"Hey, Sonny?" Jacob crawled up onto one of his kitchen stools and rested his head on his arms.

"Yeah?" Sonny turned the music down as he reached for a box of spaghetti.

"Tomorrow's Mother's Day, right?"

"Ah, yeah, it is." Sonny had completely forgotten about it. He'd meant to get his mother a card. And he was now overthinking what it meant that he'd remembered one for Amanda but not for his own mother.

"So…do grandma's count? You know since they're a grandmother?"

"You better believe it," Sonny said. "You know I think I got some paper and some colored pencils around here someplace. Do you wanna make a card for her?"

"Yeah!" Jacob bounced excitedly in the chair.

Sonny disappeared into the room Jacob was using while he stayed with him, calling, "Don't touch the stove!" as he did.

"Don't worry, I won't!" One trip to the hospital was enough for the both of them. Sonny came back out with a few pages of computer paper and a set of colored pencils. "Thanks!" Jacob dumped the box of colored pencils out on the breakfast bar. Sonny returned to cooking, adding a generous pinch of salt to his water and then adding the pasta. "Sonny? How do you spell 'grandmother'?"

"How do you think you spell it?" Sonny prompted.

Jacob tapped the blue colored pencil on the counter. "Ummm…G-R-A-N-D-M-U-T-H-E-R?" he guessed.

"That's pretty close, buddy. That 'U' should be an 'O'."

"All right! I was close!" Jacob bent over the piece of paper and worked out the rest of the spelling.

Sonny found his phone among the cooking ingredients and snapped a picture of Jacob hovered over his art project so he could show Lola later. Then, he returned his attention to dinner.

"Hey, Sonny?"

"Yeah, buddy?"

"If there's a Mother's Day, is there a Father's Day?"

"There is, it's next month, I think."

Jacob chewed on his bottom lip. "Can I make you a Father's Day card for that?"

Slowly, Sonny stirred the sauce mix on the stove. He hadn't been ready for that one. A part of him had forgotten that this arrangement was only temporary, that Lola Rodriguez would be back on both feet in just a few weeks. That Jacob wasn't really his. They were Big and Little Brother, nothing more.

"….Sonny?"

Sonny snapped back to attention. Jacob was looking at him, his chin resting on his arm on the countertop. "Jake, you know that…that I'm not technically your dad, right?"

Jacob nodded. "I know. But you're a pretty cool Big Brother." He cocked his head, thinking. "Maybe I can make you a Big Brother's Day card." He frowned. "Is that a thing?"

"It is totally a thing. And I would love that." Sonny put a lid over the sauce and came over to the breakfast bar. "Lemme see this card of yours."

Jacob handed the folded piece of paper to him. The boy's painstaking handwriting on the front proclaimed Happy Grandmothers Day, and the inside had a blue and red pencil drawing of him and his grandma Lola. "Is it good?" Jacob asked.

Sonny grinned. "It's perfect, buddy." He gave his shoulders a squeeze. "You know, you're a pretty cool Little Brother too."

"Even when I beat you in Mario Kart?"

"Except for then. Then you're just an okay Little Brother," Sonny teased him.

"Well I think you're an awesome Big Brother all the time," Jacob declared. "And I kinda wish I could stay with you forever." He hopped off the chair and disappeared into the bathroom.

Sonny glanced at the calendar on the wall. Lola had indeed been one of the best patients recovering from hip replacement that the doctors had ever seen, and they were getting ready to release her. I kinda wish I could stay with you forever.

Me too, buddy.