“Kai is buggin’ me for you. Chris is doing the normal wanting to be up under me. With all this going on, I’m not even going to register them for school. I’ma just send them back down with Lena.”

“I miss y’all already.” His words were doused in pain and regret. “I wanna come home to my family.”

Kisa choked back her tears. “We miss you too, sweetie. I’ma take care of everything so you can come back to us. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Spending time at the fun center with Kai and Christen took Kisa’s mind off of the looming chaos. Kisa cherished her two children. For hours she ran around with them, playing games as if she were a third child.

“I’m beating you, Mommy, I’m beating you.” Christen screamed joyfully as he watched his red sports car zoom past Kisa’s car on the screen. He had to sit on the edge of the seat just so he could reach the pedals in the race-car booth.

Of course Kisa was letting him win. She loved the way his soft brown eyes lit up when he was happy. With his freshly cropped Caesar, Christen was absolutely gorgeous. Kisa knew that in a matter of years she would be running the girls off of her doorstep. He was such a momma’s boy, and he had Kisa wrapped around his tiny little finger.

When GAME OVER displayed across the screen, he said in his cutest voice, “Let’s play again, Mommy!”

“No, Chrissy, that was our third time.” Kisa slid out the booth and extended her hand to him. “Plus we have to get ready to leave so we can make it to the movies.”

He put his hand in hers and hopped down. “Is Daddy going to be at the movie?”

Kisa’s heart sank. She wanted to break down, but she kept up a solid front for her kids, “No, sweetie, he won’t be there this time, but when he gets back, we’ll go again.”

“Okay, Mommy,” was his only response as he skipped off in the direction of Kai and Big Terry. He was so much more laid back than Kai and easier to deal with. Kai, much like Kisa when she was younger, was a handful.

“You wanna go to the movies in the city or out here?” Terry asked as he steered Kisa’s champagne-colored Benz wagon out of the parking lot.

“We’re going out here,” Kisa said from the backseat. “Go up to the light and make a left.”

“I don’t need you giving me directions,” Terry joked. “I know my way around Jerz.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Kisa replied, smiling.

Terry was like a protective uncle to her. She loved him like a blood relative. He was a big teddy bear, but his scrap game was serious, and his aim with the burner was official too.