Chapter 13: Send In The Clowns

 “Hi!” Harper called, feeling better than she had in days. “I brought Lexie for dinner!”

Spending most of a day with her best friend was like spending the day in the sunshine after years of living under clouds. It was the best thing for Harper. She was even home fifteen minutes early, to prove to Emma and Liv that they could trust her.

“Hi, Lexie,” Liv greeted. “Come on in, girls, dinner's almost ready.”

“Hi Lexie!” Zoey screeched, coming in from the kitchen and grabbing Lexie's hands.

“That's Zoey,” Harper introduced, not even feeling embarrassed. Lexie knew everything about her family, including Oliver and Zoey's arrival. Lexie didn't think it was weird. She thought it was cool to have a revolving door of possible siblings. She was an only child.

Harper remembered that. She'd grown up an only child, too, until last year. It had been so lonely. Because of that, she loved bringing Lexie over to hang out. It was a bonus that William and Grace weren't home. Liv and Emma were definitely better to have around and more relaxed.

“Hi, Zoey. It's nice to meet you,” Lexie greeted formally, shaking Zoey's hand. “Come on. We're having chips for dinner!”

Harper furrowed her eyebrows. “Pretty sure she's wrong about that...” she said to Lexie under her breath and Lexie laughed.

“We are having chili and grilled cheese sandwiches and green beans,” Liv corrected.

“No! Green beans taste terrible in my mouth!” Zoey whined.

Noah was stirring the pot of chili, and Harper hoped he wasn't in charge of the actual cooking of it or they might all die from being poisoned. Noah didn't know how to cook at all. Unless a miracle had happened when she was gone.

Lexie was busy saying hi to Josh, who loved Lexie and hugged her to death and sat on her lap whenever she came over.

“Hi. Miss you. Hi,” he was saying while smiling so big at her.

“I missed you, too,” she laughed. “I guess I have to come over more, huh?”

Josh nodded.

Oliver was setting the table with Charlie. Harper guessed Zoey and Josh had been helping until she and Lexie came and ruined their concentration.

“Hi, I'm Harper's best friend, Lexie,” Lexie was introducing herself, shaking hands with Emma, who was sitting at the table. Harper felt bad she forgot to introduce them. She talked about Emma so much to Lexie it seemed like they for sure had met before.

“Hi, Lexie, it's so nice to meet you,” Emma said shaking hands with Lexie.

Harper was so glad Emma didn't say anything embarrassing like she had heard so much about her, and that Lexie didn't stare or ask embarrassing questions about Emma's crutches. Harper had told Lexie about them but mostly she talked about Emma taking time to talk to her, her notes and how she shared with Harper like they were the same age and she wasn't just some kid. Lexie was impressed, too.

When dinner was on the table, Harper took a seat next to Lexie. It was weird and quieter without Carter and Ari around, but Zoey more than made up for it.

Right now, she was looking around for Dudley – probably to feed him her beans – but Dudley didn't like them either. Put a bowl of chili down, though and he'd be there in two seconds, and it would be gone.

“I hate green beans really bad,” she whined.

“I want you to eat at least five,” Emma said seriously.

“No!” Zoey begged.

“Hey,” Lexie whispered, bumping Zoey with her arm and lowering her voice to a whisper. “Did you know green beans have magic powers?”

“No, they don't...” she pouted. “You're just tricking me.”

“I'm not. I promise,” Lexie said seriously. “They have magic in them that helps you heal faster when you get hurt and they make your bones stronger.”

Harper watched as Zoey cast angry, but curious glances around the table. “Ollie, is that true?” she asked. Obviously, Zoey wasn't gonna take the word of some stranger over her own brother.

“It is,” he nodded, and he looked so believable. Harper didn't know if he remembered everything he read like Lexie did, or remembered the exact day in sixth grade Family and Consumer Science where they learned about nutrition, but at least he knew that it was a good idea for his sister to eat more than chips.

Harper picked at her chili and ate a few chips. She'd had an upset stomach for most of a week, and nothing sounded good. Luckily no one made a big deal.

“I'm eating all my beans so I can have dessert!” Charlie announced.

“Me, too!” Josh added.

Harper seriously doubted there was anything for dessert, because there usually wasn't unless William was around to bake a cake or a crumble or a pie. When Liv took out frozen bananas on sticks, Harper was confused. Until she saw the chocolate chips Emma took out of the fridge and put in the microwave.

It didn't make Harper anymore hungry for dinner, but she might be able to manage a chocolate banana... Zoey choked down five beans when she saw what was coming, too.

Liv and Noah cleared away the pots and bowls of food and everybody took their plates to the sink and then she laid out the bananas and the melted chocolate chips with instructions for everybody to be careful and take turns dipping one banana in the chocolate and then laying it back on the wax paper to freeze.

“Carter nana?” Josh asked.

“Ari, too!” Charlie insisted.

“Definitely,” Emma said. “Josh, you make two bananas, okay? One for you and one for Carter. Charlie, make two, too. One for you and one for Ari.”

“Can I make one for Pinkie Pie?” Zoey asked and Harper rolled her eyes at Lexie. But Lexie laughed. She thought Zoey was cute.

“No extras for invisible horses,” Noah grumbled.

“What about if I make one that's 'visibe for Pinkie Pie?” Zoey challenged, smiling endearingly.

“If you make an invisible one,” Harper advised, taking a page from Lexie and leaning toward her, “you can put extra special ingredients in it. Like stardust and sunshine...”

“Okay!” Zoey answered.

Liv hurried the process by telling them the bananas had to freeze for an hour before they could be eaten. And just like that, everyone's bananas were ready to go. They cleaned, with Lexie's help, and then Harper and Lexie gathered everybody who wanted to in the living room for makeovers.

–

There was no way Noah was going to do any stupid makeovers. It was fine if everybody else wanted to. He was fine just keeping his head down and doing whatever Liv told him until 9:30 when he could legitimately go to his room and be done with this awful day. He hoped he'd been good enough so he would get to go out tomorrow. Staying at home totally sucked.

He was busy doing actual laundry when Liv stopped him.

“You've done a good job today. I've noticed,” she said.

He didn't thank her. He just nodded.

“I wanted to be sure that you haven't forgotten about doing something Harper thinks is nice.”

Noah sighed. “I didn't forget. I'm gonna talk to her about it tonight.”

“Good. Did you get to talk things through with your mom?” she asked.

“Yeah, a little. It was unrelated but...Carter told me some stuff that day Josh had his seizure. Stuff Mom should know. I thought knowing it might impact his going to contact, but I guess not.”

“I'm glad you told. When you're done with this, make sure you find Harper and talk to her about what you want to do.”

Noah folded the jeans really slowly. He searched the pockets for money but didn't find any. Liv and Emma were good about doing that before they put anything in to wash. His mom, though, would wash actual electronics. She said if they didn't care about their stuff enough to clear out their pockets before it went through the wash, they deserved to lose it. She had washed his first cell phone when he was eleven. He thought he'd be without one forever, but they'd given him a cheap one that Christmas and he had to take care of that thing like it was made of gold and jewels. This year on his birthday he got a real smart phone. Now, Noah always knew where it was. He also never left money in his pockets.

“Harp,” he called, when he was done. She glanced up from where she was putting blue eye make up on Charlie and grimaced.

“Don't call me Harp. What?”

“Can I talk to you, please?” he asked, aware that Emma was watching. Liv was down the hall, giving Josh his bath, but he knew she heard everything that went on.

She got up and walked over, leaving Lexie to apply super intense blush to Zoey's cheeks. Noah looked around for Oliver and found him on one of the couches, blending in with the furniture.

Harper was standing there in front of him. Noah felt awkward. He tucked his hands in his pockets and looked down. “Um...so I gotta make up for freaking you out. I was thinking...I saw some, like, dressy clothes on Amazon. You could pick something and I could pay for it and--”

“No.”

Noah blinked. “Seriously? What girl doesn't like clothes?”

Harper stared at him. “Um, this girl. Plus, you don't think it's weird for a girl to get clothes from her brother?”

“No, I thought you'd like it.”

“Well, I don't. I don't want you to buy me anything. Buying me something's not gonna change what you did.”

Noah spread his hands, completely lost. “I don't understand what you want me to do Liv says I have to do something for you for my punishment to be over. How can that happen if you reject every idea I have?”

“You literally had one idea,” Harper pointed out.

“Fine. What do you want?” he asked, figuring belatedly, that's where he should have started in the first place. “You want me to say I'm sorry? I said it already.”

“I want you to be sorry, Noah! I want you to not apologize from behind my bedroom door like a coward! Look me in the eye, be sorry, and never ever do something like that to me again. That's what I want.”

Noah's cheeks burned. This was so humiliating. He knew the whole house could hear them now and was waiting for him to step up and be a decent human being and not a screw up. This was the worst. But it was either grow a pair and do this, or stay at home and work his ass off until his mom came back, and one day was already more than he could take.

Taking a deep breath, he lifted his head and looked Harper in the eyes. He expected her to look smug, but she didn't. She looked hurt, and a little scared. She had her arms crossed, and couldn't look him in the eye back. “I am sorry, Harper. I swear. I'll never do anything like that to you again. Do you believe me?”

“You're not just saying it to get out of punishment?” she challenged, looking him in the eyes now.

“Well, yeah, obviously, but I'm also saying it because I mean it. I don't wanna be the kind of person that does that to people. I know how it feels,” he added, under his breath.

“And you'll knock like a normal human from now on?” she checked, cracking a smile.

“Yeah, promise. I mean, if there's a zombie attack or something, I figure you might wanna know ASAP so you can get out, but I mean, other than that, yeah, totally,” he smiled, too.

“Okay,” she nodded, and turned to walk down the hall to the open bathroom door to where Liv was and called inside.

“Noah and I are good now. You can let him off punishment if you want.”

He rolled his eyes. Nice vote of confidence. Noah walked through the kitchen and peered in the freezer checking on the bananas.

–

Ari made her way inside, breathless. That car ride had been a special kind of torture, but the blanket and the music had helped a little. She'd been wearing the headphones again so she hadn't really noticed that Carter had been quiet the whole ride home, except when he lifted one headphone and whispered, “My parents didn't come, but don't tell.”

Of course Ari would tell. She knew better than to keep something like that to herself. But she wasn't gonna do it to Carter's face or anything. He was acting like everything was fine, but Ari knew he wasn't. She spent most of her life these days faking okay.

The second they were in the house, and Emma asked how contact was she surprised him, smiling. “It was fine. But I just wanna go to bed.”

“Josh made you a chocolate banana,” Liv offered. “Everyone had one at snack. Charlie made yours, Ari.”

She smiled. Her first honest smile in hours. Maybe since yesterday. She went to the freezer and took out the bananas.

“Did you guys have dinner?” Emma asked, sitting at the table with them.

“I did,” Ari nodded. “My mom brought Chipotle.” It had been the one good thing about the visit. She missed her mom and loved her, of course. But it was hard to believe that her mom missed and loved Ari back. Or else why wouldn't she have tried harder to take care of her after the car accident?

“Carter?”

“Sure,” he said shrugging, but even Ari could see how he was wolfing down that chocolate banana. His backpack seemed light when he got back in the car, but he was eating like he hadn't seen food in ages.

“I'll heat you up a bowl of chili, and a grilled cheese,” Liv said without a second thought.

“Thank you,” Carter answered, struggling to keep his eyes open.

Ari excused herself and went downstairs to get her pajamas on and brush her teeth. She walked in the bedroom and found Charlie still awake.

“Harper's friend came over,” Charlie said excited, as soon as Ari climbed in bed. Zoey was asleep. Ari knew because she snored the loudest of anyone in the house.

“Lexie?”

“Yeah.”

“Lucky.”

“She gave Zoey a makeover. Harper gave me one. Then Harper took pictures on her phone. She's not allowed to post them anywhere though, so she said she's just gonna get prints at Target and keep them in her room or something. We looked funny. Oh! Did you have your banana?”

“I did,” Ari yawned.

“I made it for you.”

“Yeah, nice, thanks,” Ari managed, nodding off.

“Love you, Ari.”

“Love you...”

–

Liv sat across from Emma eating a chocolate banana, while Emma did the same. A cup of coffee stood beside them both. Didn't matter that it was 9:30 PM. Everybody was finally in their rooms, presumably sleeping. They could finally talk.

“These are so good,” Emma moaned. “Where did you learn to make these?”

“Preschool? Kindergarten? I don't remember, but it was so much fun I knew these kids would enjoy it.”

“Mmm,” Emma nodded. “So, Lexie seems nice.”

“She is. Lexie's a good girl. I'm glad they have each other. Both being the youngest in their grade and all. Harper seemed better today.” Liv observed.

“Yeah, I think seeing Noah got some real consequences helped her see that we were serious and that she matters as much as I keep trying to tell her she does.” Emma laughed to herself. “Did you see Noah and Harper trying to get through that apology she wanted? I mean, she deserved to get a legitimate apology, but they bickered their way through even that.”

“Lord, you couldn't pay me to be their ages again...”

“I know... Does Carter usually not get fed at contact, do you know? Is that why he's so worried about having enough to eat?”

“I don't know. I can't imagine it would help matters, though.”

“Right...” Emma sipped her coffee. “So, are you doing okay? With your grandmother and everything?”

“I just wanna be there with her. But I know I'm helping out by being here. I want to be sure to send her a card soon. Maybe we can do that with the kids. Make it a project. Not get well cards, per say, not all of them know Gram personally. Oliver and Zoey just got here when it happened. But making cards is a nice thing to do.”

“It is.” Emma nodded.

“How are you?” Liv returned.

“Overwhelmed. Tired. But good. I mean aside from having to army crawl my way out of that tub every morning,” she laughed.

“Sorry. I wish there were an easier way for you to go about that.”

Emma shrugged. “It works.

“So, Grace mentioned that they planned to be home Friday morning. Think we have a little more than two days left in us?”

“I hope so!” Emma laughed. She grew serious, thinking. “Being around these kids, it's been kind of bringing things up for me,” she admitted. “I mean, it's been great, especially being around Josh and getting to show him that it's okay to be different, but I was talking to Harper the other day and I ended up telling her some stuff about when I was her age. How my parents never seemed to accept me.”

“Right,” Liv nodded, understanding.

“And on the other hand, doing this? It kind of makes it obvious just how hard parenting must be. I mean, we're in charge of these kids for what, a week? And I already feel like I've experienced that thing where parents do their best and still end up letting somebody down.”

“I don't think that's a parent thing,” Liv smiled. “I think that's a human thing.”

“You think it's okay that Harper slept in my bed last night?” Emma asked suddenly.

“What? She did?” Liv looked surprised.

“Yeah, I told you. Last night when she had that nightmare?” Emma clarified.

“And where did you sleep? ...Oh... Well, did she seem better?”

“Her heart was pounding and she was shaking but she was able to fall back asleep and didn't wake up again.”

“Good,” Liv nodded. “I mean, not that she had such a bad dream, but that she could be resettled.”

“I'm probably gonna turn in,” Emma offered. “Do some devos.”

“You just drank a whole cup of coffee,” Liv pointed out.

“Yeah, I need to stay awake through Numbers.”

“I don't envy you. Hey, will you help me keep an extra eye on Carter for the time being? Ari mentioned he said something to her about how his parents didn't show up for contact tonight. So it was just him and his siblings.”

“Ouch. Yeah, definitely. And Noah's free to go out tomorrow as long as he's home for dinner?” Emma asked just short of the stairs.

“That's the plan.”

“Sounds good. Praying for a peaceful night. I need to catch up on some sleep here.”

“Good luck with that,” Liv laughed.

“Yeah, you too.”