All's Fair in Love and War

Welcoming Commitee

 

We sit in silence for few minutes before she finally looks up from her desk. Lydia glares at me while pulling out some paperwork. "Do you intend on staying T.J?" She says, pronouncing each letter with clarity.

"Umm... I hadn't really thought-"

"Well you need to start thinking about it."

"Could you get my family? If you're going to talk about stuff, they should be here too."

"What do you think this is? Orientation at a high school? We don't really do that here." She stared up at me, then back down at her papers.

"Well my family needs to be here."

"Well I don't know where they are. Let me see if Carter can get them for me." She presses a button on her phone, and her voice booms over the intercom that I wasn't aware of. "Carter. T.J. would like her family escorted to my office." She takes her hand off the button, and smiles grimly at me. "Happy now?"

"Yes thank you." I smile sweetly at her, and hope it doesn't look like I'm shooting daggers at her through my eyes.

We ignore each other for a few minutes, when she finally speaks up. "Did Colton try to hurt you earlier?" She looks up at me, her eyes pained, and lips pursed.

"Well it wasn't exactly a happy exchange," I scoff.

She shows no emotion and goes back to riffling through her papers. A few minutes later there's a knock at the door and I can breath. "Come in!" Lydia yells. Maybe with Carter here Lydia will ease up a bit.

Carter opens the door, and my family files into the room, and of course, Hunter flips out when he sees me. "What happened to you?! You look like awful!"

"Why the hell did you leave the car after I told you not too?!"

He doesn't answer. "Well if this little family pow-wow is over, I'd like to get started..." Lydia retorted. "Carter, I'll see you later." He nods reluctantly before exiting the room and my heart drops to my feet. So much for rescuing me Carter. "T.J. Could you please introduce me to your...." she struggled for a word, "Lovely family? Names and ages?"

"This is Hunter, and he is 15. Then there's the triplets, Peyson, Cody and Ayden, who are 10. And last but not least, 6 year old Joy." She scribbles down each name and age onto a paper.

"Pleased to meet all of you. I'm Lydia." She smiles sweetly at the triplets and Joy, but continues to glare at me, and now Hunter. "Well I guess I'll start off by saying welcome to Phoenix Union Station. Where are you guys from?"

"Tennessee," Peyson says quietly.

"So are you guys escaping the war?" My eyes get wide.

"The what?" Cody asks.

"She means the political war about who should be president! And yes, that's why we were in Arizona."

"Okay." She acknowledged the war but kept her mouth shut. "So now I guess I'll start 'orientation'." She makes quotation marks with her fingers. "Carter discovered this place about 3 years ago. He has since then, established weekly food raids at grocery stores. We don't take much, only the essentials, and sometimes we even pay. We do have a fruit and vegetable garden a couple miles back in the woods. It's hard sometimes, but we manage. There is security on duty all hours. I think I covered just about everything. Oh! There are 5 families here plus 7 'orphans'. The Shaws, Greenes, Turners, Rosses, and the McCoys, plus the 'orphans'."

"And you all get by just fine?" I question.

"Yes. Just fine. This place his huge, and abandon. There is plenty of room for other people, enough bathrooms, you name it, we got it."

"Lydia, could you call Carter back here?"

She doesn't answer me, but I get my answer when I hear her voice over the intercom. "Carter! T.J. requests your presence in my office."

"Thank you. Is there a room around here where my siblings could wait while I talked with you and Carter?"

"My closet." I glare at her. "Or we could just step out of the room too," she responds.

"Good idea. Peyson, Cody, Ayden and Joy, you guys are staying in here while the big kids go talk out in the hallway. If you guys touch anything I will have your heads for dinner, do you understand me?"

They all nod and I realize how tired they must be when Peyson yawns. My phone says it's 3:43 am. "Why don't you guys sleep okay?" I kiss all their little heads and Lydia, Hunter and I walk out of her office. And that's when I'm so tired I can hardly walk straight. Carter comes walking down the hallway and I break out into a smile.

"You requested my presence?"

"Yes. I just wanted to know what you think about us staying here for a while."

That's when Carter's grin spreads like a wildfire, across his face and I swear it touches his hairline. "Really?!" He says, clearly happy.

"Hunter?"

"Well yeah I wanna stay. This place is 10 times better than Aunt Riley's and waaaay more fun."

"So it's settled," Carter declares.

"It's official," I say.

"Woohoo," Lydia mutters as she sulks back into her office. "Out!" She screams at my siblings and points at the door. They practically sprint out of the door and rush to my side.

"What a bitch," I whisper and Carter laughs. "Hey Carter, we are gonna need a room, ASAP. These kiddos are exhausted and so am I," I say while pointing to my siblings.

"Well I'm sure we can find you guys something." He winks and starts to walk away. "Well come on!" He motions for us and we have to run to catch up with him.

"Hunter, did you bring in our stuff in or is it still in the car?" I ask Hunter.

"Shit the car is still out there!" Carter starts to look around frantically. "Umm, can you guys like stay here for a few minutes or umm... go find Rose? Do you have your car keys?" Carter hasn't stop fidgeting since I mentioned the car.

"Yeah I think I-. My purse is still in the car." That's when he starts freaking out. "Carter. Carter, why is it so important?"

He grabs my shoulders and looks me in the eye. "It just is okay?" And then he storms off, leaving my family and I totally alone.