Chapter 53

“Dad, can Robbie spend the night?”

“It’s okay with me, but you’ll have to ask George and Mike.”

He looked at George and Mike, who were standing side by side, and said, “Can he stay, please?”

“Sure he can,” George said.

“Thanks.” He ran out of the room, presumably to tell Robbie the good news.

“Told you,” Mike said.

“I guess we need to establish some bedtime routines around here,” I said.

“On a non-school night, we usually get Robbie in the bathtub by seven and in bed by eight, but it’s flexible, depending on what’s happening.”

“We picked up a couple of kiddie-type DVDs last night,” I said.

“That’ll keep them occupied between bath time and bedtime,” Mike said.

Over dinner, we asked Jamie a lot of questions about his food likes and dislikes. When bath time arrived, Rion said, “Mike, why don’t you go to Publix with me while these guys monitor the bathroom?”

“Sure,” Mike said.