Derek shook his head, his hands holding tight onto the steering wheel as he looked ahead. "Sweetheart relax. We're not even late yet."
"Derek, we're supposed to pick them up in five minutes. We've been ten minutes away for a half an hour now."
"Babe, please just calm down. Ok? The kids will understand."
Jennifer's blue eyes rolled before they hit the older man. "Do you not remember the oldest? She practically bit our heads off when I told her she was beautiful."
Derek let out a laugh. "She sure is a pretty girl. And her brother? Very well mannered."
"Oh he's just the sweetest little thing." Jennifer let out a huff as they inched a little further on the road. "I just hope we'll get there soon. Emily will never forgive us."
...
The brunette teen sighed, breathing out the last puff of her cigarette before throwing the bud into the sewer grate just beside her. They were late. Of course they were late. Why should she had thought any different? One random couple wants to come and take her and her little brother in as their own with the promises of being happy, and she should just believe it without a second thought?
Chicken shit.
"Emily, that's smelly."
Emily looked down to the seven year old at her side and gently squeezed his hand. "Sorry bud."
Aaron looked up to his big sister and gave a small smile. "When do you think they're gonna come?"
The brunette just shrugged her shoulders, her right foot stepping onto the bag by her side. "Soon hopefully. I'm sure you'er excited about meeting their little girl, huh? What was her name?"
Aaron jumped excitedly at her side. "Nova! She's three."
Emily rolled her eyes, letting the younger boy squeeze her hand just a bit tighter as a black SUV came around the corner. "Nova. Right." She squinted her heavily made up eyes as the SUV parked right in front of them, watching as the couple she had met just a few weeks ago pop out of the driver and passenger doors. "What took you so long? Need to get some gas? Change a tire?" She covered her brother's ears with her hands, her eyes narrowing. "Suck someone off in the backseat?"
Jennifer did her best to smile at the brunette pair, holding out her hand for the teenager to shake. "Great to see you again too, Emily."
Emily held back another sigh as she shook the blonde's hand. "Yeah." She smiled gently over to the dark man that picked her brother up off of the ground. "Hi Mr. Morgan."
Derek quickly shook his head, smiling to the brunette girl that stood in front of his wife. "It's Derek, Emily. You know that."
The fifteen year old giggled, taking her hand away from the blond mother to push her curly black hair behind her ear. "Sorry, I keep forgetting."
"That's alright."
Jennifer frowned at the stench that floated in the air, stepping closer to the fifteen year old as her husband put the kids' bags into the car. "What's that smell?"
Emily rolled her eyes before breathing on the older woman's face. "It's smoke. That a problem?"
The blond hardened her eyes on the young girl before her, her voice staying low and calm as frustration seeped through her. "You will not be smoking in our household, do you understand? Your brother and our little girl do not need that influence around them."
The teen rolled her eyes before walking around the blond, tugging open the passenger door. "Completely, Mrs. Morgan."