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Chapter Sixty-Four

It’s Halloween.There are parties everywhere, but we decided to stay in. Logan and Skye will be stopping by soon to try one of our newly-learned dishes. River and I have become quite proficient at cooking.

Well, we can make about six or seven different meals really well and we rotate them with takeout, pizza, and Chinese. Because on some nights you just need General Tso’s Chicken, and our culinary skills haven’t expanded past Italy yet. Case in point, we’re making pasta primavera tonight.

The doorbell rings again. Kids have been ringing the doorbell for the last hour. It started minutes after school ended for the day.

“I’ll get it,” River calls out to me.

I glance at her, taking in the sway of her hips as she walks to the door, grabbing a bucket of candy on the way. I sneak after her. She’s been running to the door every time the bell rings. She’s having as much fun passing out mini chocolate bars as the kids getting them. I watch as she waves to parents waiting by the curb and talks to the kids and jokes with them, making comments about their costumes in between all the “trick or treats” being thrown at her.

A vision of a future where we’re the parents waiting at the curb and two little kids—our kids—walking up to someone’s door dressed for Halloween swims in my mind. I cuddle the vision, holding it close.

Not yet. But one day, not too far in the future, it will be us. I can see our children. A spitfire little girl, as temperamental as her mother, and a boy with the patience of a saint.

I laugh at the images playing in my head and River hears me. She waves to the departing kids and closes the door.

“What?” she asks me.

I shake my head. I’m not ready to share my vision for our future just yet. “Nothing—just enjoying you enjoying the kids.”

She walks up to me and goes on tiptoes to kiss me. The kiss goes from chaste to scorching at lightning speed. All the bumping and rubbing against each other while preparing dinner in the small kitchen tonight has left us on edge. Not that it takes much.

We’re still kissing by the open apartment door when Logan and Skye come in from the outside, bringing a gust of cold wind with them. River shivers in my arms, but we both know it has nothing to do with the temporary drop in temperature.

“I could have you two arrested for lewd behavior, you know?”

Skye laughs.

We break apart, and River takes the offense.

“You two should talk. I had to sleep with earbuds on more times than I can count, Mr. and Mrs. ohmygodohmygodohmygod.”

Logan laughs and high fives me. Skye being Skye, just blushes.

“Come on, let’s eat!”

“You guys are getting reallygood at this cooking thing,” Logan says as he picks up the empty plates and brings them to the kitchen sink. “I must confess, the first time you invited us over and said you were cooking, I was a little scared.”

Skye sends a warning glare his way.

I look at River. “They had no faith in our culinary skills, babe.”

“I had no faith in our culinary skills either,” she says with a laugh. “Who could ever imagine me being all domestic and playing house?”

“I can,” I say before I can hold my tongue.

River’s focus is on me. Is that . . . hope I see in her eyes?