"Everything's all right? Nobody needs anything?"
"No, Jack, everything is under control here. Everything's fine, don't worry about us." I tried to make my tone sound as reassuring as I could. Poor guy had enough to worry about, and I didn't want him fretting about the kids or me. He was going to wind up with an ulcer if he wasn't careful. And everything really was fine; Jack Devlin just worried a lot.
"Good. I'll be home at eight, then. Thank you again, Jessica."
"No sweat, Jack." I hung up and went to check on the kids. They had all finished dinner and had planted themselves in front of the TV to watch cartoons. Thank God for cartoons. I took advantage of the quiet to clear the table and decided to do the dishes while I was at it; that would be one less thing for Jack to worry about when he got home.
By the time I finished cleaning up it was almost seven-thirty. That meant bath time for the twins. They launched into their it's-not-fair-he-gets-to-stay-up-later routine, but by now it was just done for form's sake, and they headed for the bathroom without having to be told twice.
I sat and watched cartoons with Johnny until the twins finished, then sent him in for his turn. When I tucked the boys in and checked the clock it was eight-fifteen. I plopped down on the couch and tried to read, but I was too restless to get into my book. Johnny came out of the bathroom and waved at me from the hall. He had hit that age where he was getting more standoffish, wanting hugs less frequently and on his own terms.
I winked at him. "Goodnight, kiddo."
"Goodnight, Jess."
His door closed and the house fell into deep silence. I tried reading again, but I was getting absolutely nowhere, so I dropped the book onto the couch and wandered through the house. A familiar picture in the hallway caught my eye; a family portrait of Jack with his wife Anna and all the kids gathered around them.
Anna had been killed in a plane crash a year ago. Since then Jack had been doing his best to handle everything, but a promotion a couple of months back had eaten up more and more of his time until he was working late practically every weeknight and spending half his weekends at the office. And often it happened without a lot of notice, leaving his babysitter in the lurch.