I pick Carter up from his art club that afternoon. His backpack is only half-zipped, and he’s carrying some big paper.

  “Hey Carter, how was art club?” I ask.

  “Good. I made a collage for you,” he hands me the paper. It has a picture of me next to a beetle made of construction paper. “Where’s dad?”

  “At home still. I drove here straight after work, there wasn’t time to go back home.”

  On the drive home, it takes a few questions to get Carter chattering about his day. I enjoy this, just spending time with my family doing tasks that must be done for one reason or another.

  I pull the car into the garage, and Carter jumps out, he rushes into the house.

  Once I get in the house, I find Elly playing some game of the imagination with Calvin. I hang up Carter’s collage on the fridge.

  “Hi mom!” Elly says, abandoning the dolls. “What’s that picture?”

  “Carter made this collage for me at his art club. It’s cool right?”

  Elly nods. “Can I have a snack?”

  I glance at the oven’s clock. 5:40. “Dinner should be soon. You can have an apple or something if you’re hungry.”

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  Elly grabs an apple from the fridge and hands it to me to slice. I get out the cutting board and knife, and slice the apple.

  “Aunt Jessica, could you take a look at my math homework? Sal and I couldn’t figure it out,” Calvin says.

  “Of course, let me just figure out what we’re doing for dinner first,” I say. I hand the apple slices to Elly, then go find Gerard. He’s in our room, at our desktop.

  “Hey Gerard, did you have a plan for dinner or should I make spaghetti or something?” I ask.

  “Calvin doesn’t like tomato sauce, alfredo would be great though,” Gerard sighs. “Do you know when your signing bonus will come in?”

  “No, I don’t. I can ask tomorrow though,” I say. “I take it this means we should put getting another car on hold, at least until that check comes through?”

  “Yeah. Yeah. Any purchase you can put off, please do. We should be able to get through a week or two, though.”

  I nod. “Alright. I’ll go get dinner started, then.”

  I start a pot to boil and preheat the oven for broccoli, then sit down to help Calvin with his algebra. I finally figure out what the word problem is asking when the pot starts boiling, and so I put the pasta in, and then I need to start the sauce and put the broccoli in the oven.

  “I’m sorry, Calvin. I won’t be able to help you until after dinner. Could you get Elly and set the table?”

  Calvin nods and puts his homework in his backpack then sets the table with Elly. I get everything on the table, then call out. “Dinnertime!” All the kids make their way over to the sinks and start washing their hands; Cole and Iona went to some event at their church.

  “Sal, could you go get your dad?” I ask while filling up milk glasses.

  Gerard comes over, a tired smile on his face.

  We sit down and begin to dish out noodles.