The Good Hair Family Sitcom

S4 E9.3: Hotel

Jonah's POV

Bored of waiting, Austen comes back to where Walker and I are sitting to ask, "Muffin now?"

I glance to Walker, not sure how to respond. I know he wants me to say no, but I already promised it, and that wouldn't set a good example.

"Well, I did say she could have it," I say.

Walker lets out a breath and tells Austen, "Give us another minute, okay?"

"Okay," Austen huffs. "I go show Declan how to eat TV remote."

"Okay, have fun," I reply.

The girl shuffles away toward her cousin.

Suddenly, Walker's eyes spring wide. "Wait Austen— Oh, good. Buffy's handling it." He releases a breath and turns his judgement onto me. "See, this is an example of a time when you can't just say yes."

"I know. But she's so little, and I just want her to have fun."

"Ingesting electronics isn't the way to go."

"Yeah, but with other things. I want her to have what she wants."

"But you know we're gonna go broke if she gets that," he replies calmly, nudging his gentle eyes into mine. "We need to establish rules."

"That's what you're for."

He shakes his head at that. "But I don't want to be the dad that says no all the time. Austen likes you, and honestly sometimes I think she likes you more than me."

His chin drops downward as that blue tone of that confession mists me in guilt.

"Walker, I'm sorry. I don't want you to feel that way. She loves you, because you love her, and I see that."

"I just want us to be on the same page, have consistent rules with how we raise her."

I take a moment to accept that before saying, "Fair enough. Maybe we can talk about what those rules can be after vacation?"

He gives me a smile. "Okay."

"Cool. Wanna come get muffins?"

He lets out a sigh and answers, "Sure."

Amber's POV

"Okay, this is stupid," I bark.

As soon as that slips from my mouth, Andi curls around me, inserting herself into mine and TJ's conversation with a sigh of exhausted joy.

"Finally!" she groans. "Can we go now?"

"No," I snap back. "We still need to finish this."

"You just said it was stupid," TJ pushes.

I narrow my icy eyes again. "Thanks to that, I changed my mind. I'm still mad."

Next, Cyrus wanders over, his eyebrows up like a puppy dog begging for a treat.

"How about we try something other than arguing," he suggests.

TJ and I both give our attention to him, neither of us convinced yet.

"I know you're siblings," Cyrus goes on, "and I suppose this is what they do, but you're setting a bad example for our kids."

I scan the room quickly, seeing only Hazel invested in her tablet, not at all paying attention to us.

"Literally the only one of ours here is Hazel," I point out, "and she's in her own world."

Cyrus furrows his brows as he looks around, wondering, "Where's Jayda?"