Summer Days

Chapter 52

Kota eyed me as he walked into the kitchen. "What's she telling you?" He asked warily.

I shrugged and smiled. "It might be things about most of my boys at the age of 4..." I said innocently. "It might be about all of my boys at the ages of 12 and 15. A girl has the right to know these things."

"Absolutely." Jessica grinned at me. "I have stories too."

I smiled. "I bet you do. You'd have the stories that your mom might not know about."

Jessica giggled and Erica rolled her eyes. "Sure, there's probably some things." She admitted, getting up to pull the casserole dishes out of the oven. "But we'll save the one about how they almost burned the house down for another time. Like during the first hour of the drive tomorrow." She promised me.

"Oh good! That just means I have to be in the same van as you so that you can tell me stories." I said as I got up to pull things out of the fridge. I gave Kota a huge grin. "Your mom and Jessica are coming to dinner so we can draw numbers for seat positions during the trip. Can you run over to Nathans and prep the numbers and stuff?"

He blinked at me. "Draw numbers?" he asked.

"Of course." I nodded. "Those that will drive are not in the drawing but assigned Driver's seat and Shotgun. Then the rest of us will draw for position in the vans. We have a good 8 hour drive so maybe we should do 2 hour stints. That means drawing 4 different times in the hopes that we aren't always in the same van with each other."

Erica chuckled and tousled his hair. "Get moving, Dakota before Sang gets home and tells you exactly how it's going to be."

He ran his hand over his hair and nodded before kissing his mom on the cheek and heading down to Nathan's.

"Did you get everything you wanted?" I asked Jessica.

"Oh, I'm completely stocked up. I'll share if you end up with less than desirable snacks." She promised.

"I'm not sure that's possible with Luke around." I laughed.

"No... Luke's definitely dependable for good snacks but it depends if North has the chance to intercept them." She informed me.

"Ah, yes, I can understand the concern." I said as we packed up dinner and the three of us headed out the door as well.

It certainly didn't take long to make it across the street to Nathan's. "Oh, I have to show you my room." I beamed as I told Jessica and Erica. "The boys made me an amazing space to call mine here."

"Cool." Jessica said as we walked into the kitchen and Erica slid the lasagna into the oven with the garlic bread to keep warm and heat up while Jessica and I put what we were carrying in the fridge. "I may need to come have sleepovers with you if it's that cool." She teased.

"You know you can anytime you want." I told her sincerely.

Erica eyed us for a moment, her eyes softening slightly as she studied us. "I think that would be a fine idea." She said softly. "Just make sure I'm in the loop." She requested softly before she was swept up in an exuberant hug.

"Mama Lee's here!" Luke said excitedly, almost lifting her off the ground.

"Monkey!" Erica laughed and tousled his hair as he set her down. "No bananas tonight." She teased.

"But you still made dinner so that's okay." He said, kissing her cheek before giving Jessica a hug and coming over to drop a kiss on the tip of my nose before freezing and sliding his gaze at Erica.

"I know all about it." She reassured him. "Unlike some people that I've known since birth, Sang cared enough to come talk to me before we go on vacation together."

He colored pink. "Sorry, Mama Lee." He said. "Do I still get mama hugs?"

"Of course, sweetie." She said softly, her eyes touched with just a hint of sadness and I made a note to myself to ask about things sometime over the next two weeks when it was just us girls. "You will always be my monkey boy and I will always be happy to supply the mama hugs. You know that." She said before coming over to cup his cheek for a moment. She gave it a light slap. "Now, do me a favor, watch the oven stuff so it doesn't burn the house down, okay?"

He grinned at her and gave her another hug. "Okay."

I wrapped my arm around Jessica's shoulders. "Great. Now I have to show off my amazing room." I said before leading the two of them out of the kitchen and down the hall to my master suite. "Check it out." I said, letting them in and clapping to turn on the lights. I watched as both Jessica and Erica stared around the room with rapt attention, taking in all the special things my boys had put in the room for me.

"Wow." Jessica's eyes widened. "Can they come do my room?" She asked, turning in a circle to take it all in as she stared at it with her jaw open in a wide mouthed stare.

"I'm sure they'd be happy too. You can sleep over with me until they're done." I smiled.

"I almost want to let them loose in the whole house." Erica admitted.

"You can stay too." I grinned at her.

Jessica wandered over to take note of my closet.

"and we're about the same size now." I told her. "So my closet is yours if you want. I only ask that you ask first so that I have a chance to check to make sure Gabriel isn't planning on me needing to wear the clothes that week."

"Awesome." She breathed, running a hand down one of my skirts before turning to face me. "So everyone knows about all of you now, right?"

"Almost." I said. "I don't think North and Luke have told Uncle yet."

"He knows." Erica blurted. "He's not a dumb dog."

My eyes widened slightly at her description and I gave her a look.

She shrugged. "We've been friends a very long time, Ben and I." she said, softly. "We've gotten through quite a few things together, not the least including how to change a diaper as I had to show him the first time when he first was on his own with Luke in hand."

"Ah. I suppose that makes a lot of sense then when it comes to how he's been the past 5 months or so about seeing me with Luke or North and not saying much about me needing to be with Luke more often." I said.

She chuckled. "Yes, that was probably a direct result." She said before they went and checked out my private bathroom. "They do amazing work." She said.

I agreed. "Yes, they are all amazing."

Owen popped his head in. "Luke said the garlic bread is warm now." He smiled at us. "Ready to eat and get on with the planning and the rest of the movies?" he asked.

"Sounds great." Erica smiled at him, pausing on her way out of the room to kiss his cheek. "Always such a nice boy." She teased, patting him on the opposite cheek as he blushed furiously at the attention.

Jessica followed her, hugging him tight around the waist. "Which movies?" she asked.

He named the remaining Marvel movies we had left to watch.

"Great! I love Hawkeye." She enthused.

"Not Black Widow?" I asked. "Or Captain America?"

She shook her head as Owen hugged her back and dropped a kiss on the top of her hair. "They don't use a bow." She informed me. "But they are my next in line after Clint." She said before letting go of Owen and heading into the dining room.

"Hmm." I smiled at him before clapping to turn off my lights.

"Is it really any surprise? Her favorite books are Hunger games and her favorite Disney princess is actually Merida." He reminded me, tapping me on the forehead gently.

"No." I shrugged. "Can't believe I forgot." I grinned at him before stretching up to kiss him gently. "I'm starving... good thing it's time for dinner, my love."

"Good thing indeed that Erica makes enough food." He chuckled and wrapped his arm around my shoulders as we went to join the others at the table.