Moonstruck

“Kay… uhm, bye,” I mumbled awkwardly, hanging up. “Jilly…” I called and sort of whined, walking into the kitchen.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, pulling the last batch of cookies out of the oven.

“Well…your parents are coming early…apparently, they’re having bad weather and they‘ll be coming early. A week early, in fact…” I rubbed the back of my neck.

“A-a week early?!” she almost dropped the pan on the floor. “…What are we supposed to do?!” Her eyes were wide.

“Don’t drop the cookies!”

“Well! I…” she looked flustered.

“We’ll be fine.” I tried to assure her. “We’ll be prepared.” I hope…

“But I’m not ready…!”

“But you will be, I promise!”

“Matt, we need to go shopping, clean the house, do laundry-I’m not ready!”

“Baby. I’ll do the laundry and help clean the house, okay?”

“I…okay. I’m going to go shopping? Want me to take one of the boys with me?”

“It’s up to you, whatever is easier.”

“Okay, who do you want to stay with you?”

"I go with Mumma!" Midnight shouted, running into the room.

"Okay. Come on buddy. Let's get your coat on. Matthew, come in here please...!" Jill called. Matt came into the room after his younger brother.

"What...?"

"You need to help Dad around the house; cleaning and doing laundry because Grammy and Grampy are coming tomorrow."

"...Daddy, that's no fun!" His eyes went wide.

"Don't you want to see your Grammy and Grampy?" I asked him, crouching down to his height.

"I do... but if they come now, we wont see them for Christmas...!"

"No...they're uh, staying until after Christmas." I ruffled his hair.

"They're staying?! That's like... a whole year!" he said excitedly. I looked over; Jill was helping Midnight with his coat and boots.

She simply smiled sheepishly. "Yeah...sort of." Hey...he was happy! "But listen, Daddy really needs your help getting the house ready."

"Okay. C'mon daddy; let's go get ready got Grammy and Grampy." He pulled on my hand.

"Let me say goodbye to your mother first," I chuckled.

"Bye mumma! Okay, come on!" he chuckled. I stood up and hugged Jill tightly.

"Love you babe," I smiled, kissing her cheek.

"I love you too." She smiled uneasily.

I kissed her lips next, "It'll be okay. We'll be ready."

"If you say so. Come on, Night." She took his hand and led him outside.

I waved to them, reminding her to check out the lights that I had set up. Matt Jr. was already getting cleaning supplies.
"Alright; let's get to work." I smiled to him.