I woke up to the smell of bacon and coffee and the knowledge that my first night alone with my kids had been pretty much a failure. After Dad left and Cade crashed on the couch, Calla had woken up. She’d beaten her sleep record last night, but not by much. She was up for hours nursing and cooing at me. She finally went back to sleep at three thirty this morning. It was five now, and I should get ready for work. I was not in the mood to be awake, so I threw on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, found some shoes, and put my hair up in a bun. I headed downstairs. Cade and Mom were in the kitchen sitting at Gram’s battered wood farm table with its mismatched painted chairs. Mom was holding Calla, and Cade was eating bacon and eggs. He gestured to a filled plate on the table next to him. I sat down and took a bite of scrambled eggs. Oh, Dylan was still asleep, like one should be at five in the morning during summer vacation.

“Morning,” I grunted after swallowing my eggs. “Let me nurse her. I’m full.” I took Calla, so I could feed her and cuddle her before I left.

“You’re wearing that?” Mom asked me.

“She’s fine, Mom,” Cade told her. Then he looked at me. “Lily, you’re fine.”

“I don’t even care if I’m not fine.” I stole a piece of bacon from Cade’s plate. I couldn’t reach my own while holding Calla. Cade laughed and took a piece of bacon from my plate. “I’m just glad I remembered to put on a bra. I’m not going back upstairs.” I did not have enough energy for any more stairs today.

“Well, that’s fine, I guess.” Mom gave up on making me change clothes a little too quickly, but I was too tired to worry about it.

“I’ll wait until Dylan gets up, then take them back to my house. Mark and Mara will be there soon. Jude is off; he’s going to swim with us today.” She pointed at me and said, “Don’t worry. I won’t take Calla in the pool. She’s still too little.”

I smiled at her. She already knew all my parenting rules because I got them all from her.

She winked, then continued, “You can come pick them up whenever you’re ready. I packed the diaper bag. There is no need for you to do a thing, I have a ton of stuff in the new playroom, I have booster and car seats installed in my new minivan. I am so excited to have them all at my house today. You have a great day, honey.” She gave me one of her million-watt smiles, then started texting on her phone.