Page 84 of Her Big Bad Wolf

“Shut up. I’m the oldest. I know what I’m doing.”

A crash had me wiping my eyes and running down the hall.

The boys were on the floor fighting. Fists were flying in every direction.

“Enough,” I yelled, as I started pulling one kid out of the pile at a time.

When I went to grab Mason, Noah’s fist connected with my cheek.

“Ow,” I cried.

All three boys froze and all jumped to their feet.

“Oh no,” Cam gasped.

“Now you did it. You’re ruining everything,” Mason yelled.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry. I would never hurt you on purpose. I’m sorry. Please don’t punish us. It was an accident. I swear. I’m so sorry.”

I pulled him into my arms and held him tight as he started to sob.

“What is this all about?” I finally asked.

“We can’t tell you,” Cam said with a proud smile.

“Shut up,” Mason warned him.

“You know you can tell me anything.”

“Nope, not this,” Cam insisted.

Mary chose that moment to walk in.

“What is going on in here?” she demanded.

“Now you’ve done it,” Mason told Noah.

“It was just an accident,” I assured her.

She reminded them of some morning chores she’d been having them do this week. Reluctantly they all snapped to it and got their chores started.

“What was that all about?” she asked me.

“I don’t know. They’ve been fighting and acting strange all morning. Tonight’s the full moon. I suppose we can just blame it on that.”

“How was your lunch with Kelsey yesterday?”

“Good.”

“You look more like yourself today.”

“Is that your polite way of saying I’ve looked like shit all week?”

“Oh, sweetie, I don’t have to tell you that, you already know you’ve looked like shit all week.”

I snorted. “Gee, thanks.”

Somehow, we managed to get through the morning with no further incidents. Mason and Noah caught their school bus and kids started arriving. I locked into my routine and the morning passed by quickly.