Page 10 of Manny Included

“People are people, no matter what, I guess…” And siblings fought, some more than others.

“Yeah, I guess.”Bay glanced at his watch.“Are the others going to want to eat too?”

“God, what time is it?I need to get them all back on their schedules.”

“Almost one.I can help?I mean, just tell me what to do.I’ve dealt with anything that was time critical for work.Tomorrow, I have the funeral at eleven, and then the reading is here at four.Just fyi, schedule-wise.”

“Can you help me get them fed and outside for a breath of fresh air?I need to change sheets.”

“If you can tell me what to do, I can do it.”

“I’ll put chicken nuggets in the oven.Do you want to cut up fruit?”

“Sure, I can do that.”Bay went over to the fridge, looking for the fruit, he presumed.

That should be easy, because there were berries, grapes, and bananas on the counter.All easy for the kids.

Bay found the berries in the fridge and took them out.“Do I need to cut these up?”he asked, frowning.

“Just top the strawberries, please, and halve the big ones?”The kids would fuss otherwise.

“Okay.Okay, sure.”Bay nodded and started working on the strawberries.“Their own plates or just all on one?”

“All on one is fine.They can pick and choose.”Pete chuckled.“Even the little ones have opinions.”

“Yeah?Huh.Everyone gets a vote, eh?”

“Yes, exactly.Everyone gets a vote.”Sort of.His vote was the final one, at least right now.

“Does anything get done that way?”Bay asked, piling all the blueberries into a large bowl and working on the strawberries.

“They’re little ones.We deal in accident-free days and nutrition, not mergers.”

Bay chuckled.“Right.See?All my experience is with the merger side of things, not the kid side.”

“That sounds way harder than kids.”He wasn’t a business person.

Bay shook his head.“Kids are far less predictable.And if you don’t know anything about them…” Bay shrugged.

“True.Well, they’ll learn to love you and vice versa.”

“You think?I’m not their parents.I’m not you.”

“Their parents are gone.Flynn and Merida will never know them, maybe Eric will have a passing memory.Belle’s the only one who will really know.”And it broke his heart.

“How long before they stop looking for Tony and Cindy, do you think?”

He shook his head.“I don’t know.I’ve never dealt with this, but I do have a call into a child psychologist I know.”

“Good deal.Anything they need.I mean it—anything.”

Pete nodded.They needed their parents.That was what they needed.

They were going to have to make do with him and Bay.

ChapterThree

Bay needed a drink in the worst way.