Takin Care Of Business (2 Years Later)

Kaila ended up sleeping at the foot of the bed. It was rather cute, and she even took it pretty well when I accidentally kicked her during the night. It was kinda fun having her curled up against our feet, tucked into the sleeping bag with a borrowed pillow from the couch.

Which was why the blaring alarm from Maria's phone was such a buzz kill the next morning. I got up with her, helped her out with a quick breakfast while she got prepped, and got promises to call, as well as a wonderful kiss goodbye on the front porch which made my toes curl.

Which is when I went back into the cabin and found everybody else either still asleep or doing an admirable job of faking it, I went for the full out, end of vacation breakfast, complete with everything I could find in the fridge, including some of the leftover chinese. The reaction was everything I hoped for, and I found myself chatting happily the next morning with four satisfied women, and a promise that I would have to do exactly zero of the cleaning afterwords.

That kinda became a thing with us. Because we kinda became a thing. I don't do the cleaning. Period. In any sense. There's a lot of things I do around the place, but I ain't the cleaner.

We ended up going to a wedding the next morning, when Nikki decided that she was gonna bring along people that she actually wanted around at a wedding. It was a gas, especially considering that Nikki's family is insanely awesome.

To say that insanity runs in the family would be putting it mildly; it practically gallops. I had the urge to ask Nikki if her last name was Addams, but thought better of it. They seemed to like our brand of insanity at any rate, even though It is rather intimidating when two women speak Greek right in front of you while giggling and your date tells them to behave.

Which is how we ended up in a warehouse. No, not kidding, a warehouse on the waterfront. See, rent was killing all of us, most of the women in my little group living from paycheck to paycheck, and Nikki's cousin Athena had this idea about moving us all into the family's warehouse. Took only a couple days, and her brother's friend knew a guy who had a construction company who did the whole thing totally off the books. Ended up owing them a ton of favors, but it worked out in the end. A quartet of apartments, set into the back of a large shipping house. Nothing huge, mostly prefab, but it did the job for the couple of years we've been here.

Helen and Charlotte were all over it, as when we were about to drop them off, we discovered that their apartment had been appropriated by some of the locals. Apparently, while we were gone, they had busted into the place and decided to stay. The landlord's answering service was no help whatsoever, and neither was the police who declared the call a non-emergency. They had not liked the idea of couch surfing at a friend's place, and the thought of a bit of a relief from the pressure of rent payments might have also been a factor.

Maria and her daughter Sofia ended up moving in to the makeshift apartments, and bringing Maria's family with her. Figuratively speaking. They're old school Californios and feel that it's important to keep alive traditions for children. They hadn't been wild on Maria leaving the CHP, but they could read the writing on the wall as far as how the job was going. Private security is close, and they appreciate that she's still doing something that serves and protects.

Carla and her new girlfriend Joan also ended up moving in, filling out the last of the four little spaces. Carla was happy because it was fairly close to the university, at least until budget cuts finally eliminated her and her sister's positions. That's a long sad story, however, and nobody wants the downer. Short version, California's government is a bunch of morons and everybody knows it.

Kaila and Carla ended up getting a pair of tattoos that Helen drew for them. They're gorgeous pieces, flowing feather and flame. They don't quite match, but they're similar enough that if you don't know the twins well enough, you would easily mistake them for each other. The difference is clear to me, but then, I'm married and still in love with one of them. She's not perfect, but she's better.

And of course, the net result of that trip to Big Sur was kids. Kaila wasn't kidding about being pregnant, and our little boy Daniel has been doted on in Greek, Spanish, and Latin at one point. Yeah, we didn't tell either family that we let both the Greek Orthodox and Catholic Church baptize him. We figure it's better not to miss any bets.

Helen and Charlotte had one kid, a little girl named Ceto, who is an absolute terror around the place. Helen had been very clear she wanted me in her life, and so, I'm absolutely on the child care rotation. Babyproofing isn't an option, that kid is SMART. We tried a chain lock, and the kid ended up using a broom to open the door. Just gotta keep an eye on her at all time. Course, Her multitude of aunts and grandmothers love her, and she's clever enough to behave around them.

When Maria announced she was pregnant, nobody was really surprised. She and I had been constantly going at it while Kaila watched. Kaila loved being pregnant with other women, and watching me with them seemed to be something she wanted more of. She had a little boy named Miguel, who has just discovered that ochi and no and no are the same word and enjoys using all of them at the same time.

Carla had been on the pill just as a precaution for a while. It was a good bit of forethought, but she hadn't been thinking of her own girlfriend at the time she decided to have her little inn orgy. Joan had apparently gotten some of me into her at some point during the festivities, and her baby bump was a technical virgin pregnancy, but Joan won't claim it, because she says that she totally had sex, just not with a male. Her daughter Miri is a lot of fun, and I'm not saying that just because I'm technically her father. Just technically. I still haven't even kissed Joan.

These days we're kinda packed in tight, but things are good. The Building across the street went up for sale a few months ago, and the price keeps dropping. We've been scouting it out a bit. Nice place, restaurant on the ground floor, several floors of apartments above. Would be good to have a real place to host family other than the hotel downtown.