“Are you Evie’s mother?” asked the cute lady in navy scrubs standing right inside the doorway of the kids’ school as I walked in after a hectic Monday at work.

I nodded, instantly curious and (honestly) slightly worried as to why I was being asked this question.

“This is my son, J,” she said, inclining her head towards the boy on her hip. “He talks about Evie every afternoon on the way home from school. Evie this and Evie that ha, it sounds like they have so much fun all day long!”

“Oh, really? How nice,” I said, nodding as I soaked in what she was saying.

“Wait, you’re Evie’s mom?” asked another woman who was standing off to the side, before I had a chance to say anything more to J’s mom.

So once again, I nodded.

“Oh hey, nice to meet you! My son, G, talks about Evie all the time too! At first I thought maybe he had a little crush on her, but now I’m convinced she is just that kid who is everyone’s best friend. She sounds like such a sweetie!” she said, very excitedly.

“It’s so nice to put a face to Evie’s mom, we need to get them all together to play outside of school sometime soon!” she continued.

Evie rounded the corner right at this moment and reached for me to pick her up.

“Evie, do you play with J and G in your class?” I ask. “Yep, but I go home!” she says, laying her head on my shoulder.

We say goodbye to her friends moms, who had begun talking to each other about how cute Evie is (naturally) and slip out to go grab Lee from his class.

---

Later on that evening while sitting at the dinner table, I ask Evie who her best friends are. She rattles off a few names and then gets distracted and starts telling us about how one of Lee’s friends was in time out that day.

“Was Lee in time out today?” I ask her. She shakes her head “no” as Lee yells it across the table.

Turning to Lee, I ask, “Does Evie ever get sent to time out?”

“No no no, she is always really good at school. She never gets in trouble. Not even at lunch time, she’s just always so good. She’s a good little girl,” he answers, quite enthusiastically.

“Hmmm…,” I say, suspicious of this very detailed response.

“Evie, is Lee really good at school too?” I ask, testing her.

She turns her head, and locks eyes with Lee before turning back to me and saying, “Yep!”

“Are you sure he’s always on his best behavior?” I ask as Lee giggles from across the table. “Yep!” she says again, with a smile so wide, it has taken over her face.

Shaking my head, I look across to D, who says, “Thick as thieves, aren’t they?”

Guys, if we weren’t before, we are definitely in trouble now!

xxx A

****(Please note: Children who do not belong to me have respectfully had their names shortened).***