You Know Me Through The Years

Morning Routine

Roe's morning always began with a cup of hot tea at six in the morning. While she drank her tea she was also working on getting Cade's lunch ready for school and of course making sure all of his homework from the night before was packed in his backpack. Her son always left his homework neatly stacked on the table after he finished so either she or Dante would go over it with him. 

Then came the important part at six thirty. 

Roe walked up the stairs with her cup of tea in hand going to the door just past the bathroom on the right and knocked on it. That had been Cade's rule lately. Knock before entering and if he didn't respond, just go in. Roe did just that and found her son hanging halfway off the bed as usual with his head covered with a pillow. Even at eleven years old, he still slept like he did when he was a baby. Instead of gently shaking him, she turned the lights on and pulled the covers off.

"Get up!" She said in her 'mom voice' and all Cade did was curl up in a ball with the pillow still over his head. She rolled her eyes and remarked to herself about how he was just like his father. 

"Moooooom." He groaned out rolling over grabbing on to the pillow with one hand and reaching for his covers with the other. Only, he couldn't find the covers and groaned some more. 

"Get up, Cade. It's time for school." The mother said as she went to leave the room. "I'll be back in five minutes, if you aren't up, I'll get your father." She would always threaten to get Dante who was probably doing his own morning routine by now, since he hardly slept as it is. When Dante woke Cade up, he would literally pick the mattress up and flip his son out of the bed. 

"Okay fine. I'll get up." Her son removed the pillow from his head scrunching up his face when he opened his eyes. "Just don't get Dad. Please don't get Dad." Roe smiled because she won this time. Tomorrow would probably be a different story. She walked out of his room and went to Mara's door and peeked in to see if she was awake yet. 

Mara would usually sleep until seven or a little before, but that was okay with her. The longer Mara slept the more she could do in the mornings before bringing Cade to school. She closed the door quietly and made her way to her bedroom where she found Dante mostly dressed in jeans and a regular black t-shirt. 

"What are your plans for the day?" He asked her when he saw her. He sat on the edge of the bed with a pair of socks in his hands. 

"Well, I was thinking about taking Mara to the park after her nap later then maybe going get some lunch after that. Why?" She gave him a questioning look as he put his socks on. Dante was up to something and she was pretty sure it had something to do with the sudden want to buy a car. 

"I'm going to Reading to look at a car." She raised an eyebrow. Reading was the next town over and it was a good forty minute drive out of Capulet going north. 

"Please don't tell me you are going to buy a rust bucket." Roe remembered the last rust bucket Dante had bought. It was years ago, before Cade had been born, but he had spent years fixing that thing up and it wasn't until after they had reunited that she saw the results of his tinkering. She had to admit that little red mustang turned out pretty good, but when it came to selling it, the car sold for less that he put into it. 

"I need something to do and Cade is going to need a car when he starts driving." He stood up to retrieve his boots out of his closet and then sat back down on the bed. 

"You not only have the shop, but you have your kids. You have plenty to do." She crossed her arms ready for a fight because she knew she was right. They didn't argue much, but when they did, it was usually over something she found stupid. 

"Babe, come on, let me have this?" He stood up and grabbed her by the arms with a pleading smile on his lips. It didn't take much to convince her and disarm her, but the moment he pulled her close and started to whisper sweet nothings in her ear about how much he really loved her and all of that, she melted.