“We’ve only been dating for about a year as the people we are now,” she said slowly, “and life is so busy. It’s not like we’re together every day. We need more time.”
“You would have a lot more time together if you lived together,” Akemi pointed out.
“If we were still kids – or empty nesters, for that matter – I would. It’s not about me and him. It’s the kids. They need more time too.”
“You don’t want Claire and Jayce in the same house,” Oakley guessed. Anne looked at her in surprise.
“That’s part of it,” she admitted.
“I get that.”
“Are they a thing?” Akemi asked.
“I don’t think so,” Anne replied.
“But that doesn’t mean that theywouldn’tbe,” Oakley said, “given the right circumstances.”
“Remember that kid Jimmy?” Anne asked, citing one of the older foster kids who had come through the house.
“Vaguely,” Akemi said. She was five years younger than they were, too young to remember a lot of the drama that had shaped her older sisters.
Dawn and Kimo had learned lessons along the way and eventually taken more precautions – but for Anne and Oakley, the damage was already done. There were other names that they never spoke; Jimmy had been the least of it.
“He got together with Amanda,” Oakley remembered.
“And Tiff and Kelly and Erin,” Anne added.
Akemi grimaced. “Are you saying that Jayce is a Jimmy?”
“No.” Anne looked down at her tea again. “He seems more like Noah.”
“Which can be just as dangerous, in the end,” Oakley said.
“Mom?” Pete came through the back door with a bowl in his hands. He looked close to tears.
“What is it?” Anne asked, opening her arms to him.
“Rikki hasn’t been here in days.” His mongoose had been ranging farther and farther afield over the past year. “He hasn’t even touched his food.”
“I’m sorry, kiddo.”
Pete set the bowl on the counter and came in for a hug. He was getting so tall that it was almost like holding Akemi in her lap.
“It means he’s found a good life for himself,” Anne reminded him, “living free and in the wild. He would come back if he was hungry.”
“But what if he g–g–got trapped?” Pete asked, still trying tohold back his tears.
“He’s too smart for that.”
“But you don’t know!” Pete folded forward and began to sob.
Anne rubbed his back, exchanging sympathetic looks with her sisters.
Finally, Pete calmed down and went to find his cousins.
“You want me to bring all this chaos over to Noah’s house?” she asked, picking up her tea again.
“Isn’t that what partnership is about?” asked Akemi quietly. “Navigating the chaos together?”