113 - Texts

*I love you. Take whatever time you need. I’m here for you. You’re still my bestie – text from Camille to Priscilla*

Any other time, she would love this house and would be taking a thousand pictures for Clay. But the stress of the past week was getting to her and her head was starting to pound. Hopefully, one of the guys left a sports drink in the refrigerator.

Since Clay would be in Hot Springs in the next few days, maybe she would see about getting him to come down and help decorate the house. He could probably get furniture that Darkness couldn’t make easier than they could. But for now, their couch and recliners would have to suffice.

The cream-colored walls continued up here with reclaimed wood edging the hallway floor with a dark cream lush carpet in the center. The doors up here were all painted with a shade of cream that was just off from the walls and the trim. Peeking into the empty rooms she saw the same reclaimed wood inside.

Floors in the two bathrooms were a mosaic style of various shades of cream and gray with a dark gray grout. She remembered when Claire had mosaic tiles in her bathroom. The white grout was never white again after about a month. The first chance she got, they were removed and replaced with much larger tiles.

The cabinets here were also light gray with a marble countertop. One bathroom had a shower tub, and the other one had a large glass enclosed shower. Both had double sinks with a toilet tucked between the cabinet and shower or tub.

Continuing down the hall, Camille found the three kids huddling together in the loft on the second floor that looked down onto the front living room. A large picture window looked out over the driveway and front yard. Two steps led up to the loft area giving it a sense of it being a separate room.

A half wall offered protection from falling over and into the living room down below. She immediately thought that it would be a perfect place for bookshelves. With that thought, she pulled out her phone and took a picture of the open space and then another of the wall. Texting them to Cookie and Kilo, she gave them her ideas on it.

Since her camera was already out, she walked over and took a picture of the large blank wall on the other side of the living room that ran from the ground floor to the roof. A small row of three skylights added extra lighting and character to the room. Sending that picture to Clay she asked a simple question.

*What do you do with a wall like this?*

The three dots bounced in the corner almost immediately and then a very Clay response popped up.

*You ever see that movie Tangled? Little lizard is optional*

Chuckling to herself, she tucked her phone away and turned and saw the three kids talking quietly among themselves. Mitch made a gesture with his hands and his siblings nodded in agreement. Camille could see them up here, music in the background as they played a game of pool.

“I’m thinking that we need a pool table up here,” Camille told them. The smiles that all three kids had fell and their reaction surprised her. “You guys don’t like pool?”

“We were hoping to have the space for us, but if Amos wants it, we understand,” Vin answered.

“You want to explain that?” She asked with confusion.

“You want this space for Amos to have a man cave and we have to stay out,” the oldest of the kids explained.

She rubbed her forehead and took a calming breath, “You weren’t allowed in your dad’s man cave?”

The pounding in her head only increased as she stood there. Outside, the sky grew darker, and she knew that they needed to get the trailers emptied. But this was something that needed to be addressed now. If she waited, the situation may get worse, and she wanted this house to be home. She wanted to be their home.

“No,” they all answered meekly.

She cursed the man in her head and thanked whatever god had made her parents that they were not selfish. They may not have been considered model parents, but none of their kids were in jail or on paper. They had all graduated from high school, and most had gone on to college or technical schools.

Her phone chirped in her back pocket, and she pulled it out to see a message from Kilo.

*Your going to end up with a hug assd house!! Quite sending ideas and put ut all to gather*

Not for the first time did she feel sorry for the man’s spell checker. She often wondered how many times his phone threw up its little virtual arms and said fuck it. Cookie’s response showed that she was not the only one that was questioning Kilo’s typing skills.

*Are you okay? Are you having a heart attack? Does Gadget have your phone? HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET AN ENGINEERING DEGREE???*

Smirking, she replied with a picture of Sticks’ little girl and a simple statement. *Inquiring minds want to know*

Closing the phone on the picture of the little girl with an electric can opener in her hands, Camille turned her attention back to her own kids.

“Okay, we need to put some ground rules down,” Camille tucked her phone back in her pocket and sat down on the floor and leaned her back against the half wall. “The only places that you are not allowed to go are into any room with a closed door. Meaning that if the door is closed, do not enter. Knock, if you’re given permission, then you can enter.”

They looked at each other and then at Camille. Obviously they were used to a lot of strict rules. She could only imagine what their reaction would be to how she grew up. There were certain things that they could not do. But she and her siblings had a lot of freedom.

Her phone kept dinging, and she was sure that the two cousins were still insulting each other. The thought of trying to interpret Kilo’s messages made her head hurt even more than it already did. Somewhere in this house there had to be some Tylenol or Motrin or something.

“So, you’ll let us play pool?” Nicki asked.

“I need someone to play against,” she shrugged. “It’s not like I can just play against myself. Besides, my classes start back up in two weeks. I think it’s in two weeks. I don’t know any more.”

Darkness came around the corner and grinned at his wife, “How much did your mom send?”

Camille laughed, “I don’t know. Should I worry?”

“We need to empty the garage before we can get the bikes out,” he told her, and she shook her head.

“My mother’s favorite past time is shopping,” she said standing up and pulling out her phone. “And since it was all coming here and my dad would not see it, she probably went overboard.”

“Trust me,” Darkness laughed, “she went overboard. In fact, she went so far overboard, the navy is going to have to send a sub to rescue her.”

Rolling her eyes, she opened her phone without even looking at the pattern. “That does not surprise me.”

Looking at her phone she saw that the chat with Cookie and Kilo was indeed filled with insults and even worse spelling. The spelling and grammar were enough to make her eye twitch.  As she skimmed through the hell of their conversation a message from Priscilla popped up.

*Love you 2 call soon Priss