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Trinity
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Today the kids were at my mom's house. Well, Zachary, Zander, Zayden and Zaley were at her house. Talia was having a lesson with Lucifer while Reagan and Rika were having a tour of the campus. I often couldn't believe how much time had passed since they were all born. I mean, in just five short months the quadruplets would be eleven years old. It was insane and made me so sad.
Still, even with how many years that had passed, I always made sure that I got to have some girl time with my best friend. And now that we both had kids that were the same age we had been when we met, it felt like we had known each other for an entire lifetime.
I mean, literally, this month, August, was when I met Juniper, Paul, and Cedar for the first time when I started to attend the same university that our kids were now going to. We met at the beginning of that first term. We became friends right away. And now we were like sisters that had kids who were friends.
These days that I spent with Juniper were done on a weekly basis. We would go to lunch or to a movie. We might go skating, bowling or anything else that we could just get out of the house and get some time alone together. We called them our Mommy Breaks and they had saved us a lot of our sanity over the years.
.....
Between the two of us, we had eleven kids. It could be overwhelming and stressful at times, even with all the help that we had from our friends and family. We decided years ago that we needed to have a night, or day, out so that we could unwind and recharge. That was how these little adventures of ours came to be.
Today, Juniper and I were having lunch before we headed off to the bowling alley. We liked to bowl, but more so in the summer months. They kept it cool there, so it was a nice activity to do when we didn't want to get over heated.
We had just sat down in the booth at the diner so that we could look at the menu and order the food. Truth be told, we already knew what we wanted and looking at the menus was just a formality. This diner here had been reopened by the grandchildren of Franny. They knew how much this place meant to her and that she would want them to run it again. And honestly, it meant a lot to the community that they had reopened it. They had even kept the original menu while adding their own things to it as well. When Juniper and I found out about the reopening, it had become our typical stop on our Mommy Breaks.
“Hi there Mrs. Gray, you're looking well today. As are you Mrs. Green. We're happy to see you back here for your weekly lunch.”
“Thank you, Ewan. There isn't anywhere else in town that we would rather go than here.” I smiled at the man. He was actually younger than me by quite a few years, but he looked like he was a little bit older than me. That was thanks to my immortality and extremely slow aging.
“You know, you two actually drive business for us. People see such beautiful and prominent ladies such as yourselves eating at a local dive like this and they come flocking here.” Ewan was grinning as he spoke. I couldn't help but relate how this man looked to his famous counterpart. He did look a lot like the actor that had been in so many movies all those years ago. He still acts now, but he isn't as much as he used to be. I mean, the man was almost seventy now. Ewan though, he had that same slim build, the same shape to his face, the same light brown hair and even the same blue eyes. He looked like he could have been the actor's son. Hell, maybe he was for all I knew. I wasn't up to date on all of their family issues.
After talking with Ewan for a few moments, Juniper and I placed our orders and waited for our food to be delivered. Our drinks had already been brought because Ewan had that memorized. If we always ordered the same thing when we came, he would probably just put the order in for us. However, we often switched it up a little bit so he never knew what we were going to eat. Drinks though, those were always the same.
“I can't believe that it's that time already.” Juniper threw her head back and sighed. “They're in college now, Trin. College!” She emphasized the word for dramatic effect.
“I know, Ju, I know. It's hard, but it's life. They get older every day and there is nothing that we can do about it. At least you have three more years before Leaf graduates from high school. And Willow is in the same year as the Quads. So, you have some time to go before then. Talia though, she is going to be graduating early. I know why she's doing it, but it doesn't make it any easier on me and Reece. Next year she will be in the same college as Reagan and Rika.”
“I don't know how you are staying so calm about it. I have been a mess.” Juniper laughed at me like I was some kind of unbreakable force.
“Trust me, Ju, I have been doing my fair share of crying.” I felt that familiar burning in my eyes that told me I wanted to shed tears now. I didn't let it get to me though. I held them back and forced it to go away. “We just need to stay strong and let them all know that we are proud of them.”
“Oh, I know that.” She was laughing still but it felt forced. It was like she was trying to hide the pain she was in.
I was thinking of what to say to her when I caught the words that were being said on a news broadcast. I hadn't even been paying attention to the TV when I came in here. I had largely learned to ignore it while I dined in places like this. Now though, the news alert caught my attention.
“Authorities are on the lookout in Europe and Asia right now. There has been a string of murders that have happened in the last two months that have various communities on edge. Authorities are not sure if the murders are connected or if they have cases of copycats that are popping up all over the place. However, they do say that there are elements at each of the scenes that are unique and that this should be treated as a possible serial murderer or a group of murderers that are wreaking havoc across the lands. Local lawmakers and authorities are putting themselves on notice so that they can stay ahead of this violent criminal, or group of criminals, just in case they decide to cross over to the United States or our neighboring nations. For more information or if you have any tips that could help the authorities to apprehend the perpetrators of these heinous crimes, please call the number listed at the bottom of your screen.”
The newscaster, a woman in her early thirties with a pretty face, sharp brown eyes, and dark brown hair looked as if she were not very happy at the moment. I didn't blame her. No one liked to report on crimes such as these.
“What is wrong with people?” Juniper was shaking her head. “I thought they were bad when we were going to college, but just look at things now. I mean, there are so many more crimes in pretty much every city in the world. If it weren't for the people that we send around to investigate these things, then there would be so much more.”
“I know.” I had already had the thought crossed my mind. This was the first I was hearing about a serial killer that was making these kinds of waves, but now that I knew I would be doing my best to put a stop to them. I had to protect the people of the world. Not just the people of my kingdom, but all the people. Humans needed our protection more than anyone else. Most of them were just so defenseless.
Ewan brought us our food not long after the report finished. Juniper and I ate while we talked about various topics, but I could tell that we were both still thinking about that newscast. We were both worried and wanted to do something about it. For someone like Juniper, who worked so hard to help people heal from trauma, these things were very hard to handle. She didn't like to see the pain and suffering in the world. She wanted to help everyone, even if it meant overworking herself.
“Come on, Juniper.” I said as I paid for the meal. “Let's go have some fun. We need to forget about this for a little while longer.”
I tried, and so did she, but it was just not something that I could get out of my head so easily. We were both still thinking about it until we headed home for the day. It was just too hard to forget something like that so easily.
