"Mom!"
Emily let out a huff at the yelling coming from the entrance of the school and she shook her head. The first time seeing her children today because she had gone into the store early and they were already complaining. "Just get in the car."
The middle child practically slammed up against the passenger side door and grinned to her mother. "My friend needs a ride home, is that ok?"
"Why didn't you take Jenna's phone to ask me before I came, Kai?"
Kaila Prentiss pursed her lips in thought, something her mother did often, and shook her head. "I don't know."
Emily rolled her eyes, smirking at her daughter as she unlocked the doors. "Get in."
The twelve year old yanked the car door open and hopped in, nodding to her friend who stood outside of the car to let him know it was ok. "You can come with us, Josh."
The single mother waited until the rest of her kids were in the car before looking in the rearview mirror. "Hi Josh, how are you?"
"I'm good, Ms. Prentiss," the blond boy nodded, smiling politely to his friend's mother. "Thank you for driving me home, my dad couldn't get out of work to get me."
"No problem, sweetie."
Turning in her seat, the eldest of the Prentiss children looked down to the newcomer with a smirk. "So, are you and Kai dating, Josh?"
Kaila's head spun so her dark eyes could glare at her sister. "Jenna!"
Jenna's mouth gaped. "Kaila!" she mocked.
The shop owner held in her sigh as she turned out of the school parking lot, nodding into the rearview mirror to get her son's attention. "Mattie, what do we say?"
The seven year old looked to Jenna who sat beside him and touched her arm. "Quiet," he hushed. "You're giving mom a headache."
"So where do you live, Josh?"
Looking up from his book, the eleven year old smiled. "On Hillcrest. It's in Woodbridge."
"Ok," Emily nodded, quickly switching lanes so she could stay straight. "That's not too far."
"We live in Dumfries," Matthew piped up from his seat. "Jenna? Can I see your phone?"
"No."
"Please?"
Jenna looked down to her little brother and glared. "No."
Emily quickly asked the young boy in her backseat for directions before turning up the volume for the radio, already feeling that familiar pang near her temple because of her children's voices echoing throughout the car.
Fifteen minutes later, the car was pulling up onto the correct street with Emily finally turning down the radio. "Ok Josh, which house?"
"Number three hundred and ninety-six."
Does eyes widening at the sight of the large white house, a beautifully painted picket fence surrounding the obviously expensive residence, Emily stopped the car. She had known that the neighborhood they had driven into was fancy, but the house before them, although not the biggest, was the most beautiful out of all of them.
"Josh said I could meet his brother!" Kai giggled, jumping out of the car and slamming the door shut. "Bye mom!"
Emily quickly threw her car into park. "Kaila!" Looking back to her eldest and asking her to watch Matthew for her, Emily made her way up to the front door. "Kaila, come out please."
When she didn't get an answer, the single mother knocked roughly against the glass window the front door had. "Kaila come on, we need to go home." Stepping back when the door finally opened, Emily rolled her eyes. "Come on honey, we need to get you to karate class. There's no time for this."
"Emily?"
The brunette froze, her eyes looking up to see the familiar chiseled face standing in the doorway. "Aaron?"
"Hi," the handsome man laughed, stepping aside to let her into his home. "I take it this is your little girl?"
Emily wanted to bring her hand up and slap against her forehead. Her middle child, the honor roll student, was hanging with her new friend Josh off of a teenager's leg. "I am so sorry," she apologized, one hundred percent embarrassed that the man she had met the other day was seeing her daughter act in such a way. "She's never done something like that."
Aaron shook his head. "It's nothing, really. She seems very sweet," he smiled as he opened the door wider. "Why don't you come in?"