“No. Mine!” Rosie whined.
Ohmygod. Leah rubbed her temples.
“I don’t wanna be what she likes,” Junie said, sullen faced, holding her bunny’s ears.
Leah was at a loss, and she’d had enough. She began gathering the packages from the floor. “You know what? You’re both having off days, so we’re going home. We’ll find costumes another time.”
“No!” Rosie and Junie wailed.
Leah silently prayed for strength and began hanging up the costumes.
“No!” Rosie dropped the packages she was holding and began ripping down the ones Leah hung up.
“Rosie. Stop that.” She glared at Rosie, who let out a loud wail. Leah looked up at the ceiling and closed her eyes. Forget strength. Just give me patience before I lose my mind. She breathed deeply and knelt by Rosie, putting her arm around her and pulling her closer. “Sweetie, we can’t afford that many costumes, but maybe I can make you one costume that has everything you want on it.”
Rosie shook her head and buried her teary face in Leah’s shoulder. Leah rubbed her back and huffed out a breath.
“Is this our mess?”
Her head whipped around as Rosie and Junie yelled, “Tank!” and ran to him.
He scooped them up, handsome as could be in a black Henley and jeans. “Hard day?”
Leah pushed to her feet, and he leaned in for a kiss. “You could say that.” She began picking up the packages again. “Rosie wants everything, and I have no idea what Junie wants. She said she wanted to be you, but she refused the biker costume I found. What’re you doing here? I thought you had to work.”
“Sean made it in about an hour ago. I showered and came straight over.” He cocked a grin. “Put your records on, baby. I’ve got your back.”
Her heart turned over in her chest at his use of River’s words.
He looked at the girls, Rosie’s tears subsiding, Junie’s head resting on his shoulder. “What’re the tears for, Cheeky?”
“Mama say no ’tumes,” she whined, and the waterworks started again.
“That’s not true, Rosie. I said you could have one costume,” Leah corrected her.
He gave Rosie a serious look. “Do you know what it’s called when you don’t tell the truth?”
“A fib,” Junie answered.
“I no fib.” Rosie whimpered, shaking her head.
“Yes, you did,” Junie said.
“No, I didn’t!” Rosie hollered.
“Enough,” Tank said sharply, and both girls quieted. “Maybe you didn’t mean to fib. That happens sometimes. But I don’t like fibs. I gotta be able to trust you, and that only happens when you tell the truth. Got it?”
Rosie nodded, but then more tears came. “Mama fib. No ’tumes. We leavin’.”
“Ohmygosh,” Leah said incredulously. “She’s right. I did say that. I told her she could have one costume, but it was like I’d started a war, so I said we were leaving.”
Rosie grinned. “Mama bad.”
Tank tried to stifle a grin. “You have a great mother, and I don’t ever want to hear you say otherwise. But she did forget what she’d said, which can be misconstrued as a fib. I’ll be sure to punish her properly later.” He winked at Leah.
“Will Mama get a time-out?” Junie asked.
I sure hope so. Leah locked eyes with Tank, the space between them vibrating. It had been a week since they’d first made love. The next night they’d fallen asleep together in her bed, and the girls had come running in the next morning and jumped on them, asking for pincakes. Leah had been shocked and relieved that they’d had no reaction to finding Tank in her bed, other than wanting to snuggle between them, which they’d done the very next morning and every morning he’d been there since.
“Something like that,” Tank answered. “Now, let’s talk about this mess.”
He set them down, and Rosie pleaded her case in broken sentences about wanting to be a dozen different characters. Tank gave her his full attention, arms crossed, brows knitted, until she’d said all she needed to. Then he turned to Junie. “And what’s going on with you, Twitch?”
“I wanna be you for Halloween.”
“Your mama said she found you a biker costume.”
“I don’t wanna be a biker,” she said solemnly. “I wanna be a stowy dwawer.”
“Oh, Juju,” Leah said as understanding dawned on her.
“You want to be a tattooist.” Tank crouched in front of her. “I wear regular clothes when I do tattoos, baby, not a costume.”
Junie’s brow knitted.
“I think I know how to fix this.” Tank rose to his feet and pointed at the girls. “Don’t move.” He draped his arm over Leah’s shoulder, turning their backs to the girls.
“I’m sorry. I know you didn’t sign up for this.”
“Knock it off, Lee. I knew exactly what I was getting into with the three of you. If you think a few tears are going to scare me away, you’re wrong.” He glanced over his shoulder at the girls. “I think Rosie’s having a hard time because it’s like costume overload in here. Of course she wants everything. Zan used to do the same thing. Give me a few minutes with her, and we’ll get it sorted out. Then, if you’re cool with the idea, I think we should take the girls to my tattoo shop so Junie can see what it’s all about. She’s obviously curious. It’d be good for her to see what I do for a living.”
“I’m okay with that. The girls met Gia, Cait, and Aria at the celebration for River, so they’ll probably be excited to see them again.” Leah was excited to see them again, too. When she’d been introduced to them at the celebration, she’d recognized them from the Salty Hog, although she hadn’t seen Aria there very often. “But it might be easier if you just take Junie. Rosie’s not exactly having a great day. I can stay home with her.”
“No way. They’re kids. They’re going to have bad days. Hell, we have bad days. What kind of message would we be giving her? That she gets punished for having a hard time? I know she needs ramifications for bad behavior and all that, but the girls have gone through a lot of changes lately, and it’s got to take a toll. Besides, how can she learn to behave if she’s sheltered from situations where she needs to? I’ll help you keep her in line.”
Could he even begin to know how much his thoughtfulness meant to her? “Okay. But what’s your plan with Rosie and the costumes?”
“I’ll do what Preacher used to do with Zan. Tell her she can take as many costumes as she can carry into the dressing room, and then when we’re in there, I’ll explain that she can’t have them all because other kids need them. She’ll choose. It’s easier when there aren’t a hundred other sparkly costumes everywhere.”
“I should have thought about that.”
Tank scoffed. “I don’t know how you could think at all with Rosie pitching a fit like she was.”
“How do you know what she was doing before you got here?” She glanced at the girls, who were under some sort of good-behavior spell he’d cast on them.