Page 27 of Manny Included

“Belle, you pick that up right now and apologize to your sister.”

Belle put her hands on her hips and glared at him, sticking out her tongue.“I will not.You can’t make me.”

Pete stood up and stayed calm, breathing.“Go to your room and stay there in a timeout until you can be a decent human being.”

“No, you are not my dad!”

“No, I’m not, but I am the adult in charge.To your room, now.”Pete met her heightened energy with the calmness of his own.

He was going to be the goddamn queen of not losing his temper right now.

Merida came, wrapped around his leg, and held on.“Ouch!It hurted!”

Bay came down the stairs as Belle marched up them, body tight, glare just wicked.

“Everything okay?I heard shouting?”

“Someone’s having a bad day and hit her baby sister in the face with a book.Let me see, sweet pea.”Pete lifted her little face and looked, not finding so much as a mark.“You’re fine.Belle’s not in a good mood, hmm?You know how that feels.”

She nodded, sniffling.“I go give snuggles?”

“Oh sweet baby, maybe not right now.How about we just go have a sit and color in your color book, and I’ll see how she’s doing in a little bit.”

Then they could both be calm, and Pete wouldn’t feel like screaming at her.

“Do you need me to do anything?”Bay asked, looking an awful lot like he was hoping Pete would say no.

“Tell me that, at some point, there is a glass of wine in my future?”

“Wine I can help you with.Tonight?After the kids are in bed?”

“Lord yes, I need it.”Pete knew that Belle had reasons to be angry, and they were taking the older two to see the therapist.Pamela said that how she was responding was perfectly normal, but it didn’t make it easy.

“Wine and something decadent to munch on.Leave it with me.We’ll have a little bit of no drama child-free time.”

“Oh, promise?That sounds amazing.”He might have been whining a little bit, but he really could use some adult time talking about ridiculous things.Maybe watching a television show.

“I promise.”Bay grabbed his phone and winked.“I’m putting Will on it so the munchies will be top notch and so will the wine.”

“That sounds exceptional.I like whites and rosés, especially when it’s warm.When it’s spaghetti and meatball season, I totally will drink a red, but I like whites when it’s warm.”

This was the nicest thing anybody had done for him in a while.

“Whites and rosés, you got it.And munchies.Hey, you know what?Why don’t we feed just the kids at supper and then we’ll have an actual meal with our wine afterward?”

“That sounds great.That means I can do something simple for supper.”Macaroni and cheese and green beans, ho.

“Cool.”Will glanced at his watch.“I have a few things I’ve got left to do, but I’ll try to help with the dinner and bedtime routine.”

“Well, thank you,” he grinned, nodding.“It’s going to be mac and cheese and green beans.Everybody should be super happy.Well, except for Belle.”He winked at Bay.“But don’t worry, go get your work done and I’ll work on mine here.”

He loved being able to deal with the kids usually, he just hated that Belle was so sad, and he worried a little bit that Eric seemed to be okay.

And he was tired.Heartsore and tired.

He was even more tired several hours later when he got everyone down to bed and took himself downstairs to meet Bay.

“Hey there, they are all finally asleep, even Mr.Cranky Pants I Have a Gassy Tummy.”Which was sort of mean because Flynn was an angel, so good-natured and happy that when it was rough, it was terrible.