The apartment door opened and Anna raced in, dropping her backpack on the floor and flinging herself into Spencer's waiting arms.
"Hi My Spencer!" she shouted excitedly, "I missed you!" He hoped she was referring to the fact that he'd slept in this morning and Melissa had already taken Anna to school by the time he'd awakened. Nevertheless, her excitement was infectious and he swung her around gleefully, taking care to make sure his good arm did most of the work. He set her down on her feet and asked her to attend to a chore.
"Remember what we promised? You're going to unpack your backpack and hang it and your coat up on the hooks. And put away your outdoor shoes. It's not fair to your mommy to have to pick up after you like that."
She nodded solemnly and immediately complied, straightening out not just her own, but the entire array of shoes that lined the hallway by the door, then picked up her backpack and returned to the kitchen. Anna pulled the small stepstool from a cupboard and set it on the floor in front of the sink. Melissa stepped back to watch as her daughter unpacked her lunch bag from the backpack and climbed up on the stepstool to rinse the dishes out in the sink. She set them out to dry on the rack, then climbed back down, put away the stepstool and put her backpack on the coat hook next to her coat. That completed, she returned to the kitchen, took Melissa's hand and said,
"I'm sorry I made a mess, Mommy."
They hugged and Melissa picked Anna up and carried her into the living room where Spencer was already seated on the sofa. She set Anna down next to him and said in a serious voice,
"You wanna tell her, Spence, or should I?"
Anna looked from one to the other, eyes widening in fear.
"The backpack you just did such a good job of emptying?" Spencer began, waving in the direction of the coat hooks.
Anna's eyes betrayed her growing anxiety and Spencer wondered if she was misinterpreting their intent.
"Oh, Anna, don't be worried. I think you'll like this. You need to go pack some clothes and some pajamas, your toothbrush and maybe a couple of toys in it."
Her lower lip started to quiver and her eyes filled with tears, "Are you sending me away?"
"What? NO!" Instantly, Spencer felt terrible and gathered her into his arms, "No, no. We're all going, sweetheart! We're going to see Henry and Michael for the weekend." He wiped at her eyes and rocked her, cuddling her head against his chest. "I'm so sorry if you thought something bad was going to happen."
Melissa found herself choking up and looked away so neither Spencer nor Anna would see her swiping at her own eyes. She marveled at how easily and how well Spencer could diffuse a situation, noticing Anna was already laughing at something he was saying and had apparently forgiven any misunderstanding. Stepping back to the two of them, Melissa invited,
"Come on, Anna, let's go pick some clothes."
She sent Spencer a grateful smile as her daughter climbed down from his lap and joined her to go pack.
"Can I take books too?"
"Absolutely, you can take books."
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Henry followed his father around the bedroom. Will was picking clothes and packing them into the open suitcase lying on the bed. Baby Michael was in his own room, asleep in his crib.
"Daddy, are you going away?"
"Yeah, Henry. Your mama and I are goin' away for the weekend, but remember now. It's a surprise. Mama doesn't know yet, okay?"
"It's a secret?" Henry put his fingers to his lips as though to hush himself, but his eyes lit up in delight.
"Yeah," Will moved to the bathroom to collect the toiletries he'd need and spoke over his shoulder, "And there's somethin' else, Henry. You're gonna like this."
"What, daddy?"
"Who you been askin' to see, Henry?" Will smiled, knowing the reaction he was about to witness.
Henry thought for a moment then answered, his entire face lighting up hopefully.
"Uncle Spence!"
"Uh huh. That's right, son. He's gonna be stayin' here with you two." Will ruffled Henry's hair and continued, "But it's still our secret, okay?"
Henry was excited now but checked himself, wanting to please his father and keep the secret.
"There's more, though. Remember Anna, the little girl at the park that stayed here when her mama stayed with Spencer?"
Henry nodded.
"Well, she's gonna be here too."
"Awesome!" was the reply to that, instantly taming any concern Will had that Henry would have preferred alone time with Spencer.
"But remember now—" he started, before Henry interrupted him,
"I know. It's a secret! Don't tell mom!"
"Atta boy."
