Home Is Where Your Bark Is

Chapter 23

By the time the last of the unsold plants were loaded into the back of Monica’s Traverse, the boys had gone from teetering on the edge of meltdown mode to swimming in it. Refusing to climb into his car seat, Sam planted himself on the curb, arms crossed as he whined about all the things he hadn’t gotten or been able to do over the course of the day. Joseph was red-faced and blubbering amid a full-scale toddler tantrum and had thrown himself on the grass. Monica attempted to lift him, but he was a thirtysomething-pound deadweight and doing his best to counteract her efforts, so Jenna took over. Monica didn’t need to strain like that this far into her pregnancy.

While Seven’s name hadn’t come up in the last two hours, Jenna knew the boys hadn’t forgotten about their encounter with him or their hopes of bringing him home. The topic would no doubt be revisited again at home. Jenna was betting around bath time, when the boys were most prone to reflection. For now, more immediate things had their attention, like the cupcakes they hadn’t been allowed from the cupcake truck or the crocheted dinosaurs for sale four tables down from Jenna.

As Jenna hoisted Joseph up into the Traverse, something about the way his body torqued in struggle struck her funny bone, and she did her best to lock down a smile. Spent as the little guy was, he’d likely think she was mocking him. Leaning in, she planted a kiss on his forehead, which was hot from exertion.

While she’d gotten him into his seat, she was never going to get the buckles snapped until he stopped arching his back. Pulling his favorite stuffed-animal crocodile out from the travel bag, Jenna tapped him on the knee to get his attention. “Joseph, want your Crocky?”

At first, his expression made it clear he’d continue to fight her, and he shoved Crocky away, but then, just as abruptly, he lunged for it right as Jenna was about to slip it back in the bag. “I want Crocky!” Still in a crying jag, Joseph hugged his favorite worn and slightly soiled crocodile against him, and Jenna was able to wedge her fingers in between the boy and his crocodile to snap the buckles closed. Mission accomplished.

“Aww, what sweet cuddles you’re giving Crocky.”

Eyes damp with tears and chubby cheeks splotchy red, Joseph gave a nod. “Crocky likes hugs.” And just like that, he’d transitioned from monster toddler to endearing but exhausted toddler who no longer rejected touch.

Jenna wiped his cheeks dry and planted a kiss on top of his head. “I think he especially likes hugs from you.”

On the other side of the SUV, her sister had convinced Sam to climb in as well, but he was still sulking. While Sam had moved away from his daily naps, Jenna wouldn’t be surprised if he dozed off on the way home today right along with his younger brother.

Monica had brought the boys earlier than anticipated with the understanding that Stuart would swing by before lunch and take them home, but he was on call today, and that hadn’t happened, and now, this. Not that Jenna was surprised he hadn’t shown up. Stuart only put in a handful of forty-hour workweeks a year, two of which were over Thanksgiving and Christmas. The rest of the year, aside from a couple not-quite week-long vacations, he put in more hours than Jenna did at both her jobs.

Given how Monica had been the one to go to bat for baby number three, this mostly solo-parenting thing seemed to be working out for her. This was how it had been at Jenna and Monica’s house when they were kids, too, only their dad’s career had been on the manual labor side of things.

Finished with Joseph, Jenna climbed into the front passenger seat and collapsed against it, savoring a few seconds to herself while Monica passed out graham crackers and sipper bottles before she climbed into the driver’s seat. “Thanks for making today happen,” she said when her sister got in and closed the door. “It meant a lot to make this first day of the season.”

“That’s a no-brainer,” Monica said with a wave of the hand. “I wouldn’t have let you miss it. And you did good. That’s less than half of what we brought back there. Maybe a third.”

“Yeah, it was a nice start. Several of my buyers were repeat ones from last year too.”

“Nice.” Monica slumped against the steering wheel a second or two. “Pretty please will you come home with me for a bit? Stuart will still be locked in his office, I’m sure, and your plants’ll be fine in the trunk.”

The boys overheard and echoed the plea for her to come home with them.

“I was going to go home and crawl under my covers for a bit. Given how I’m going back to work next week, I’m going to miss my newfound nap habit.”

Monica stuck out her lower lip and blinked her eyes. “You can nap on my bed, if you want.”

“That’s a hard pass on that one, thank you.”

“You can nap on my bed, Auntie Jenna,” Sam pleaded. “I’ll be real quiet. And give me the remote, Mommy. I wanna watch Daniel Tiger.”

Joseph drummed the backs of his ankles against his car seat. “Me too! Me too!”

Monica waggled a finger. “Sammy, do we say, ‘Give me,’ or do we say, ‘Please may I’?”

Sam dropped his shoulders as he let out an exaggerated breath. “Can I have the remote please, Mommy?”

Not one to hold out for perfection, Monica passed him the remote—Jenna figured her sister would give up on hoping for her kids’ natural use of may before too long—and by the time they’d made it a quarter mile out of the park, the theme song to Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood rang out in the back seat. Jenna suspected that, at four, Sam knew how to work the Traverse’s Infotainment System better than she could.

Monica reached back and tapped Sam on the tip of his sneaker. “Turn it down, please, so Mommy and Aunt Jenna can talk.” Whether he did a smidge or not, Jenna wasn’t sure, but Monica let her request go as the boys fell into that cathartic quiet of overtired kids given food and television. “I’m starving,” she added. “Think about what we can make for a late lunch or order in, will you?”

Had she actually agreed to go to her sister’s, or had her wish being so outnumbered made any decision moot? With Monica, everything but a very clear no was a yes. “Okay, but I had a big breakfast earlier with that bagel sandwich.”

“The one you enjoyed with your boyfriend ,” Monica added, dragging out the word boyfriend to several times its typical length.

With the boys and customers in earshot earlier, Jenna hadn’t gotten more than a “Well, I can see why you’re so taken with him” from her sister before they’d gotten swept onto another topic entirely.

“So, other than the chaos surrounding your first impression, what’d you think?”

Monica raised her eyebrows. “What I said earlier. He’s a cutie, that one. But I think the more important question here is what do you think?”

Jenna took a second or two coming up with an answer. “That it feels like I’m floating when I’m around him.”

“Well, I haven’t heard you say anything like that in a long time. Maybe never, now that I think about it.” Monica let out an exaggerated sigh. “You know what I’d give to feel that again? There’s no floating on clouds when you’re parenting kids under five…unless it’s when your babies are asleep maybe. But not about your partner. Certainly not someone who’s so married to his work.”

Jenna didn’t know what to say to that, but Monica didn’t stay quiet for long. When she dropped her voice, Jenna had to lean in to hear her over the rear stereo system.

“Maybe it’s fatigue and ligament pain talking, but sometimes I worry it was a mistake to try again. I know I’ll love her when she gets here, but seriously, with three of these, I’m going to need another sister. As it is, the one I have looks like she’s going from busy to even busier now that Mr. Dreamy is in the picture.”

“I’m always going to make time for you and the kids. You know that. But, Monica, you can’t do it all. With Stuart as busy as he is, I really think you should consider a nanny. You’ve got the funds for it. A couple days a week, at least.” When Monica pursed her lips in thought, Jenna added, “I know Mom did it by herself when we were little, but it was a different time. And she wasn’t managing the same crazy schedule you are.”

“Yeah, maybe. I’ve been thinking about it.” Monica dropped her voice lower even though the kids couldn’t hear her. “Sometimes I think Stuart works so much because it’s easier than parenting the kids.”

Jenna glanced back at the boys. Sam was transfixed by the screen in front of him, munching on his crackers. Joseph had dozed off already, a half-eaten cracker stuck to his bottom lip, his mouth open, and his thick eyelashes wet from the tears he’d shed. “I don’t know if it helps any, but I’ve only kept in touch with a couple people from my med school days, and neither of them have even started trying to navigate a family around their careers.”

“It’s just that he really didn’t want number three.” Tears stung Monica’s eyes. “And now he sleeps with his back to me.”

Jenna blinked. “Would a date night help? The boys can sleep over, if you’d like.”

“I don’t know. Maybe. It hasn’t been great since this,” she said with a motion toward her belly, “but it got worse when I failed so badly with the D-O-G.”

Jenna blinked. “When it failed or when you brought him home? Because if I remember correctly, you said Stuart was super pissed the D-O-G was there in the first place.”

Monica shook her head abruptly as she slowed down to make a right turn. “He blew off some steam like he always does, but it was different when the D-O-G left. Like he blamed me for scarring our babies forever for taking him away, especially given how this whole scare of mine turned out to be benign.”

“Have you talked to him about this? Because I can’t see this being the thing he’s mad at, if he’s mad and not just stressed or exhausted.”

“I hate it when you do that.”

The abrupt change in her sister’s tone had Jenna sitting up in her seat. “Do what?”

“Act like you know him better than me.”

“I’m fairly certain I’d have said the exact same thing just now if you had married someone who was a stranger to me.”

“Look, whatever. I don’t wanna fight. My point to this whole thing is maybe the boys are right. Maybe we should try again.”

Alarm flooded Jenna. “Try again with what ?”

Monica rolled her eyes. “The D-O-G, obviously.”

“What are you talking about? He’s Jake’s now.”

“You said he wasn’t even officially fostering.”

A rush of panic had Jenna’s fingers growing numb. “What are you even saying? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“You saw these two this morning. How sad they were. And the three of them were so good together.”

“First, five minutes ago, the boys were just as sad over not getting cupcakes, Monica. And second, is that why you called me crying almost every day you had him? Because they were so good together?”

Monica shot her a look before focusing on the road. “What’s gotten into you?”

“Sev—the D-O-G is who’s gotten into me, that’s what. He and Jake are great together. Really great. They belong together.”

“Until he gives him up.”

Jenna clamped her hands around her knees. “I don’t think he’s going to do that.”

“Are you saying you think he’s going to keep him?”

“I could see things moving in that direction. It’s only been a little over a week.”

“So, you honestly think the D-O-G is better with some random guy you just met than with us?”

Jenna cleared her throat. “In just over a week, Jake has sought out Seven’s old trainer for advice. This morning he took him to the lake for a long run, and he’s signed up for agility classes. He’s teaching him to catch Frisbees and working on his manners and everything. Yes, I one hundred percent think he’s better off with Jake than he was at your house when no one could hardly find a minute to work on getting him to sit at attention, and the extent of his exercise was shutting him in the backyard with no one to play with him.”

Monica’s mouth had fallen open and took a few seconds to close. “Wow. Well, I see whose side you’re on. I guess new relationships will do that, huh?”

“I’m on Seven’s side, Monica. Him being in your house was a mistake from day one. The boys loved him, and he was good with them, but he didn’t fit in your home. Trying it again wouldn’t change anything. Trust me.”

“So much for putting me and the boys first.”

Her sister hated being told no, and Jenna largely left her to figure out her life for herself, but on this she would take a stand. “He’s not what you need. A low-energy canine possibly, if you need one at all. A kitten maybe. But nothing right now works, too, if you ask me.”

Angry red splotches had blossomed along Monica’s neck, making it clear how upset she’d gotten. Jenna shot a glance toward the back seat to find that her and Monica’s talk had caught Sam’s attention, and he was staring their way quizzically. “What are you talking about?” he asked.

“Just Mommy and Auntie stuff,” Monica said, readjusting her hands on the steering wheel. “Did you finish your crackers? And what’s Daniel Tiger doing now?”

Monica’s attempt at distraction worked. Sam’s attention was caught by his show again while an uneasy silence hung between Jenna and Monica, thick as dense fog. Jenna stared out her side window, wondering if she could have found better words to help her sister see that Seven was exactly where he needed to be.