She was twenty, blonde, didn't have the money for college, with a shiny smile. A kind of all-American needs to be in a Gap Ad look. She had a sweet voice that wasn't too loud and had a nice soprano. While I listened to her interview with Zoey, it was close to mine when I first started. I picked her out of the applicants because she had something about her. I thought Noah would do well with her. Really... My self-persuasion wasn't going well.

"Sara, what hours can you work?" Zoey asked her. She would not be a live-in like I was, so the pay was better. Cali is stupidly expensive, so she might not need the live-in. She could be still living with her parents so her salary might be worth it. As the interview stretched on between the two, I leaned heavily against the back wall of the office. I had zero input to give, even though Zoey asked me to be here for my thoughts. It had been a long week.

Buzz. I pick up my phone and check my best friend's group chat.

Jo-Lee: Mom, can we please see Mr. Noah?

Tari:?

Tari: Sim? What are you doing on Jo-Lee's phone?

Jo-Lee: Auntie Jo said we could ask you.

I sighed... My kid is smart... It's a blessing.. really.... most of the time...

My friend Jo-Lee and her daughter Bonabell picked my kids up. Bonabell was babysitting while I'm at work instead of my mom at the last minute. The messages popping up on my phone kept coming with a buzz. It wasn't shocking because of last night. I had to deal with a calculated kid strike. It was so dang creative that I worry about my daughter when she grows up. Her teenage years won't be easy. After asking repeatedly throughout dinner if they could see Mr. Noah now that he was back. I notice they weren't eating the rest of their dinner. Little Man took another stab, thrusting his fork violently into the offending broccoli. Ade was giving me his best mean mug. After the eighth time, he asked again to meet with Mr. Noah. He wasn't eating anything else on the plate but the vegetables. Something you normally have worked at if it isn't a vegetable he enjoys. My daughter already cleared her plate of vegetables. Her dark brown eyes, so like my mother's, watch me with pure calculation. She waited for her turn to ask in between Ade, asking about visiting with a pouty tone. She asks as sweet as could be.

"I think Mr. Noah would enjoy a visit from us." The Girl Space could teach the Mafia a thing or two. She was so polite but I know a shakedown when I hear it. I was being grilled between the two kids and it had the feeling of a losing battle.

I thought I could be slick and stood up and went to our tiny fridge in the small apartment. Next to the fridge was one of the several paintings Noah made the kids in the tiny kitchen nook. It made it seem like we were in a spaceship looking out the window of a window into space. It was a modern take on a Van Gogh spatial universe. The thick brushstrokes that Noah always uses and little bits of my kids' touches mixed in. He integrated the whole thing into a new whole. As always, the ghost of him seems to follow me everywhere when I want it and when I don't.

I pull out the salad I was going to take to work tomorrow. Splitting in two for both kids. If they were only eating vegetables as some sort of protest, then at least they will get a full dinner. Then I pop the empty bowl into the sink. The temptation to slam the fridge was there, but I passed. The starburst in the painting brought a smile to me. I didn't want to think about Noah at the same time. My kids love the paintings. They both love space and the kids spend days simply playing like they are really on the spaceship. That spaceship Noah made for them with all the panels can. No matter where we move or where they go, they have this home.

My kids live on a spaceship. I laughed, but I'm so damn thankful. The first time my Space Girl saw the paintings was a memory I won't forget. It was like some tiny piece inside her settled into place. A piece of her I had not seen since before the divorce and when we moved. She acted less perfect and more like a kid who played. She still has a lot of the perfect habits, but it's more settled now. Just need to find a good emotional place where she can be perfect but also bend if that storm comes in like water.

The two plates of grown-up salad they hate slide in front of them. I didn't even cut it up small, so they couldn't tell which pieces were which. The salad was present the way I eat it roughly chopped but you could tell what was in it. Little Man eyed the disgusting thing. Ade's eyes bugged out as he looked at each horrendous vegetable. He didn't like broccoli, red onion, chickpeas, or anything on that plate but the tomatoes. His worried brown eyes shifted through the different things he hated so much. Every item was a vegetable monster, and his eyes grew a little watery. I felt awful, but a part of me wanted to laugh. They wanted to protest to get what they wanted by only eating the vegetables. It was a perfectly good meal tonight, filled with stuff they liked. He had other options. All he had to do was give up on this one thing. Little Man's lip wiggled as he fought off his tears. I wanted to call it off and cave. I've got a rule that vegetables must be eaten if they are on the table. It's the only way to walk away from the meal because normally Little Man tries to skip it. Then Spacegirl eats all her food, and she's done. He leaves that last little bit and tries to run off for the bath all sly.

"All of it?" My son said with a shaky voice. The tears were seconds from breaking through. I kiss the top of his head. It was a save because a little more and I'd have tipped over in laughter and given up.

"Yes, all of it, baby." I left my hand on top of his head. The calm comfort seems to settle him a bit.

"All of it........" he gulped. Baby is going through it.

The clink stab of a fork going into the salad was Sim's answer to my challenge. My daughter eyed me down as she ate it, even though I know she wasn't a fan of a few of the vegetables in the salad. It was a battle of silence and she ate every bit until not a single leaf of salad was left on the plate. She stood up in shades of the Queen my mother could be.

"I would please like to visit Mr. Noah." It wasn't a question. It wasn't rude either and I was left with the realization that my daughter wasn't one to be fucked with.

I could almost see the mic drop and the crown on her head. My daughter, the blend of nerd me and my mother's natural Queen vibe. Oh, she will be a force to be reckoned with someday. She stood from the table next to her chair.

"Am I excused," she says.

"Yes," I replied. Watched her back as she headed off to the bathroom for bath time. I was tempted to give her a damn soundtrack. It was one of those one hell of an exit.

My hand absently on Ade's head moved as I waited for him to give up so he could join Sim. He hated taking baths by himself. Little Man liked his story time best when Sim got to read some of the books. And his bath time was best when his sister joined him. This time, though, he wasn't rushing to finish his normal meal, and he wasn't eating the salad. His hand fiddle with the thin string of his Lando Calrissian cape. Doubt ricochets through his sweet brown irises. He picks up the fork with a deep sigh. Stabbing into the fleshy green mess. The fork moves slowly to his open mouth as and he closes his eyes. That fork with salad becomes a bomb he has to defuse before it blows up in his mouth. That humble salad on his fork shakes when it enters his mouth and he chews it slowly. Tears again back in baby's eyes.

Dear Lawd, help me not to laugh at my little boy.

The sound of the water turning on had my son stuffing the rest of the salad into his mouth as fast as he could. Woofing everything, he stands next to his chair.

"Can I gogo Mom?" He is practically bouncing.

"Yes, Little Man." In a weird way, this is a personal L but I'm proud of them. I move his booster seat off the table and sit down in his chair. So, tired of the drama. He races for the bathroom, his cape flying after him with all his speed. I put my head on the tiny kitchen table.

I feel a hand on the top of my head, patting me in the same way I did for Ade.

"It's ok Mom." I can hear the wiggly tooth when he says the words, and it's adorable. "I think we can come to an agreement on this." It's a phrase I say to them sometimes when I'm making a deal, but with the way Ade was saying it. It had that mafia tone of Mafia Kid that Sim had earlier. What kinda emotional Mafia shit have my kids got going?

"Hurry up," my daughter yells from the bathroom over the noise. Little Man remembers this time, and he runs to the bed, hanging his cape up under the painting. Noah made over to the bed. Then heads for bath time.

The memory isn't something I will forget lightly. I've logged it for future wars. Even though it's the next day and I didn't cave in last night. I know it's time to cave now. Take the L.

Tari: Jo-Lee, can you meet us at the Learning Center?

Jo-Lee: Of course. :)

Jo-Lee's Cheshire Cat grin was in the few words typed. She has no idea that she isn't bringing Noah and me back together. I didn't tell her about the night at the event. Whatever is between us is extremely toxic, but I trust him with the kids. I give Jo-Lee the directions to drop off the kids later. I guess two things will happen to Noah, meeting his new assistant and hopefully the kids.

***

The interview for the new personal assistant came to an end. Her background check and everything else were already done by me. Zoey's choice did not surprise me with the Sara hire.

"When can you start?" Zoey said, the rush in her voice was there. She had a plane to take her to meet with her gig. Even the small breaks in the Tour. weren't long enough.

"Now," Sara said with bright eyes.

A/n: working my way back to sat. posts slowly lol with the extra posts.