Page 96 of Fierce-Michael

They got inside and Michael got a bunch of tokens and Ty led them to all sorts of games and the three of them had a wonderful time. She’d never been good at those types of things and got her butt beat by a four-year-old and didn’t mind in the least.

“Are they all gone now?” Ty asked when he wanted more tokens.

“They are,” he said.

“I could go for some ice cream,” she said. “My treat. Do you like ice cream?”

“I love ice cream,” Ty said. “Soft ice cream with sprinkles.”

“The best kind,” she said.

Twenty minutes later they had their cones in their hands and were sitting on a bench eating. “Can we do this every weekend?” Ty asked. “Or at least when I’m not at Mom’s?”

She looked at Michael. No way she was answering that question even though Ty addressed it to her.

“Kelly isn’t always going to be able to hang out with us,” Michael said. “And you know we don’t go out and do things like this all the time. It was a special day so you could spend time together. We are going to go home and watch a movie after dinner too.”

“I love movies,” Ty said. “This is the best day ever.” He turned to her. “Sometimes Dad has me watching movies or playing by myself when he’s doing things around the house.”

“Adults have responsibilities too,” she said. “We have to clean and do laundry and cook and go to the store. It’s fun to be a kid because you don’t have to do those things.”

“I have to pick my toys up,” Ty said.

“Which is good that you help your father,” she said.

“But if you came over more, then Dad wouldn’t have to do so much because he’d be spending time with both of us,” Ty said.

She licked her cone while she tried to figure out how to answer this. “But I’ve got those things to do too, so this way your father and I can both get them done and then maybe we can do fun things after. But being together can be fun without going somewhere too. Do you like arts and crafts? Or playing in the yard? Maybe baking cookies and decorating them?”

“I’ve never decorated cookies. Or baked. Dad does all the cooking and he buys cookies.”

She smiled. “I like to bake but don’t do it often. Then I have to eat all the cookies myself and I’ll get a bellyache.”

“Can I bake with you?” Ty asked.

“I think that might be fun,” Michael said. “Then I can eat all the cookies.”

“You have to share too, Dad!” Ty said. His cone was melting and running down his hand. She reached over with a napkin to wipe it up and wrapped it around the bottom.

“You’re good at that,” Michael said.

“Just saving you some hard laundry stains,” she said.

“I’m a pro at that,” he said.

Hours later, Ty was sleeping on the couch. They’d eaten a light dinner, just sandwiches that she’d put together for the boys. She was starting to think of them as her boys and had to tell herself to stop it.

Ty picked out a movie calledPaw Patrolthat she’d never heard of but had to admit it was cute and funny. But he’d fallen asleep before it ended and Michael had said they’d watched it so many times that he struggled to stay awake too.

“Are you going to leave him on the couch?”

“I’m going to bring him to bed,” he said. “I’ll change him and put him in. I’ll be lucky if I can wake him enough to go to the bathroom first.”

“Will he wet the bed if he doesn’t go?” she asked.

“No,” he said. “He’ll wake up if he has to go, but he’s got a strong bladder. Sometimes I have to force him to stand in there and try to go.”

“Must be a boy thing. I have to go if I even hear water running. I’ll clean up while you do that.”