Chapter Seventeen #3
“That is not okay. I’m disappointed in both of you.” She pointed. “Go wait in my office. I’ll speak to you in a few minutes.”
They sighed heavily but walked away, shoulders slumped. Jax waited until they were out of earshot to turn to Shawna.
“Look, I know you want them to like you and I’m sure you do have a special way of setting the table.
” Mostly because she was young and enthused and hadn’t been overwhelmed by parental responsibilities and a futile attempt to find a work-life balance.
“That’s great, but don’t keep the kids from helping.
If you start that, they’ll never want to do anything. You’ll end up doing it all.”
“But I’m the mom. That’s how it’s supposed to be.” Shawna pressed her lips together. “I meant the word mom generically, of course. You’re their real mother.”
Jax waved the comment away. “That’s not the point. They need chores. They need to learn responsibility. Everyone in the family
needs to work to support the family, even if it’s just emptying the dishwasher. We’re a shared unit.”
She deliberately softened her tone. “I need your help in this, Shawna. I don’t want my kids to be spoiled and entitled. Everything
happened so fast.” She swallowed against the sensation of rising bile as she murmured, “The three of us should probably sit
down and come up with house rules that work for all of us, including chore lists. Harris and I did that, but now you have
a place in our, um, family.”
Shawna stunned her by surging forward and hugging her. “You’re amazing. Thank you for being so kind. It has been hard. I don’t know if I have unrealistic expectations or if Xander was testing me, but he was doing such a bad job that
I said I would do it myself. I knew I was making a mistake, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself. So now I’m doing it all and
I’m busy every second of every day.”
She stepped back, her eyes damp with tears. “Please don’t hate me but I’m counting the minutes until it’s your turn to have
the kids again.”
Jax thought that if Shawna felt she was overwhelmed now, she should wait until she was doing all this with a newborn, but kept that nugget to herself. Instead she said, “Tonight when you get home, why don’t you go upstairs to your bedroom and do some deep breathing while Harris cooks dinner?”
Shawna’s surprise was almost comical. “Harris doesn’t cook dinner. He doesn’t know how. I mean he can make a few simple things,
but he can’t pull a meal together.”
Holy shit! Jax felt her mouth drop open. “Did he tell you that? We split up nearly two years ago. He’s been living with the
kids every other week since then. Who do you think has fed them all this time?”
“I don’t know.” She frowned. “Okay, he never actually said he couldn’t cook, but it was kind of implied and I . . .” She blinked. “He can cook?”
“Yes, he can. And clean up the kitchen and load the dishwasher and do laundry. He’s practically a 1950s housewife.”
She supposed she could have felt guilty about throwing her ex under the bus, but she didn’t have it in her. Bad enough Harris
was being a weasel about the engagement but worse that he was making Shawna do all the work.
“I didn’t know,” she whispered.
“Now you do and you might want to talk to him about what he has and hasn’t been doing. In the meantime, I’m going to lecture
my children on the fact that they have chores to do. I’m going to emotionally crush their little souls and they’re going to
feel bad. Tonight you’re going to let them set the table and empty the dishwasher. Agreed?”
Shawna nodded. “You’re amazing.”
“I have experience and sometimes I’m cranky. You’ll get there.”
“I hope so.”
“Now, about the pictures,” Jax said.
Shawna stared blankly. “What? Oh, right. We were going to take pictures. I wanted to see how they’d turn out. I was thinking of asking about an engagement photo shoot with the heart books.” She looked around. “Maybe I’ll do it another day. I need to think about everything you said.”
“We can talk whenever you want.”
“Thanks. So, um, should I wait while you yell at the kids?”
Jax looked at the big clock on the wall. It was after four.
“I’ll keep them here until around five. Why don’t you head home and have a few minutes for yourself. Whatever you’d planned
for dinner can keep until tomorrow. Text Harris and tell him to bring home takeout. You pick. Get what you like and the rest
of the family can work around it.”
Shawna’s eyes widened. “I couldn’t do that.”
“You can and you will. I’m not asking. I’m telling. It’s what you’re going to do.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
Jax thought Shawna might have more to say but just then Ramon flew over and landed on a nearby shelf.
“Hello, pretty lady,” he said loudly.
Shawna shrieked a little and jumped back. “Oh, God! He’s huge and so close.”
Jax sighed. “It’s okay. I know he scares you. You can go, Shawna. When you get home, try to relax, okay? And remember what
I said about the takeout.”
“I will. Bye.”
The last word was thrown over her shoulder as she bolted for the door. When she was out of sight, Jax held out her hand.
“Don’t take it personally. You’re kind of an intimidating guy.”
“I’m a lover, not a fighter.”
“I know, but Shawna doesn’t see it that way.”
He hopped over to her hand. “I love you.”
“I love you, too. Now I have to go yell at my children. How they’ve disappointed me.”
“Courage, dear heart.”
“Thank you.”