I Don't Belong To You

Chapter 18

"Becky...stop."

She circles her arms around her once more.

"Becky, seriously. You're going to get us killed."

She huffs and rolls her eyes but pulls away anyway. "It's an electric stove Freen. Magnetic no less. I don't think we could die even if we wanted to."

"Regardless, go away dear. You said you'd let me cook, so let me."

"Can I help?"

"No. Because I doubt your help is very helpful. But if you want to be useful, you can go help Ritchie start his homework. He has 5 spelling words to write twice and a book to read. Once he finishes it, sign his reading log please."

Her eyebrow darts up at that.

Yeah, no. That's all definitely Lilly's job.

But then she remembers that she gave Lilly the day, and subsequently the night, off.

So she huffs once more and goes to find Ritchie, who's playing a game on her phone on the couch.

"Hey bud. Time to do a little homework before dinner."

"Right nooooow?"

"Yeah, right now. Trust me kid, I don't want to do it either. But Freen's the boss and she says it's homework time."

"I thought you said you was the boss," he asks, looking up at her skeptically.

"Yeah I am...except when she's around. Then I'm pretty sure she becomes the boss."

She shakes her head at herself, wondering when someone besides her mother became the "boss" of her.

But much like when Freen says "jump" and she asks "how high?" Ritchie puts the phone down and obediently goes to get his backpack, knowing better than to question their combined authority.

When he returns she helps him remove his spelling words and an oversized book titled "Mr. Dog's Day."

She rolls her eyes, already dreading this.

"You read 'em, I spell 'em, Bec Bec."

She sighs once more and reads the first word. "Dog."

"Dog," he repeats. "D-d-d. Ah ah ah."

As she fears, she looks over to see him writing an 'a' after the letter 'd'.

"Um, actually kid...it's...," she's not sure if giving him the answer is how it's done so she channels Freen for a moment.

"Well, sound it out."

"I did," he deadpans, face serious.

"Yeah...you did, didn't you?"

They stare at each other awkwardly for a moment before she tells him to hold on and jets back to the kitchen.

"Hey, babe. What do I do if he's sounding out words wrong?"

Without even glancing up at her, she smiles. "Have him try again and pick a different letter that might help make a similar sound."

"Right. Okay Ritch, maybe try a different letter that might help make that same sound."

Switching up the instructions slightly almost makes her feel like she thought of it herself which makes her inexplicably proud. And when he finally figures it out on the third try, she high fives him and promises two desserts if he can get the rest without any help from her.

When he finishes his work sheet all by himself, she pulls him in for a hug and tickles him until he cries uncle.

And for the first time, there's no hint of jealously for all he has that she never got at his age. There's no annoyance at how at 5 she was cooking food for herself in the microwave, while he has a nanny and toys and not one but two rooms of his own.