Page 11 of Reclaimed Dreams
Jo carried the four happy meals in from the van, trailing behind four kids who were anxious to get back to their fort construction at Valenti Brothers.
“Dinner first!” she called out, dropping the boxes on a demo counter. These kids needed to eat or she’d have a nuclear meltdown on her hands. And when Dom said thirty minutes, he usually meant an hour minimum.
Jo did some quick mom calculus. She had at least another half hour here keeping the kids occupied, plus the drive home, plus bath time and stories for all the kids to get through. Not to mention four loads of laundry that needed folding before she could finally sleep.
She’d be lying if she said she didn’t resent Dom a little bit right now. She had given up so much to keep their family functioning. Her hopes, her dreams, her body, her personal space and time. All so Dom could chase this dream of owning a business with his brother. And he couldn’t even get the bills sent out!
Kids distracted by cheeseburgers and cheap plastic, Jo began to set the office to rights. She was here anyway. Might as well be useful, and the space was a mess. Did they see clients with it looking like this?
After tackling the pile of dishes in the sink and sorting the mail, she got the kids cleaned up and back to work on their fort. Enzo was laying a path of tile samples to the door, and Sofia was coloring on copy paper to make art for the walls. Gabe dove inside with Frankie hot on his heels and their giggles and laughter lifted her heart.
“Do you think I drew a good tree, Mommy?” Fi asked on a yawn.
“It’s beautiful, baby. Take some tape and hang it up inside.”
Jo checked her watch again. She had to get these kids home and in bed or tomorrow was going to be a nightmare.
“Ten minutes, crew. I’m going to round up Daddy.”
As she left the sample room, Jo found Tony and Dom back at it, albeit quieter because of the kids.
“We can’t do business like this!” Tony whisper-shouted.
“I don’t know how else to make it all work!” Dom hissed back.
Jo cleared her throat, and the two of them separated like she’d rung a bell to end the round.
“Thanks for cleaning up. I’ve been meaning to get to that for a while now. Do you want a job?” Tony joked, trying to break the tension in the room.
Jo chuckled, playing along, but not really finding it funny. This was NOT her job.
But Dom didn’t laugh. Instead he got that look on his face that said he was thinking.
Shit. What now?
“That’s not a bad idea.”
“You don’t need to hire me to wash coffee cups, Dom.”
“No,” he glanced over at Tony, “but I think it’s clear there’s too much work for just the two of us. We need help running the office. Neither of us are here enough to handle the phones and paperwork reliably.”
Now Tony had that thinking look. Jesus, it was scary to be caught between these brothers when they were tossing ideas back and forth. Jo felt like she was about to get knocked over the head by one.
“It would certainly solve the problem of getting the invoices out so we can get paid.” Tony rubbed a hand over the scruff on his chin, itching as if the idea was scratching him from the inside.
“She’s brilliant at managing.”
Jo let Dom’s words soothe her ego at the slight recognition of all she did for their family, before his next words slapped at her pride.
“And she’s family so we wouldn’t have to worry about trusting her with accounts and collecting money. After things went down with Chad, I’ve been wary of hiring anyone else.”
She watched, mute and fuming, as the brothers spitballed the idea back and forth in front of her as if she wasn’t standing right there, with ideas of her own in her head, none of which led to her becoming their gofer.
Part of her wanted to tell them where they could shove this “idea” and bundle her kids home to bed. Gabe still had spelling homework to do. Her hands were full enough. And despite a sometimes desperate desire to get out of the house, she did not count cleaning up her husband’s messes in a different location as a break.
Frankie toddled out from the fort and raised her arms in a silent demand. Jo tucked her against her chest, and her last baby snuggled her head into the crook of Jo’s neck and popped her thumb into her mouth. Jo inhaled deeply and knew she was stuck. Her anger faded to resignation.
All of their eggs were in this basket. It wasn’t like they could afford daycare for her to go back to work. And her babies needed to eat and have a roof over their heads. Which meant Valenti Brothers could not fail. And without her, these two knuckleheads wouldn’t stand a chance.
Damn it.
She was going to have to step up and do this.
“Dom, we’ve got to get these kids into bed. I’ll come back tomorrow after the school drop and we’ll see if we can figure something out. I want to talk about what you’d need me to do.”
“That’s my girl!” Dom’s voice boomed, and he planted a jubilant kiss on her lips, quite pleased with himself.
She smiled, but her heart tightened inside her chest. She felt her dreams slide even farther out of reach.
For better or worse. She’d said the words in a church in front of God and her family, and she’d meant them. She just hadn’t expected to be so thoroughly tested.
