Dreams of chasing after flowers, trying to get a table, seeing his beloved looking sad and rejected filled Beau’s head. Every so often he woke up just enough to put a hand or foot on his beloved wife before drifting back to the anxiety filled dreams. He was finally about to grab the table and serve the romantic dinner when a fire alarm went off.

Wait.

No.

Just the alarm clock.

Groaning, he sat up and glared at the flashing lights as he heard the girls get up as well. “When’s summer break again?”

“Eight months? And you still have to get up with me.”

Beau slammed his hand onto the old alarm clock, looking at his wife, trying to focus on her image. “Maybe, but that’s later at least.”

It wasn’t that he minded the alarm clock. But at least his wife sometimes didn’t have to go into work until noon at the library. Meaning everyone could take their time getting ready for the day. As he got up, Tux followed along, wrapping around his legs. Beau was pretty sure his wife said something but was too distracted trying not to fall over from the cat. He got to the kitchen, gave the cat some food, and started looking at what was available for breakfast. If August didn’t have to work, maybe breakfast in bed! That could work, right?

Of course he already heard her voice directing the kids instead. Beau sighed and set to work on the lunches. Surely she would sit in the chair. Not come all the way over. Not come into the kitchen and . . . nope. He was not doing well on calling things today. He turned, and there was his beloved, leaning heavily on her cherry red cane and in her cute pink and purple PJs. “Aug, let me handle everything, ok? You’re still in pain.”

Beau saw her smile and melted. “Let me do something, Beau.”

He sighed; how could he say no to that? “Ok. How about you make the sandwiches for the girls?”

“All right.”

He made sure to keep an eye on August as she worked. It was so cute watching her making apple rabbits and heart shaped sandwiches. She loved making Bento boxes for the girls when the pain wasn’t too bad and sapped her energy. Seeing the girls' faces light up when they got their lunches and put them up, Beau couldn't help but think how wonderful it was with everyone so happy and excited.

Beau smiled a bit. “I don’t get reactions like that unless I add in cookies.”

“Well, cookies are pretty sweet.” She carefully got up. “But not as sweet as that cereal you are trying to give me. Can I have something else?”

“What, you don’t want . . . frosted spook puffs?” Beau was reading off the box, looking like he couldn’t even remember what it was supposed to be.

“Not for breakfast at least. Cheese and toast?”

“And a banana.” He broke one off and handed it over. “You start on that, and I’ll work on the rest.”

He watched as she finally got to the chair. Ok, not in bed, but at least in the chair. She’d busy herself with chat groups and her online friends. Before long they were having breakfast, discussing plans, part of him almost forgetting what all had to be done that day when the next alarm went off. The girls left their rooms like a shot.
“Dad! School!”

“Right right! See you later, love.”

“See you later, Beau.”

He headed out to the car with the girls clamoring into it as they talked about what they were going to do at recess. It didn’t take long until they were on the road and a small bit of quiet settled in the car. About halfway there, Raven spoke up. “Daddy, is Mommy feeling better today?”

“I think so. You know how it is, it takes her a while to get to feeling better again. I bet by tonight she’ll have more energy.”

“Can you bring her to swim practice today?”

“I’ll do my best. Ok? It depends how she feels. In the meantime, let’s go over the rules again.”

“Do we have to?”

“Yeah after yesterday. If your IEP isn’t being followed?”

Alexandra spoke up this time. “Remind the teacher.”

“And if that doesn’t work?”

“Ask to see the counselor. Or ask to call you.”

“Good. Last rule?”

Raven smiled wide. “IEPs are not an excuse to not try our best or be mean or rude. We have to do our best just like we want the teachers to.”

“Ok, good. Hey, look, school.” He pulled into the parking lot and let the girls out. “Looks like we’re early this time. You girls have a good day, ok?”

“Bye, Dad!”

“Bye, Daddy, no kisses because you got whiskers again!”

“Raven, that's rude.”

“Oh. Sorry, Daddy!”

Beau rubbed his chin. “That’s fine. You go, get to class now.” He watched as they headed inside before taking off. They’d sit outside for a few minutes before being let in. It was safe enough, and thankfully neither girls were runners. As he headed back towards the house, he started thinking about what he could do for August. Taking her out to eat was out of the question. And lately she didn’t want to pay the delivery fees for Lazydine. As he started down the road, he noticed the grocery store again.
Well,there was one thing he could do if he transferred some of the cash to the bank account.

By the time he got home, Aug was finally getting into her RPG and would be gone from the world for a few hours. It’s why she tried not to play too much when the kids were home. She didn’t want to ignore them. He quickly put away the groceries, started some rice and went to work. With his headphones on, Beau disappeared into his required writing. It was nice, the podcast playing, the words slowly flowing. Sometimes typing away to friends or clients as he worked. He could keep up a good flow and rhythm. It almost worked too well. When he looked up, it was already almost lunchtime. Wait, not almost HIS lunchtime. Aug liked to eat earlier.

Shit.

Beau glanced over. Thankfully, she was still distracted. The game must have been really good. It was an open world with the ability to basically get lost for hours on end doing random tasks. When he got to the rice cooker, he sighed. It was scorched. Ok. That was fine. He could make this work. August loved sushi and it couldn’t be that hard. Some tuna and imitation crab meat. Some avocado. This was all stuff she loved in her rolls. He just needed to take it one step at a time. Quietly, he set up his phone and tried to scoop out the rice that was still good. He was able to use two bowls to hold the extra rice while looking at the screen.

“Now cool the rice while mixing it with the sushi vinegar,” said the Munchie Mama vlogger.

“Cool it? How . . .” Ok, there were a few regrets. He carefully poured what he was told into the rice and started mixing, trying not to be too rough so there wouldn’t be a big mess. Beau knew August would want to help clean up, and she needed to rest.

After what felt like ages, Beau was pretty sure in the one bowl there was no longer any steam coming out. It had to be good now, right? Glancing to see if August was still busy, he could see she paused the game for a restroom break. Ok. He had ten minutes at most. He needed to move quickly. He got a few more bowls out and set to work. First opening and draining the tuna. Then moving on to the avocado. He tried to pick a ripe one and seemed to have a little luck, but it turned out to be over ripe. Not the pretty green she liked. Ok. Ok, this was still fine, right? It’d be in the roll and maybe it’d look better there. Of course he got so distracted he started dicing it without thinking. He let out a breath. Ok, cucumber. He could do that correctly. Quickly peeling it and making it into sticks, he listened for the sound of his beloved heading that way. Not yet. Maybe August was watching a video? Hopefully she wasn’t hurt.

After cutting the last of the things, he quickly got the bamboo mat and proceeded to lay out everything on the bamboo mat and roll up the rice. Every time he tried, the rice ended up falling apart. Did he let it get too dry? This wasn’t going to work as a sushi roll at all. He took the attempt and put it in the fridge. Maybe he could hide everything else before—

“Sweetie? Whatcha making?”

“I, um . . .”