Page 40 of Not the Punk

Don shook his head, and Kay said, “Nope.”

“But color it for Colten. Is perfect.” Don handed me a red crayon, and I got to work with a shrug. He wasn’t wrong. I felt so much better sitting here, drinking coffee and coloring with friends, and I had no idea until that moment how much I needed that.

We colored quietly, only the scratches of the Crayons making any noise along with the whir of tires on the road, until Kay finally broke it. “So.”

“So what?” I knew what was coming and felt like giving them a hard time over it for fun.

“Do you have anything to tell us?” Don asked. I swear those two were getting more like Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum every day.

“I don’t think so.”

“Really? You don’t want to talk about your Daddy?” Kay asked.

“Or your stuffie?” Don tilted his head back and forth, sing-songing his words.

“It’s none of your business,” I sang back at him.

Don huffed, “I told you so.”

“Whatever.” I treated them to a roll of my eyes, but then I couldn’t hold it in anymore and burst out laughing and of course the goofballs joined me. When we settled down again, I sighed. “Thanks, guys. I needed this.”

“Any time, Joe.” Kay slid me a blue Crayon.

Don put his hand on my shoulder. “You’re family.” That word was beginning to take on a whole new meaning for me. Family. My band and more specifically Kay, Don, and Saxon. Hey.

“Where’s Saxon?”

They started giggling until Kay answered, “Bed. Sleeping.”

Don put his index finger over his lips. “Shh…we wore him out.” They giggled again, and I did not have a hard time believing them. Two energetic Littles tag-teaming their Daddy? Yep.

I shook my head and closed my eyes. “I don’t need to know that. TMI. Ugh.” I got up for a coffee refill. “Anyone?”

“Please?” Kay held his sippy cup out. I had to figure out how to get the damn lid open, but after a minute, I managed and we both had a fresh cup.

“Colten said he’s coming to the next show, right?” Don asked as I settled back down to my coloring.

“I guess, but I don’t even know where that is.”

“Don’t worry. He has our schedule, so he knows where to go. And my text number. I already have passes for him too. It’ll be good.” Don really was on top of things.

“So where is our next show?”

“Atlanta.” Kay answered. “But I’m pretty sure Daddy said he couldn’t make that, he was joining us in Jacksonville.”

“As in Florida?”

They looked like bobbleheads, nodding so fiercely without taking their eyes off their work.

“That means the tour’s almost over, right?” I wrote Colten’s name at the top of my page.

“Yep. Two more shows.” Kay tapped my page. “You forgot to write Daddy.”

I glared at him, but he was right. Colten would love this picture more if it had Daddy written on it. I finished it off and hoped we could get through the next two shows without any Trent-cidents, which was what I was now calling any incident having to do with that asshole, Trent.

That’s when it hit me. “We get to go home.” Back to my house, and I wanted Colten to move in with me. “Guys…need your help.”

“With what?” Don asked.