“Okay!”

“They probably want to get out of the heat for a bit,” Nat says, fanning her neck. “And I can’t say that I blame them.”

“It’s been a hot summer,” I agree. We’re sitting under the covered patio, out of the sunshine, and it’s still warm. “I’ll turn the fans on.”

“I need to install fans on my patio,” Sam says, looking up at them. “What a great idea.”

“I read a thing somewhere that the fans help keep flying bugs away because they don’t like the breeze.”

“Even better,” Sam says.

“Please save me from surly teenagers,” Brynna pleads as she plops down next to me and wipes her brow in exhaustion.

“They’re not thirteen yet,” I reply with a laugh.

“Well, they act like they’re thirty,” she says with a scowl. “They’re both grounded from their phones for the weekend, and you’d think I just cut both their arms off.”

“What did they do?” Jules asks.

“They switched places in class so Josie would pass her math test. She struggles with math, but Maddie loves it.”

“I wish I’d had an identical twin to help me with math in school,” I mutter, earning a glare from Brynna. “Not that it’s the right thing to do.”

“I know that Mad thought she was helping,” Brynna admits with a sigh. “And it’s kind of funny, really, but I can’t let this slide. If I do, they’ll do this all the time, and that’s not okay. Josie has to earn her own grades.”

“Agreed,” I say. “But it sucks when they’re mad at you.”

“Basically, I think this is just how it’s going to be until they graduate from college.” Brynna shrugs and takes a bite of the artichoke dip, then sighs. “Thank God for food therapy.”

“I’m with you there,” Jules says and takes a bite of a BLT cup.

“Um, Aunt Meredith?”

I glance over to see Olivia standing at the patio, her eyes wide. She’s biting her lip, and looks nervous.

“Yes, sweetheart?”

“Um, I think I need to show you something.”

“Is everything okay?” I ask as I jump out of my seat and hurry after Olivia, who’s hurrying through the house and up to Lucy’s room.

“We didn’t mean to.”

Those words never started a fun conversation.

“Mean to what?”

I stop cold when I get to Lucy’s room. Stella’s holding one of my new white towels, scrubbing my brand-new carpet with it.

One of the pans of huckleberry delight is sitting empty on the floor a few feet away.

And there, in the middle of the floor, is a three-foot by three-foot purple circle of berries and whipped dessert and graham cracker crust.

“What happened?”

They all start to talk at once. Lucy’s latched on to my leg, like she always does, and is crying.

I can’t understand a thing anyone is saying, so I take a deep breath and say, “Stop talking. Olivia, what happened?”

“We wanted dessert.”

“And I told you no food inside.”

“I know, but we were going to be careful, and we weren’t ready to go outside again,” Stella says, her blue eyes filling with tears. “But the boys were fighting over the pan, and it got dropped, and it all fell out. I tried to clean it up.”

“All of you, with me. Now.” I spin at Nate’s voice. I hadn’t heard him follow me up. “I’ll take care of the kids.”

“Thank you.”

“Lucy,” Nate says, holding his hands out to her. “Let’s go downstairs, sweetheart.”

Nate’s a kind man. Intimidating as all get out, but kind.

He takes the kids downstairs, and I can only lean against the doorjamb and take in the mess.

Brand-new carpet, with huckleberry stains.

“Have kids, they said,” I mutter. “It’ll be fun, they said. They are dirty liars.”

“Who’s lying to you?”

I don’t turn at his voice. I heard him coming up the stairs. I’d recognize my husband’s footsteps anywhere.

“Everyone who said having kids would be fun. Look.” I point to the stain and he flinches. “Yeah. Less than a month of being settled in and I already have to replace the carpet.”

“To be fair, I suggested hardwood in here.”

I glare at him. “Really?”

“Okay, bad timing.” He holds his hands up in surrender. “Go downstairs, M. I’ve got this.”

“We can leave it for now. I’ll shut the door and we can take care of it later. We have guests. I refuse to ignore them.”

“You don’t worry about this. I’ll handle it.”

I sigh again and lean into him when he holds his arms out wide.

“It’s been a hell of a day.”

“Go enjoy the family,” he says, his lips in my hair. “Don’t worry.”

I stare up at him, press my lips to his, and then nod.

“Let me know if you need my help,” I offer.

Mark

“Isaac.” I gesture to my friend and business partner, someone I’ve come to think of as family. “I need your input.”

“What’s up?” he asks. He’s been chatting with Will and Caleb, and all three turn their attention to me.

“There’s been an incident.”

Three pairs of eyebrows raise.

“Follow me.”

We climb the stairs to Lucy’s room and I open the door.

“Shit,” Will mutters. “What happened in here?”

“It looks like someone wrestled in grape Jell-O.”

“Close,” I reply, shaking my head. “The kids brought a pan of dessert up here and it ended up all over the floor.”

Isaac spies the discarded towel. “And someone tried to clean it up with a white towel?”

“Seems so,” I confirm. “So my question is, how do I clean it?”

“Scrap it,” Caleb says. “Get new carpet.”

“It’s brand new,” I reply grimly. “Mer loves this carpet.”

“You can steam clean it, but it’s still going to stain,” Isaac says. “But you could put a nice area rug over it.”

“I thought of that,” I say with a nod. “That might be the way we go for now. I wanted hardwood, but Mer wanted carpet in the bedrooms.”

“And our girls get whatever they want,” Will adds with a grin.

“Damn right.” Caleb nods, surveying the mess. “And I’m assuming Meredith has seen this?”

“She might have been on the verge of a panic attack,” I confirm. “I told her to go enjoy her day and I’ll worry about it.”

“Where do you keep rags that you don’t care about ruining?” Isaac asks.

“In the garage.”

“You get those and we’ll clean this up. I’ll go get our steam cleaner, and see what kind of magic we can work here.”

“We have an industrial steam cleaner,” Caleb offers. “With lots of kids and a dog, it gets used a lot. Plus, I live closer. You guys get started on this and I’ll be back.”

“He just doesn’t want to do the dirty work,” Will grumbles after Caleb has left.

“I can’t say I blame him,” I reply with a laugh. “Let’s get this cleaned up.”

It takes two hours, two dozen rags, and six passes with the steam cleaner, but by the end of it, most of the stain is gone.

“It’ll never look new again,” Isaac says with a shrug. “But it’s not too bad.”

“We can at least live in here until Mer decides what she wants to do with it,” I reply. “Thanks for your help, guys.”

“Dad! Dad!”

Liam comes running up the stairs, his eyes full of panic. Isaac cups his son’s shoulders and bends down on his level.

“What’s wrong?”

“Josie fell,” the boy says, his chest heaving. Caleb immediately sprints down the stairs to get to his daughter. “She was balancing on the roof of the playhouse, and she lost her balance and fell. She says her leg hurts.”