All Grown Up: The Story of Jacob and Renesmee Part II

First Goodbye

Renesmee

 "Psst," Jacob said, tapping his fingers on his desk during our International Foods class. I waved him away. Nobody noticed us in the back of the only half full class. "Hey," he insisted.

 "Don't you want me to learn how to make this? Wouldn't it be cool to have crepes for breakfast?"

 "Here," he said, throwing a folded note onto my desk. I opened it to find a question in the center. Do you like me? Circle one Yes No I rolled my eyes at him. "You're so weird," I whispered, shoving the note into my purse. 

The end of the day couldn't come fast enough. In the car, before we headed home, he pulled me close. I smiled and drummed my fingers on his chest.

 "What do you want for dinner?"

 "How about breakfast?" he suggested. "Sounds good."

 Breakfast for dinner was always fun. The kids thought it was pretty hilarious to have waffles in the evening. We were greeted loudly and lovingly when we got home. It's kind of nice to be missed, I always missed them too. After saying goodbye to Nana and Gabriel, Jake and I got started on our homework. When I was a couple of paragraphs into my reading, I felt two little hands on my leg, tugging at my jeans. I looked down and smiled as Asa pulled himself into my lap. 

"Hi, Mama," he said.

 "Hello, my baby boy." He put his buzzing bumblebee toy on my opened book. "Buzz buzz buzz," I sang, picking it up and flying it back into his waiting hands. "Are you helping Mama study for school?"

 "Asa school!" he cried, getting all excited. He dropped his toy like it was on fire, and pointed to himself. 

"I know you do! Did you have fun with Nana today?" I asked. 

"Books," he said.

 "Books are good, I'm glad you like them." I leaned down and picked up his toy. "Here," I said, giving it back to him. "You and the bumblebee can read mine with me." I cuddled him and read about boring chemical reactions. 

His bee buzzed all around me and landed a few times on Jake's math homework too. "Get out of here, don't sting me!" Jake said, flicking it away. Asa giggled. 

"Sting Daddy!" 

"No way, don't sting Daddy!"

 "Ow!" Asa said, giggling some more, and poking the plastic stinger at Jake's arm. Other than the killer bee attacks, things were mostly quiet until it was time for the daily feeding of the frogs. 

"Dinner time for froggies!" Mollie called gleefully.

 Yuck. Mollie and Xandra thundered up the stairs to give their pets their daily offering of crickets. I was vaguely aware of them in Mollie's room, cooing to her frog like it was a kitten. My focus drifted back to my reading until things got quiet. It caught my attention right away, Jake's too. That wasn't normal. I took Asa from my lap and set him on the floor. 

"Mama?" he asked, standing under the table.

 "Hang on a minute sweetie," I said, standing up.

 I could tell the scream came from Xandra's room. "MOM!" I took the stairs two at a time and found them both huddled around the frog's little tank. "Mom! Something is wrong with Roll!" Xandra cried.

 I'm no frog expert, but one look and I knew. That frog was about as dead as a frog can get. The poor little guy was on his back, all spread out. Mollie turned to me, holding her own frog, still alive and well, in her hands.