Going to get the twins was always something else. Beau knew it was a good day if the girls came out together at least. But no, Raven was bouncing out with her bright blond curls, waving some art as a flag, spinning around in the air as she and the staff member went across the car rider line. Ok, great. She was regulating herself during one of the most dangerous parts of the day which meant something happened. Which meant tight braided Alexandra . . .

Yep. As expected his little Alex had wedged herself between the two big pillars. Beau quickly put on the emergency flashers and brakes as he saw two of the teachers struggling to get her to leave the tight space.

“Raven, back seat, buckle up, and get on the swim cap.”

“OK. Daddy, guess what! There’s a fundraiser, and the whole school screamed!”

“Really?” He looked at the worn out Mrs White. “I didn’t get that e-mail.”

“Mister Watt, if we could talk later because Alex has been having a lot of tantrums today?”

He kept walking “You mean meltdowns. My wife will call you all later.” Beau hated putting it on his wife, but August was like a warrior goddess when talking to these people where he just felt like he was stumbling over everything.

“Oh no, we need to talk now.”

“The girls have swim so not really.” He got over to Alexandra. He knelt down and looked at her hands hiding inside the hoodie she liked wearing so much. Cloud lining and golden lettering creating her name on the blue background.

“Hey . . . you in the sky now?”

She nodded slightly, covering her ears over the hood.

“Well, we are going to swim now. All the water on you? Then you can pretend you’re flying and feel better.”

She hesitated and took his hand, her mouth opening, trying to find her words again. “L-loud. Alarms.”

“Not just the fundraiser rally?”

As she squeezed back out, she shook her head. Beau quickly picked her up, her tiny frame just a ragdoll against him. “For crying . . .” He looked at Mrs. White as he carried her back, people honking for him to hurry up and move in the line. “My wife and you are talking. I’m texting her.”

“OOOOOooooo! You’re in trouble!” Raven half leaned out the window. “Cause we got an IEP, and Mama said it's legal!”

As he got near the car, Alexandra was half crawling over her sister and into the car window, even as he tried to open it. Raven giggled and pulled her in, letting her sister crawl across to get buckled up, handing over the ear plugs. “Quiet time for you, sissy.”

Alexandra had them in just as someone started cursing Beau out. It’s not like he wanted to be there that long. The girls were supposed to be warned if a rally or drill was happening. They were supposed to be allowed to skip the rally if they didn’t think they could handle the noise and lights. It used to be August would deal with all of this, but since he had the time he took it over. If afternoons like this didn’t prove she needed some romance to make up for . . . well, everything he made her do, then Beau didn’t know what did.

It wasn’t long before they were moving and the girls were getting sorted in the back. Raven repeating every conversation word for word that she felt was important. As she went on, he got the gist of the day for the girls. Kids teasing, again. The teachers were playing videos. A test. The fire alarm went off and then no one was able to turn it off for twenty minutes. A sub. And then the rally. It was no wonder the kids were dysregulated.

“That sounds like quite the day. But you know what’s next?”

“Swim time! I’m gonna go so fast, Daddy.”

“I bet!”

Alexandra quietly spoke up. “You’ll video?”

Her starting to speak so quickly was a good sign. “Yep. Just like anytime she can’t make it. She’ll probably brag to everyone again.”

Alexandra smiled a tiny bit as she settled in her seat a bit more, trying to curl into a ball inside the hoodie. They weren’t that far from the pool. Beau decided to pretend not to notice this time.

Within half an hour the girls were changed, in the water, doing laps, and starting to look like they were feeling normal again. Beau couldn’t help but smile at it all. He didn’t get the love of water, but the two were just like their mother. If she could get into the water, it was like everything was right again. He started thinking for a moment. Maybe that was something he could do, a picnic by the pool. Although the beach was better, they were so far and with her knee . . . Canes didn’t do so hot on the beach.

There was that wave pool downtown though. It’d take an hour or so to get there, but maybe he could get the in-laws to watch the girls. Yeah, and even a hotel room to spend the night and a romantic dinner and— Beau stopped, an alert on his phone going off reminding him he got a payment from a client. A whole seventy-five bucks.

Right, money. That was a thing. Beau didn’t want to put more strain on everything. After all, August worked so hard to keep the budget balanced. He could save up for it though. Maybe in time for Christmas since it was an indoor wave pool. That didn’t solve the issue of creating a romantic evening in the near future. Honestly, he had no clue what to do for her. August loved experiences more than anything else, which made birthdays and Christmas hard. What could he give her as a good experience? Something she’d love. It was about then he heard two of the moms talking.

“Oh god, did you hear there is a blood moon as a blue moon this month?”

“I know, the kids where I teach are going to lose their minds. Maybe I should call out sick.”

Beau gave a small smile at that. There was an idea. Get the camera, some nice tea, and a night of letting her take pictures? They could even stay at the house with the girls in bed. It’d be perfect. As long as the weather was clear, but come on. This was Texas. Sometimes it felt like the rain waved at them from a distance.

By the time he had searched up all the information, the girls were out of the pool and ready to go home. Everything after that was always a whirlwind of activity as he tried to get them changed, dried off, into the car, out of the car, called after them to come help him. Half the time they forgot but then sure enough, August set them right back out. Alexandra was a bit slower, and her little bare feet slapped against the pavement as she did. “Dad? Mom made dinner and did the dishes.”

He smiled, only to hide his worry. “She did? She must be full of energy today.”

“I gave Mama her cane, Daddy.” Raven grinned as she grabbed her things and ran inside. “I wanna show Mama the video!”

He sighed and looked to Alexandra. “Does it look like she needs ice?”

“I dunno.” She shrugged as she headed back inside a bit faster. She didn’t like holding the wet things.

Beau mentally cursed himself. He had meant to start the dishes, but when he saw the dishes he remembered the girls kept forgetting their water bottles, which led to him noticing the laundry was getting full and once again he only half did the chores. Letting out a slow breath, he went over to his beloved’s favorite chair. “Hey, sweetie, you want anything?” He gave a kiss on her forehead.

“Hey! No, I’m good, just a lil tired. Long day at work. Thanks for getting the trash and shopping done. Dinner’s cooking.”

Beau looked at her swollen knee, the bag of ice resting with just a towel between the two. God, he didn’t deserve her. August was so sweet, not even fussing about the forgotten chores or the fact she had to do the cooking and washing. She just did it. And had all that pain after. Maybe once he brought back the spark, he could convince her not to push herself so hard.

“All right. I’ll get you a soda, and you just relax for a bit.” Another kiss and he went to get a soda, the one thing that surely he couldn’t goof up. Raven grabbed his phone from his pocket before hurrying over to the chair, showing her mother the dives and swimming Beau took video of.

Alexandra took a moment to speak up as her sister showed the video. “Mom, did Dad send you the text?”

“What text?”

Fuck. He forgot.