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“Let’s gooo. Alright, I’ll pick you up around eight?”
Knowing that getting River to leave a bar a second before he’s readyor before he’s decided who he’s going home with lateris nearly impossible. I shake my head. “Nice try. I’ll meet you there.”
“Well, I wanted to see the kids too, but you know what, that’s even better, you can drive.”
“I’m not staying all night with you.”
“That’s fine. I can Uber later.”
“Fine.” I rub my temples, trying to stave off the headache I feel forming behind my eyes. “See you at eight.”
When I get home that night, Elianna is in the kitchen while Isla is sitting at the table coloring and I’m starting to notice that wherever Elianna is, Isla is never more than a few steps away. “Daddy!” Isla gets off the chair and I lean down to give her a hug.
“Hi, sweetheart. How was your day?” I set my briefcase and laptop bag on one of the chairs.
“Great! Art day is next week.” She holds up a picture she’s drawing. “See! That’s our house. There’s you, and me, and Margot, and SJ, and Ellie!” She points at each of the stick people and Elianna looks over at us with a smile.
“I’m in your picture?”
“You live here!”
She smiles before going back to seasoning the chicken breasts in front of her.
“What’s that?” I ask, pointing to a small brown thing with ears in the corner of the paper, but I already know what it is.
“A doggie!” she says giving me her best puppy dog eyes. Isla has been begging me for a dog since the day they moved in to live here full time but I’ve been hesitant because I didn’t think she was old enough. Now, she’s enlisted SJ and Margot in her campaign and I know it’s only a matter of time before she convinces Elianna too.
“That’s a beautiful picture, honey.” I press a kiss to her forehead before I stand up and make my way to Elianna.
“Hi.”
“Hi,” she responds and while things don’t feel awkward, I can still feel the tension between us.
God, I fucking wanted her and I’m pretty sure she still wants me too.
She looks so pretty tonight. Her hair is pulled up on top of her head, except for a few curly tendrils framing her face. Her lips are pink and glossy and I want to taste them to see if the gloss is flavored. I realize I’m blatantly staring at her and haven’t said anything. “Ummm, I’m going to get a drink with River in a bit. I probably won’t leave until after Isla is asleep…”
“Oh!” She claps. “That’s good. I was wondering if you were ever going to capitalize on having me here and actually go out sometime.” She laughs. “Do you have time to eat before? Dinner should be ready by seven.”
Obviously.One of my favorite things about coming home is figuring out what Elianna has made for dinner that night. “Yeah, I’ll eat. It smells great.”
“SJ is outside practicing for his game Saturday and Margot is sitting out there with him.”
I nod and make my way through the house toward the back where I see SJ practicing his shots on the small soccer goal River got him. Margot is sitting at the table on the patio doing her homework, heckling him between missed shots.
“Booo!” Margot yells when he misses and he shoots her his middle finger.
“Uh uh, SAWYER JACK!” I yell at him and when his scared eyes snap to mine he pales slightly.
“When did you get home?” he asks nervously as he runs after the missed ball.
“I don’t want to see that. You know better,” I tell him. Margot snickers from behind me and I turn and glare at her. “From you either.”
She scoffs. “Excuse me! Did you see me do it?”
“I’m just warning you.” I loosen my tie and look at all of the books littering the space in front of her. “Test tomorrow?”
“Next week,” she tells me as she continues to take notes on her flashcards.