An Unexpected Life (Carolina Rebels 3.50)

“You’re in everyone’s business enough as it is.”

“Which is a positive! I know enough about everyone to set them up with someone.”

The last thing I need is for her to start meddling with my teammates’s lives. “No, Sylvie. Forget about it.”

She glares at me. “Are you ordering me not to do something?”

Aw, hell. “It was a suggestion,” I lie. “The guys are more than capable of finding their own women, if they even want one. You should let them worry about it.”

“I’ll think about it.” Which means she’s going to do what I said and listen to me. She isn’t giving in because I said so is all.

“First game is next Monday. It’s a road game.”

Normally, this is no big deal. Normally, I wouldn’t say a thing because Sylvia knows my schedule as well as I do. There’s even a copy of it on the fridge. That’s for the girls, though, as they like to look and see who I’m playing. But seeing her shoulders tense is the exact reason I decided to test it out. Something is bothering my wife and I want to know what the hell it is. Presumably before preseason is over. It’d be even better if I can find out before Monday.

“Sylvie,” I whisper.

“I don’t want to discuss it,” she interrupts. “Why don’t you play with our girls until dinner is ready?”

This is one of those situations where there will be no persuading Sylvia. So, I stand, walk over to kiss her cheek, and find Stella and Stephanie who are playing with dolls in their room. We have another bedroom, but they’ve been in the same bedroom all their lives. When they want space from one another, I’m assuming they’ll be older and that they’ll ask for it.

“Can we dress up?” Stella asks as I take a seat on the edge of her bed.

“Yeah. Go ahead.”

They run over to their closet and find their yellow dresses. Their favorite movie is Beauty and the Beast, so it’s no surprise that they each have a dress like the one in the movie. I’m sure the next question will be if we can watch it tonight. My answer will be yes because I rarely say no to them. I help them change into the dresses and then we have pretend tea. For about fifteen minutes, there’s easygoing conversation.

“Daddy?” Stephanie looks nervous as she gathers my attention.

“Yeah?”

“Is Momma mad at us?” I don’t know what caused the change, but Sylvia went from Mommy to Momma over the summer.

“What? No. Why would you think that?”

“She yelled at us,” Stella answers.

Sylvia yelled at them? That’s unusual, too. She can be stern and discipline them, of course, but she swears there’s a fine line between raising your voice to get their attention and yelling at them. “What happened?” I ask.

Stella shrugs, which either means she was the instigator or she honestly doesn’t know. Stephanie puts down her teacup, folds her hands to sit in her lap, and says, “We were just singing, Daddy.”

“Really loud,” Stella adds.

“She told us to stop, but Stella didn’t want to.”

Stella frowns as her sister rats her out. “Momma was mean.” Stephanie nods in agreement.

There are many times as a parent where I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing or what I’m supposed to say and this is one of those moments. “How about we do better to listen to Momma next time, and let’s remember that she still loves you.”

“Dinner!” Sylvia shouts from the kitchen.

“Let’s eat, girls.”

“Can we sleep over at Aunt Lizzy’s this weekend?” Stella asks.

“Ah, I don’t think so. She’s busy, but I’ll be sure to find out when y’all can go over, okay?”

She nods with satisfaction. When we get into the dining room, I frown when I see there are only three plates full of food set at the table. Sylvia is sitting down, but there’s no plate in front of her. However, there is a paper towel with some saltine crackers laid out on top.