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“Do you think I’d lie about that?” I shake my head slowly. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure.”
“Why did you ask me in the first place? Your question about why I worry about you?”
I look to my open door where I know Isla is sitting on my bed waiting to watch a movie with me. This isn’t the time or place for this conversation but the last thing I want is for Rowan to feel unsettled when he’d been honest with me. “Because I wanted to know if you were into me…too.”
Ibarely slept last night thinking about the conversation I had with Elianna. I don’t know what possessed me to tell her that I was into her. I was completely sober, unlike her, and yet I was the one having the drunken confessional. I suspected she felt similarly and I’m glad I was right and didn’t completely fuck everything up.
I hear Isla and Elianna giggling in her room just as SJ comes up from the basement.
“Is Ellie back yet? I’m starving. What are we having for dinner?”
“She is, but she’s resting so I’m thinking about ordering in. It’s still her day off. And how are you starving? We just got back from lunch an hour ago.” It was supposed to be breakfast but naturally, getting three kids out of the house at one specific time is always a challenge.
“Works for me. What are we getting?” He pulls his hood up over his head and moves toward the refrigerator. I’m surprised when he pulls out the bowl of mixed fruit Elianna put together instead of going to the pantry for chips like he usually does and it’s just a reminder of all of the little things Elianna has changed since working here.
“Chinese food?” I ask him and his eyes light up.
“Sweet. You know what I like.”
A squeal comes from Elianna’s room and SJ looks at me before biting into a strawberry. “I thought you said she was resting?”
“Isla is in there with her watching a movie.”
He glances again toward the sound before he walks to Elianna’s room with the bowl of fruit tucked under his arm. Twenty minutes later, when he doesn’t return, I peek my head in her room and see Isla curled up next to Ellie on her bed and SJ lying on the couch in the corner, equally engrossed in the movie.
“You’re watching a Disney movie?” I tease my son. “I thought you said they were for babies.”
“Lion King doesn’t count,” he says through a mouthful of fruit.
Elianna looks over at him and gapes at him in shock. “You watched Beauty and the Beast with us last weekend.”
“That is a secret!” SJ groans.
“I can’t hear!” Isla looks at SJ before turning back to the TV mounted on the wall. Elianna and I share a smile before I leave them to finish their movie.
One movie turned into three and then there was dinner and bath time and Isla wanted to read a book, so it’s almost nine before I have a moment alone with Elianna again. SJ and Margot are both in their rooms, though I assume neither of them is asleep so I know we have to keep our voices down. I’m standing next to Elianna while she washes the dishes from dinner, trying my best to help her but she keeps waving me off.
“You know we have a dishwasher, right?” I tell her.
“It’s called a pre-wash! God, my mother would be turning over in her grave, if I just put dishes directly in there.” She scrunches her nose before handing me what looks like a squeaky clean plate.
I shake my head as I put the plate in the dishwasher. “Did you have fun last night?”
“I did.”
“I’m kind of surprised you’re a little party animal under there,” I joke. “For some reason, I saw you only nursing one drink the whole night.”
“It’s called being professional while at work! But yes, the Ellie that isn’t working has a bit of a different vibe.”
“Is that so?”
She nods as she rinses another plate. “Yep. I can let loose!”
“Glad to hear it.”
I inch closer to her, letting my shoulder brush against hers and I watch as the gentle touch affects her. She glances up at me before turning back to the dishes. “Mr. Kincaid.”