“Ok, Mommy and Daddy will come after nap time to do a special birthday snack with your friends at school, ok?” Mikayla said as she dropped off the twins.

“Ok, Mommy.  Have a good day at work.”  Joshy hugged Mikayla before walking in and putting his things down.  Barb followed her brother’s lead, hugging Mikayla before going inside, both of them more independent than she was comfortable with.

“Mrs. Timberlake…” Miss Maribel started.

“Please, you know you can call me Mikayla…” she said softly.

“Barb is starting to be a bit… mean to the other children.  Taking toys, cheating at games, taking extra turns.  Is there anything new or different going on at home?”

“No.  She plays well with Joshy at home.”

“Here too, but it’s the others she’s not as nice to.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s typical behavior at this age, but not compared to how she was when she first started, so I thought maybe there was some stress at home she’s dealing with here.  It’s not out of hand, but I’ve noticed it becoming more regular, so I wanted to let you know so we can help get her back on the right path.”

“Ok, I’ll talk with my husband and see what we can do.  Thank you.”

She walked to her car, trying to focus on what was next for the day, not wanting the conversation with Maribel to get in the way.  She got on the freeway and was soon at her destination.  She opened the door, being greeted by a familiar smile.

“Hey, baby,” Justin smiled, greeting her with a kiss.  “You wanna talk remodeling stuff now, or after?”

“After,” she said, pulling him into a deep kiss.  Justin groaned, his body stirring in anticipation.  He led her upstairs, clothes coming off as they went.  He opened the door to their bedroom and she gasped.

“Justin, it’s beautiful…”

“Did you change your mind?” he asked, slightly frustrated.

“No.  Just wanted to comment before we start.  Please, continue.”

He laid her on the bed, pulling her bra off, taking her soft flesh into his mouth.  She arched her back, needing more.  He twitched in his boxer briefs at how turned on she was, sneaking away from work to have some alone time.  The kids thought she was at work, work thought she was getting things for the kids birthday and meeting with some vendors on new keyboards and expanding the music department.  No one would suspect reality, and it felt forbidden.

He pushed her panties to the side, pushing two fingers inside of her, taking his time but eagerly wanting it to be something else inside her.  They figured they had a couple hours before people would wonder where she was, maybe longer, and wanted to use as much time as they could before returning to reality.

She purred at his kisses and touches, pushing his boxer briefs down his thighs.  “Kitty wants to play…”

“Kitty today, huh?  Kitty wants it rough?”

“Enough,” she smirked.  “Make Kitty purr the way you like it…”

“Absolutely.”  He kissed down her body, teasing her nipples with his teeth and the flat of his tongue before settling between her legs.  She groaned at the contact, her favorite part of their foreplay.  Her fingers wove into his hair, giving a firm tug as he brought her closer and closer to the edge.  She didn't want to hurt him, moving to ball the sheets into her hands, holding on for dear life as her orgasm rolled through her.  Justin continued, bringing her to the edge once more, pressing two fingers inside her as he hummed in enjoyment of her body and knowing this was just what she needed to fully let go.  Her back arched, almost pulling her body away from him, letting out a guttural groan in release.

“Good Kitty,” he growled.  “Daddy’s ready to be rough.”

He turned her around and onto her hands and knees, Mikayla facing the remodeled wall looking onto their ocean view balcony.  She groaned as he entered her swiftly, forcefully, filling her completely all at once.  His pace was slow but firm strokes, Mikayla begging him to go faster, deeper.  He began picking up his pace, grabbing tight to her ass and hips as he began a relentless pursuit of his own release.  He pressed his chest against her back, his finger finding her nub to increase the intensity for her.

He struggled to continue as Mikayla began moaning and screaming in pleasure, so close to her release that it was almost too overpowering for him.  “Kay, god, I’m…”  and he felt her let go around him, taking him over the edge with her.  A tangled mess, they slumped flat onto the bed, Justin on top of her, still inside her.  They gasped for air, Mikayla looking out at the balcony as she came back down.  

‘Wow,” she gasped.

“Please tell me you mean the sex, and not the ocean view,” he chuckled between breaths.

“Both?”  she giggled.  “I know we planned this, but it was a nice distraction after this morning at dropoff.”

“What happened?” Justin asked, shifting next to her, the tone in the room turning on a dime.

“Barb is apparently becoming mean to the other kids.  Taking toys, cheating at games.  Maribel said it’s normal, but not for Barb.  She asked if things were ok at home…”

“Of course she did…” Justin said, rolling his eyes.  “Any way to know what’s going on with me and my personal life…”

“I think it was genuine concern, but still.  I told her nothing was wrong or different, but we’d talk with her and see what we could do to help.”

“Ok, if this is something they are worried about, we’ll be as proactive as we can.  Maybe we’ll see a bit of it when we’re there later for their ‘party’.  I know I was gone part of last week at Pebble Beach…”

“I have the feeling this has been going on since before then, noticing things and making sure it’s not just a one off every now and then.”

“Right, teacher mode is running through your head right now…”

“Yeah.  We’ll deal with it later.  Is the balcony finished?”

“Almost.  We can stand out there now, but they’re gonna finish the final touches on the railing and we’ll get the table and chairs set up.  They’ll start on the patio next, they have things flagged for how far out things will go, another 6 feet out, but it’ll give us a surprising amount of room within that.  I was thinking instead of the table and chairs here on the patio, we just have the dining room to really eat meals, since it opens onto the patio anyway.  We do an L shape or something around the fire pit, looking out onto the beach to watch the kids or the sunset.  The grass area will expand, Joshy’s wanting to get into soccer, so I thought about maybe a little goal for him to practice kicking into. Room for Barb to practice her tumbling.”

“They are SO your kids, good at pretty much everything,” Mikayla laughed.

“Well, think about who their dad is, not that far off on that point either.”

Mikayla sighed.  “Yeah.  I guess sometimes I kinda forget you aren’t their dad, since you were there when they were born, we’ve done the parenting adventure together right from the start.  I guess my brain and my heart try to reconcile by forgetting what happened, going with what did and how involved you’ve been in their lives, my life.”

“It’s less painful that way, I’m sure. Come on, let’s shower and head back to the school.”

“Dirty shower?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.  

“The dirtiest…” he growled, pulling her close.

…

They stood behind the group of children, Mikayla recording them singing to the twins. Barb beaming at the attention, Joshy seeming a little more reserved.  Barb had pink Skye cupcakes and Joshy had blue Chase ones, with Paw Patrol plates and napkins.  Something simple but catered to each of them.  Each of the kids got a cupcake and a goody bag.  

After the cupcakes, the kids cleaned up, went potty, and went outside to play.  Mikayla and Justin hung back, watching Barb to see any of what Maribel had talked with them about.  Joshy was running around with some of the boys when they saw Barb push a girl.  Maribel stepped in, but Mikayla and Justin looked at each other.  Barb apologized to the girl, but Barb didn’t look like she meant it, going off to play somewhere else on the playground.  

After recess, they took the twins to get their things and go home.  All in Justin’s car, they drove home, Mikayla waiting until they got home to discuss things with Barb.

“Mommy, can we have the extra cupcakes after dinner?” Joshy asked.

“What’s the rule?” Mikayla asked.

“Eat half of everything…” the twins echoed in unison.  

“Follow the rule and you can have a cupcake.”

They got back to the house, Mikayla pulling Barb aside as Joshy walked to his room to play before dinner.

“Barb,” Mikayla started, “your teacher says you’re not being very nice to some of the kids in class.  We saw you push that girl today on the playground.  Why did you do that?”

“I dunno,” Barb huffed.

“I think you do.  You’re 4 years old, use your words, remember?”

“She thinks Joshy is cute…”

Both parents looked at each other.  “And…?”

“And he’s MY brother.  I’ll share him with the boys, but I’m the only girl he can play with…”

“Honey, it doesn’t work like that.  If he wants to be friends with them…”

“She doesn't want to be friends.  She wants to kiss him, and I’m keeping her away from him.”

“Ok, now I’m starting to approve of this more,” Mikayla laughed.

“Barb, you can’t stop him from being friends with people, and you can’t help who you fall in love with,” Justin said, taking Mikayla’s hand.  “Mommy was with someone else before we were together.  She was with one of my best friends.  Thought they’d get married and everything.  But here I am, married to your mommy and daddy to you and your brother.”

‘Which best friend?  Trace, Uncle Chris, Uncle Joey, Uncle Lance, JC…?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Mikayla said gently.  “I love your daddy and I love both of you, very much.    But your daddy is right.  You can’t stop someone from being friends with your brother, and at some point, you and your brother are going to want to kiss people.  I’m not ready for that day,” Mikayla laughed, “but it will come.  What about the cheating at games?”

“Oh, I just wanna win,” Barb shrugged.

“You still have to play by the rules,” Justin said.  “Trust me, I’ve done things to cheat and get my own way, and it’s not always the best result.  Eventually no one will want to play with you, Barb.  Not if you’re treating your friends that way.”

“I don’t need friends, I have Joshy…”

“Honey, that’s sweet, but you won’t always be in the same class.  Next year there are two different PreK rooms.  They’re probably going to split you up into different classrooms…”

“No!  They can’t do that!  You work for the school, tell them they can’t!”

“Honey, it doesn’t work that way.  Again, that would be cheating.  No one else can pick which class their kids are in, I can’t do that either, it’s not fair otherwise. I’m glad you love your brother so much, but you need other friends, friends that are girls, friends that are boys, friends that aren’t your brother.  As you get older, you’re gonna get sick of him.  Auntie Miranda and I used to fight all the time over the dumbest things.  You know the quilt story, and I don’t even remember what that fight was over… I just know grandma was very mad we pretty much ruined that quilt.”

“Well, Auntie knocked your tooth out, what else was supposed to happen?”

“That’s how the quilt got ruined, me bleeding all over it.  We fought before she did that, not after.”

“You get along now…”

“You’re right, but we’re grownups.  When we were younger, your auntie didn’t like me very much, but that’s not what this is about.  Well, it is.  You’ve had Joshy to play with for 3 years, now you both need to find new people to place with too.  You can still play together, but if one of you is sick and the other goes to school, we don’t want you being lonely with no one to play with.  Ok?”

“Ok.  I’ll make friends, and I’ll let her kiss Joshy.”  Barb said before she skipped off down the hall.

“No, that was definitely not what I meant…”

…

As they finished dinner, Justin got up and brought the cupcakes over.  “You finished your dinner, so we’re gonna keep our end of the bargain.  But first, you wanna hear something Daddy did for work?”

“What, Daddy?” Barb asked, her eyes wide.

“Now, you can’t tell your friends, ok.  It’s been done for a while, but I thought around your birthday would be a good time to have you hear the big song for the movie I’m doing!”

“Trolls?” Barb asked.

“How did you…?” Justin stopped.  

“Word gets around, Dad,” Joshy said.  “There really were little troll dolls when you were younger?”

“I had a ton,” Mikayla admitted.  I loved the little jewels on their tummies.  If you rubbed them, you made a wish.”

“Anyway, do you wanna hear the song?  I’ve been trying to just hum it around the house if I can't get it out of my head, but I think you can get a sneak peek at what everyone else has to wait for.”

He pulled out his phone, pulling up the song.  The kids were quiet through the first listen, hearing the words, figuring out the music.  They could almost literally see the wheels in Joshy’s head turning as he listened.  The song ended, Justin eager for their thoughts.

“Well?” he asked.

“Play it again Daddy!  It’s super fun!” Barb said.

Justin played it again, the whole family dancing in front of the table, Mikayla smiling at how well things had turned out.