“I see that you managed to run Jason off,” Trevor murmured as he watched Jason pause by the door, looking torn between staying and making a run for it.
“Mikey has a new fast ball,” Sebastian said, making Trevor wince in sympathy as he glanced from Jason, who was now glaring at Sebastian, to Mikey, who was adding another scoopful of mashed potatoes on a plate with the saddest expression that he’d ever seen.
“She’s trying to make a run for it,” Jason pointed out as he watched Mikey bypass the fried chicken section and headed for the door.
“She’ll be back,” Sebastian said, not really sounding all that concerned as Jason watched Mikey pick up the pace only to frown and reach into her sweatshirt pocket a few seconds later. Jason watched as she frowned down at whatever she read on her phone, looked up at them, back down at her phone and then, mumbled what looked suspiciously like, “I really hate him,” as she headed back to the fried chicken and grabbed a plate.
“That’s not going to end well,” Sebastian said with a heartfelt sigh and a sad shake of his head as Jason sat there, watching as Reese noticeably struggled to figure out a way to appease his seriously pissed off wife.
“It’s really not,” Jason had to agree as he reached for Mikey’s untouched plate only to find it suddenly gone and-
“I want in,” Jonathan said as he dropped down on the end of the bench seat next to Mikey as he grabbed a fork and dug in as Mikey sat there, her shoulders slumped in defeat as she mumbled, “I’d really like to go home now.”
“I’d really like to go home now,” came the softly whispered words that had Reese looking up from his food to find the bench across from him empty.
Frowning, he stood up only to find Mikey curled up in the fetal position on the other bench. When he opened his mouth to ask her what was wrong, she slowly raised a damning finger and pointed to his right. Curious, Reese followed the gesture to find Sebastian sitting on the other side of the restaurant, slowly rolling what looked like one of Mikey’s baseballs between his hands as he kept his gaze locked on Mikey.
“One hundred dollars,” came the quietly mumbled words that had Mikey frowning as she dropped another piece of fried chicken on her plate.
“Two hundred,” came the follow-up before she got a chance to look over her shoulder to find Uncle Jared standing behind her.
“For…” Mikey prompted since she’d learned her lesson in agreeing to anything before finding out the details to avoid situations like this one.
“It’s just that,” and this is where Mikey paused, “I feel like this isn’t going to end well,” she said, looking thoughtful as they watched Devin, who looked really pissed, as he was escorted to the front door.
“You’re not getting out of this,” Jason told her as he watched Trevor head back to get more fried chicken.
“That’s his third time,” Sebastian said, narrowing his eyes on his father as he watched his every move.
“Fourth,” Mikey said, sounding bored as she pulled a baseball out of the sweatshirt that he could have sworn was Sebastian’s and began rolling it between her hands only to sigh heavily when Jason plucked the ball out of her hands and gestured for her to get on with it.
“Do you know what to do?” Jason asked as he put his truck in park.
“Make a run for it as soon the opportunity arises?” Mikey asked, blinking at him.
“Keep Mikey from running off and ruining this?” Sebastian said, earning a glare from his best friend.
“Exactly,” Jason said as he slowly took in the busy parking lot, looking for any signs that this was a trap.
“I’d really like to go home now,” Mikey said, but since she’d been saying that for the past half hour, they decided to ignore her.
“Is there a reason why you felt the need to kidnap me?” Mikey asked, not really sounding all that concerned about it as she pulled a baseball out of her sweatshirt pocket and began rolling it between her hands.
“I need your help,” Jason said, knowing that it was better to just get to the point when dealing with his niece.
“That would explain the kidnapping,” Mikey murmured with a nod of understanding.
“Can you really call it kidnapping when all I did was promise you a new bucket of baseballs in you got in my truck?” Jason asked, still debating the odds of this plan actually working.
“I want at least a half dozen children,” Jessica announced with a wistful sigh as she shoved Mathew off the chair and sat down, ignoring her twin brother’s pained grunt as he hit the floor.
“I want four. Two boys and two girls,” Elizabeth said absently as she glanced at the maternity ward’s waiting room doors only to sigh when no one walked through the double doors to give them an update.
“Two,” Cole said as he dropped down on the floor next to Sebastian, who was too busy reading over Mikey’s shoulder to pay attention to what they were talking about.
“How about you, Sebastian?” Cole asked as he opened a Coke and took a sip.
“Don’t care,” Sebastian murmured absently as he gestured for Mikey, who was sitting between his legs, lounging back against him, to swipe to the next page.
“Shouldn’t that be up to Mikey,” Joshua said, making the rest of them chuckle as the oblivious pair frowned down at whatever they were looking at on Sebastian’s iPad.
“Definitely a mistake,” Haley said, slowly exhaling as she closed her eyes and tightened her grip on the bathroom counter while she waited for what she was really hoping was just Braxton Hicks to finish.
When the pain finally stopped, she released a shuddering sigh, moved to stand up only to decide against it and continue staring at the bathroom floor. Jason was definitely going to kill her, she thought, reaching up to push her glasses back up her nose as she stood there, debating her options.
She could continue standing there, hunched over while she waited for the next contraction to tear through her or she could try to shuffle her way back into the living room where she’d foolishly left her phone. Definitely going to kill her, Haley thought with a whimper as she slowly shuffled her way to the door and–
Decided that this would be a perfect spot to scream her head off.
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