Page 33 of Faded Rhythm

Sable

The smell hits my nose before I even open my eyes.

When I do, I see Julian standing next to the bed holding a Starbucks tray. There’s a cup with my name on it, along with three bags. He smirks down at me, pleased with himself.

“Venti matcha latte with oat milk,” he announces proudly.

My favorite.

I sit up and give him a big smile as I snatch it out of the tray.

“I was just about to ask how you knew, but then I remembered that you stalked me last week.”

He chuckles. “Yeah. Sorry about that.”

He hands me a bag, and I already know it’s the bacon, egg, and gouda sandwich. Another favorite.

“Those are for the girls,” he says, setting the tray on the nightstand. “I’ll be outside for a while working in the yard. Don’t come out. Okay?”

“Umm…okay…”

“It’s nothing bad,” he rushes out. “Don’t worry. It’s just a surprise.”

I smile at that as I take a bite of my sandwich.

“All the guns are locked away, so feel free to roam around the house.”

“Thank you,” I say. “For everything.”

He just winks and walks out. A man of mystery.

A man I’m starting to be able to see myself with.

I get the girls dressed and downstairs to eat, then I hand them their tablets and help them pull up their assignments.

For a while, it’s just like a normal day.

A strange house, but they’re with their mommy doing their homework at the dining room table.

It’s strange how easy it is to forget that we’re hiding.

The sliding glass door opens, and Julian pokes his head in.

“Come outside real quick.”

Despite having no idea what’s going on, the girls squeal and bolt from their seats like they’ve just been let out of a cage.

“Shoes!” I shout after them, laughing.

Then I follow them out.

And stop in my tracks.

There’s a gigantic princess castle bouncy house on one side of the lawn.

Next to it, there’s a large inflatable water slide, already glistening with beads of sunlit water.

A small sandbox shaded by a rainbow umbrella sits next to the slide with buckets and shovels planted in the sand.

There’s even a table with build-your-own snow cones and colorful syrups lined up in a row.

“What did you do? Did you do all this? By yourself?” I ask, but nobody’s listening to my inane questions.

The girls are busy screaming and sprinting full-speed across the yard, leaping straight into the bouncy castle with wild, joyful abandon.

And Julian…he’s busy watching. And looking proud of himself.

I give him a chaste Christian side-hug. “Thank you,” I murmur, staring into his eyes. “You’re so sweet to do this for them.”

He shrugs. “I felt bad that we had to run out of there yesterday. Before they got their snow cones,” he adds. “Wasn’t easy putting all this shit together by myself though, I’m not gon’ lie.”

I laugh and press a kiss to his sweaty cheek. “I’ll have to think of a way to thank you properly.”

His eyes meet mine. “Yes, you will.”

I move away from him. I have to. Then I call out to the girls to come out of the bouncy house.

The whines are on the tip of their tongues as they approach, but I cut them off.

“Since King put all of this together for you, don’t you think he should enjoy it, too?”

They cheese up at him, grabbing his hands immediately.

“Wait—“

“Let’s go!” I yell, moving behind him. “Everybody into the bouncy house!”

“Yaaaaaaaaaaaay!”

“Hold up. Chill,” he protests, but it’s too late. The girls are pulling, and I’m behind him with my hands on his back, pushing him. His shirt is drenched with the sweat he worked up doing something nice for my babies. That has a lot of weight behind it.

Finally, he gives up the fight.

“Five minutes,” he says as he steps out of his slides.

“Yall got me out here looking crazy,” he mumbles as he steps on.

Then he stands there with his arms folded while the girls jump back up.

I bring up the rear and the girls start jumping, which makes him bounce slightly.

He makes a bored face at me until the girls grab his arms.

They’re holding his hands now, then they form a circle.

“Jump!” Rae squeals, and they’re off, bouncing together in a silly, joyous rhythm. Julian looks awkward at first, then a grin breaks out. A grin that makes him look like a completely different man. A boy, even, free and full of light.

He lets out a giggle that stuns me and they bounce around in a circle. I sit in the corner, knees pulled up to my chest, and watch as his armor cracks and joy creeps in, discreetly wiping a tear from my cheek, wishing it could be like this forever.

It takes forever to get the colorful syrup stains off the girls’ faces, but I manage to do that and get them down for a nap. After all the sugar they had, I doubt they’ll sleep, but I need a minute to breathe.

Julian’s in the foyer standing next to a stack of boxes.

“I meant to have this all unpacked before y’all came back in,” he said, grabbing a box cutter off the table. “I didn’t plan on getting held hostage in a bouncy house.”

I laugh. “Yes, you looked miserable. But I don’t care if you have boxes. We’re guests in your home, Julian. Please don’t feel like you have to make things perfect for us.”

“Nah, I know that,” he says as he cuts into the first box. “This stuff is for you.”

“Me?”

Now, I’m intrigued.

He pulls out a slim white box and hands it to me. “That’s your new phone. No tracking.”

“Thank you.” I clutch it against my chest. “And the rest of this?”

“Hang on.” He opens box after box, pulling out their contents and stacking them up on the hall table. Books. Lots of books.

“Wait a minute.” I step forward squinting at the spines. “These are…” I trail off as I recognize the titles.

“Yeah, I knew you liked to read,” he says as he heaves another stack onto the table. “You have an account on this website called Goodreads…and I don’t know why I’m telling you that like you don’t know. Anyway, I just got some of the books off your to-be-read list.”

He says this casually like he’s discussing the weather. “Well, that’s closer to all than some. I don’t know. Anyway, happy reading, Sable.”

I thrown my arms around him. The box cutter clatters to the floor.

“Whoa! Be careful,” he laughs, wrapping his arms around my waist. “Damn, you really like books, huh?”

I kiss his cheek. “I really like that you thought of me,” I say, staring into his eyes. “Seriously. This means so much.”

He nods. “I really like seeing you happy. It makes me happy.”

I press my lips to his, soft and lingering.

And then I hear a gasp.

“What are you doing?”

Julian is off me before I even get my eyes open. Kelice and Rae are standing there with their mouths open, and I feel like my parents just caught me making out in the basement after school.

“Um…” I clear my throat. “King isn’t really our cousin,” I say slowly. “He’s just a really good friend who’s helping me right now.”

Both girls stare at us, blinking.

“And his name is Julian.”

Rae looks at Kelice, then back at me. “We wanted fruit snacks. Can we have some fruit snacks?”

Julian snickers behind me.

“That’s fine,” I say. “Eat them in the kitchen.”

As they disappear, Julian walks up behind me and whispers, “You only solved one problem.”

I whirl around, narrowing my eyes. “What do you mean?”

“Okay, you weren’t slobbing on your cousin, but it still looks like you’re cheating on their father.”

I slap a hand against my forehead. “I swear to God, in my head, he doesn’t even exist anymore.”

Julian raises an eyebrow. “Yeah, I was gonna talk to you about that tonight.”

And there it is. Back to reality.

We can’t get to forever until we kill my husband.