245. Beginning of the End

Previous Episode | Facebook | Next Episode

Summer pulled on her jacket as she emerged into the cold, fresh air, then began easing a soggy piece of cereal out of her dreadlocks. She flung it into a frozen patch of dirt with a sigh of disgust. Maddie seemed to be picking up pointers from Caden in her spare time. Summer felt bone-weary at the thought of ever showing up at their house again, much less every morning.

It was time for a sanity break.

She soon found herself sipping cranberry herbal tea at Jen’s wide table, savoring the heat and tang of the drink as it slid down her throat. Jen sat across the table, feeding William in his high chair as Mandy picked at a pile of dry cereal.

“Keep eating, Mandy,” Jen cajoled. “You don’t have to inspect every piece.”

“What’s inspeck?” asked Isaac. He gripped his juice cup with both hands as his feet bounced against the rungs of his chair.

“It’s like ‘investigate,’” Bella replied over her book before either Jen or Summer had a chance to respond.

Summer sighed.

“How do you do it?”

“Do what?” Jen asked, adding, “Put that down, honey.” Isaac reluctantly dropped the knife he had begun to inspect.

“This,” Summer said. “Not going crazy. Living a real life.”

Jen, ever wise, simply raised her eyebrows in a half-question and continued listening.

“The kids I’m watching. I can’t get them under control. It’s like a few hours with them takes up my whole day.” She let her head drop onto the table. “I just want things to work. You know? I mean, it’s always one thing after another. We move in together to chase life and we end up back where we started, scraping after money. I’ve barely even gotten to spend any time with Alex because I’m so exhausted from running after screaming kids.”

“What is it you want your life to look like?” asked Jen as she spooned more food into William’s mouth.

“I don’t know.” Summer thought of all the plans she’d made, the hopes that had fallen by the wayside. Adventure, Inc. House parties. Long talks into the night. Neighborhoods revolutionized and gardens proliferated. And what was the result? Cereal in her hair and one new friend. She sighed. “Maybe it was too much. Maybe the real world has it right. Maybe it’s time to give up the dream.”

Advertisement