Dean's Life

Didn't ask

Dean's pov

Once the food was on the table and the drinks were poured, we all sat down to eat. We ate in silence for several minutes until Amy spoke.

"After dinner, we are having a family meeting in the living room to discuss what happened this afternoon." Amy looked each of the kids in the eye to see if she'd be getting any pushback regarding her agenda.

"You don't mean me, do ya? Cuz I got stuff to do tonight," Alex retorted.

"Like what?" I asked, eyeing him closely.

"Stuff," he replied in an annoyed tone, like I have no right to question him.

Sensing my budding anger, Amy addressed him before things escalated between her eldest son and I.

"Alex, I said it's a family meeting so you will be in attendance. End of discussion. Now eat your dinner. That goes for you too, mister," she said, pointing her fork at Drew, who'd been mindlessly pushing his peas back and forth across his plate for the past five minutes.

"This is stupid," Alex grumbled under his breath.

"But I'm not hungry, mommy," Drew whined. Pushing his plate away, he slumped back in his seat and crossed his arms in defiance at his mother's decree.

"I didn't ask if you were hungry, I said eat your dinner." Amy moved Drew's plate back in front of him. "Now eat!" she ordered, losing her patience quite rapidly.

"NO!" Drew shouted, shoving the plate away.

Having witnessed enough of her kids' disrespect and their combative attitudes towards their mother, I could no longer hold my tongue.

"Do we need to go upstairs and have a private chat in my room, little man?" I questioned Drew sternly.

"Wh_what does that mean?" Drew pouted, sadly.

"It means you're gonna get spanked," my daughter offered up, oh so helpfully.

"NO! I DON'T WANT SPANKED!" Drew yelled out as he thrashed in his booster seat.

"Then do as your mother says and that won't be necessary," I answered Drew matter of factly, before I turned my attention towards my daughter. "Katie, this doesn't concern you, so stay out of it," I reprimanded.

"Mommy," Drew whined, as he looked to Amy to save him.

"Dean, I can handle this, thank you." Amy gave me a look indicating I was currently number one on her shit list so I kept my mouth shut. "Drew, just eat your dinner and stop with this nonsense please," Amy offered, more as a suggestion than an order. Thankfully, Drew listened anyway and did as his mother asked.

Ten minutes later, everyone was finished eating so I sent the kids into the living room and Amy began clearing the table.

Standing up to halt her, I gently gripped her arm and said, "That can wait. Just leave it, baby, so we can have our talk with the kids now. Ok?"

Amy looked like she was about to argue but she silently nodded in agreement instead as she set the bowl down. My lady sighed, clearly not looking forward to having this conversation with our unruly brood.

"Alright," she replied, resigning herself to complete this unpleasant task.

We walked into the living room together and stood before the kids. Amy started things off.

"It's time to talk about what happened this afternoon." Amy took a deep breath. "Alex, you're the oldest so let's start with you. Explain yourself please."