazy kitties!" Katie pulls them both in for hugs. "I've missed you!"

They hug her back, but proceed to jump off the couch and beeline into their room for their toys now that the excitement is over. I warn them that they need to come and eat their dinner before playing again, but they ignore me because that's their new favorite thing to do. I still have to cut up the vegetables they'll have with their cheeseburgers, so I relent for at least the next few minutes.

"How are you?" Katie turns her attention to me, following me into the kitchen. "You look thinner than you usually are."

"Oh, thanks," I scoff a laugh. "So I'm usually fat?"

"Shut up, you're always hot," she rolls her eyes. "I just mean, you look...frail."

"I'm alright," I suppress a yawn as I dig the carrot sticks and bell peppers out of the refrigerator. "It's just fucking hard, dude. Why did it have to be twins?"

"Oh, stop," she laughs and helps me by cutting the red peppers into strips. "You know you're obsessed with them."

"I mean, I am, but I've been trying to potty train them this week and do you know how impossible that is with twins? So, the whole thing is that you're supposed to have them be completely naked so that they don't feel comfortable going potty in their underwear, right? Like, if they have a diaper or undies on, they'll think it's okay to go in them. But I didn't anticipate them being okay going without them on either."

She stops cutting to throw her head back with a loud laugh. "Are they just shitting all over the place?"

I give her a look, trying not to laugh. "You don't wanna know. We're about to eat."

"Oh, God, Hay," she giggles still. "So did you give up?"

"They are currently in diapers, yes, and I don't fucking care," I mutter to keep them from hearing me swear. "I'm gonna have to train them one at a time because it's just too much."

"Has your mom been able to help you or anything? I'm sorry that I've been pretty busy."

"No, no, no, it's fine," I grab two plastic plates for the kids' dinner. "It's just hard because it's not a one-day affair, you know? I'm sure my mom would offer to help, but I don't know how long it'll take and she's been crazy busy with a shit ton of commissions so it's not a great time."

"I gotcha," she picks out two sippy cups to fill with a combination of apple juice and water to dilute the sugar. "Well, I'm sorry that it's hard and that H isn't here to help you. How was he when you saw him last?"