Run, Girl (If You Can)

Chapter 399: Throwing A Fit

Noah Singleton was throwing a fit and nothing his mother said or did could calm him down.

"I wanna go to school with Violet! Why can't I?"

He had already asked some iteration of this question a hundred times. Jennica sighed. Sometimes she wondered if she needed to separate those two more often for their own good. But Keeley was like her sister so of course she wanted to spend time with her whenever possible.

Her son had gotten used to having Violet and Kaleb over for nine hours a day over the past couple of months when Aaron was working and Keeley was laid up in bed. He had thrown a fit the day after they went back to staying at home all day too, asking why they couldn't just move into their house permanently.

Going to a different school for a couple of years would probably be good for them. Noah was perfectly skilled at getting along well with other children; the problem was that he only ever wanted 'pretty Violet.'

"You're not old enough to go to kindergarten, sweetie. You'll be back at the same school in two years," Jennica replied, trying not to sound as exasperated as she felt.

She and Keeley had already talked about this; they wanted their kids to go to the same school so one of them would be able to pick the other's kids up more easily in case of emergencies. It was why they had chosen the same preschool too.

Because Noah was born at the end of September, he barely missed the cut-off to be one year behind the twins in school. They let him start preschool when he was two because he was turning three in a few weeks but kindergarten didn't work the same way.

Tears spilled out from Noah's eyes. "Why did she have to be Kaleb's sister? Why couldn't she be mine so she could live with us?"

Jennica was floored. What kind of question was that? She decided to tease him a little. "Didn't you say you want to marry her someday? You can't marry your sister."

He pouted. "But I can't marry her until I'm big anyway. You said so. At least if she was my sister I could see her every day."

It was pointless to tell him that he already practically saw her every day. The Hales and Singletons typically got together 3-4 times a week for play dates because of how attached Violet and Noah were to each other.

It really was the strangest thing. Violet, who never wanted anybody but her brother or parents, had been interested in Noah from the moment she first saw him as an infant. She started playing with baby dolls all the time to show her mom how good she was with babies to be allowed to hold him.

Of course, Jennica wasn't about to let an eighteen month old child who still wobbled around hold her newborn but it was still funny to see. And from the moment Noah could crawl, he followed Violet wherever she went.

Because Violet and Kaleb were always together, Noah ended up being pretty close to him too but whenever he talked about going to see the Hales he only mentioned her name. It was obvious who he truly cared about seeing. Being close to Kaleb was a side effect of being close to his twin.

"You can't just make someone your sister. She's Aunty Keeley and Uncle Aaron's baby, just like you're mine," Jennica explained. "Would it make you feel better if I called Aunty Keeley to see if we can play at their house today?"

Noah immediately perked up. "Call her! Call her right now!"

She sighed. She knew that would work. As much as she hated using bribery of any sort to get him to do things, Violet was the only surefire thing that worked. She silently sent an apology to her friend into the void for inconveniencing her when she was still walking around in a boot.

"Hey Keeley, would it be possible for us to come over today for a little while? Noah really wants to see his best friend."

There was an obvious smile in Keeley's voice. "Again? Let me guess. You're having the same school-related problem I am."

Jennica shook her head in amusement. She should have known. Those two were always on the same wavelength.

"You guessed it. I hate to bother you though."

"It's no bother," Keeley insisted. "I would love to see you. I just finished making cupcakes anyway and there aren't enough people here to eat them all."

"Ooh, cupcakes! Just what I needed today. I'll be over in about thirty minutes." She could really use some sugar after dealing with the tantrums.

"See you then!" her friend said cheerfully before hanging up.

Jennica peered down at her son, who was hugging her leg with an expectant look in his eyes. "Go get your shoes on. We're going to see them."

His eyes brightened and he immediately dashed off in search of his shoes. What was she going to do with that kid?

She brought this up to Keeley as they munched on cupcakes. The kids ran off to play in Kaleb's room the second the Singletons arrived.

"Do you think Noah and Violet would benefit from some time apart?"

Keeley shrugged. "They're going to be apart more for a while anyway because they're at different schools. Noah's fine playing with other kids when she's not around, isn't he?"

"Yes…but he's always begging me to see her. Isn't that a little weird for an almost four year old to be so attached to a girl?"

"I've been watching those two for a while. As much as they say they want to get married they don't actually know what it means. They think it's only about living with your favorite person. I don't think he even sees her as a girl yet," she said casually before continuing in a more serious tone.

"That being said, I hope Violet does make some other friends in kindergarten. I think the natural separation of being in different grades at different schools will help them become less dependent on each other."

Jennica had to admit she had a point. Caving into the tantrums like today wasn't the best idea but having Noah make other friends too might prevent him from doing things like this again.

It wasn't like Violet and Kaleb were his only friends either. He took the same preschool-aged soccer class that Kaleb used to and had friends there. He had a couple of little friends in their apartment building and in his class at preschool.

Friends from all of those places would be at his birthday party in a couple of weeks but chances are he would ignore them all in favor of Violet. Ah, that kid!

He was definitely too young to know what love was but if Jennica didn't know any better she would say her son was smitten. She really hoped Keeley was right about the natural separation thing.

The kids had a few different after school activities they were signed up for so during the school year they would likely only be able to get together on the weekends. Jennica might have to endure a few weeks of tantrums but once Noah got used to the new schedule he should be fine. Right?