Moving Forward

He can 'fix' it

"Hey they called, my car need 3 new parts or it won't pass."

"What the hell?" He looks up from playing with the twins "Your car is only a year old! There's no way there's that much wrong.  Even with your driving."

"Well they claim the brakes are bad, the shock absorbers all need replaced and the starter belt is shot."

"That's ridiculous.  Give me your phone." He takes it from me, quickly dialing the shops phone number.

"Yeah, okay..." he sighs as they talk "I'll be there in 20 minutes."

"Brad, what are you doing?" I follow him over to his keys "You can't just pick it up, it needs the inspection."

"Call your dad and tell him I'm picking him up.  We're going to fix this.  They want over 3 grand to fix and replace all of it. We can easily do it."

"You two don't know anything about fixing cars!"

"We'll be fine, Jen.  Just let him know."

I call my dad like he asks, and my stepmother knowing this should be good, volunteers to come over and help me with the kids. 

"Where's daddy going?" Ava comes over, sitting on my lap "Does he have work?"

"He's going to get grandpa so they can work on my car."

She runs off to play with everyone and I sneak into the kitchen to start lunch.  I look out every few minutes to make sure they aren't killing each other.

"So do you think you'll get a new car out of this?" Sherry walks in, carrying snacks for the kids "You should milk it when they break a door off or poke a hole in a tire."

"Oh, I will.  I'll be getting something out of it.  I can't wait to see how this goes."

"If we're lucky, it'll be like the TV stand they tried building that took 2 months.  That was entertaining." She calls the girls out for lunch "I almost hope for your sake that they can't find the parts and just let them fix it."

"He won't let it take too long, he knows his car won't fit all the kids.  He also knows that is HIS fault."

I walk into the living room to get the twins, carrying them out to the kitchen for bottles.

"Hey, Brad told me to get his toolbox." My brother walks in the back door "Where is it?"

"I don't know.  The hardware store?"

He grabs some of the chips we have laying out, running down the basement stairs to look there. 

"Well, let's have some fun while we wait for their masterpiece."

Sherry pulls a bottle of wine out of her purse, walking over for glasses.  She fills one up to the rim, handing it to me.

"Trust me.  You'll need it."

I quickly take it, getting it up to my mouth only for Brad to walk in and grab it from me taking a sip.

"What the hell?  Get your own glass."

I move away from him, gulping it down quickly.

"And go stop your kids.  Ava is chasing Kassie with a pen."

"He's fixing your car." My dad walks in, looking around for AJ "You should watch them."

"If I knew he was really fixing it I would, but since it looks like you guys have my tire off and a bunch of play tools surrounding it, I'm not very confident."

I finish my glass way too quickly, and follow Sherry into the living room where the twins are playing peacefully.  They're so much easier than the girls for now and I'm going to miss it.

"Hey Ava and Kassie!" I yell out to them "Let's watch a movie with Grandma!  She wants to see your new favorite."

They run in the room, fighting over who gets to hand me the DVD, and eventually sit with us on the couch curled up under a blanket.

"I don't know how you guys watch this stuff all the time." Sherry complains, bouncing Addie around on her lap "I put it on and leave them to watch alone.  Normally they don't end up harmed."

"Because here they like to go through every DVD we own and rearrange them in their cases." I move Kassie a little so I have room to feed Zach once he cries "They're good at your house and terrible here.  They hate us."

"They're supposed to.  They love me."

"I've noticed.  They're always crying and telling us they need to go to your house or call you.  I told Ava she can live with you the other day."

"I'd take her any day.  It's your dad who fights with her." She looks out the window, watching whatever they're doing to my car "Speaking of your dad, it looks like they put him in charge, so this might actually go worse than we expected."

"Or, we can go fix it." I watch as Brad and my brother both fail miserably at whatever they're doing right now "I bet we get it done in half the time."

"That's actually a good idea.  Let's go."

We walk out, surprising them when we hand over the kids and start to take over.

"What are you doing?  There is a very entertaining movie waiting for you in there."

I push Brad away from where he's watching us, getting a better view of the video showing us what to do.

"I just wanna watch how this goes."

"Go inside, Brad." Sherry walks by him with the correct tools "You guys had your chance already."

I replay the video, watching closely to see that the fix is very quick and actually pretty easy.

"Well, I think the break pads are done." I stand back a little, thinking over everything to make sure I did it right "How's your part going?"

"Pretty good.  I just need to tighten it a little."

I walk over to look at it, seeing that it looks exactly like the video says it should.

"Now, we just need to do the shock absorbers.  They look easy enough."

We work together, switching between watching the video and working on the actual car until we have it done.

My dad, Brad and brother bring the kids out once they see us cleaning up, thinking we failed already.

"We're done already." I smirk, opening my door "And we're going out.  Have fun with them."

They stand there in shock as we drive away.