Page 33 of Until Nalia

“I…” She starts to open her mouth but the sound of the kids running up behind us has her mouth snapping shut.

“We got the tortillas, and we also found Dorito shells.” Coop holds up the box. “Can we get them?”

“Sure,” I say, and he tosses the box in the cart, then proceeds to hop onto the front of it while Zuri scoots back under Nalia’s arm so that she can ride in front of her.

We finish picking up the rest of the stuff that we need for dinner, and I grab a couple other things I needed for the house and head to the checkout line where both kids start to unload the cart.

As I’m using my card to pay, Coop shouts, “Mom!” and I look up to find Kristy walking into the store. When she sees Coop, who has run over to greet her, she smiles brightly, then looks my way as his arms wrap around her. Her smile slips ever so slightly as her eyes ping from me to Nalia and Zuri, and I see something filter through her gaze that looks a little like hurt before she turns her attention back to Coop and presses a kiss to the top of his head.

I finish paying, take my receipt from the girl who had checked us out and walk behind Nalia and Zuri towards the sliding doors where Kristy and Coop are waiting for us off to the side and out of the way of traffic.

“Hey,” Kristy greets Nalia before her gaze moves to Zuri and the stitches above her brow. “How are you feeling?”

“Okay,” Zuri tells her softly, moving closer to Nalia’s side.

“Good.” She focuses on Coop, who is still hugging her. “How was school?”

“Alright.” He shrugs. “Boring.”

“Really, and let me guess, you didn’t learn anything either.” She laughs when he shrugs with a grin. “Whatever, dude.” She kisses the side of his head, then looks at me. “Are you guys headed home?”

“Yeah, just had to stop in and get a few things and the stuff for tacos.”

“Awesome.” She focuses back on Coop. “Call me tonight before you go to bed.”

“Okay.” He tells her, and then she looks between all of us.

“Have a good night.”

“You too,” I mutter, hearing Nalia say the same before Kristy tells Coop she loves him and walks off with her cart.

A few minutes later, when we pull up out front of the house, the kids get out and start to run inside, but I quickly call the two of them back to get their backpacks.

“Can we play upstairs?” Coop asks, taking his bag along with a bag of groceries, I pass him from the trunk.

“How about you guys do homework first?” Nalia suggests before I can say the same thing.

“Ugh.” Coop groans.

“We don’t have that much homework,” Zuri tells him, taking one of the shopping bags without me handing it over to her.

“Yeah, but we have to read for fifteen minutes.”

“Fifteen minutes isn’t even that long.” Zuri takes her bag from me and rolls her eyes, making me laugh. It’s something Billie has done often when her brother is being annoying.

With no comeback, he leads the way into the house, and the moment he opens the door, Dozer greets him and Zuri, then zeroes in on Nalia with his entire body shaking in happiness. With her hands free of bags since the kids and I got them all, she squats down to give him some attention, and he takes full advantage and lies down rolling to his side so that she can rub his stomach.

Stepping around them, I close the door and head towards the kitchen, where the kids have dropped the shopping bags on the island and are unpacking their backpacks at the table just off the kitchen.

A moment later, Nalia comes into the kitchen with Dozer right at her side and looks around.

I try to see what she does and wonder if she likes the white cabinets, quartz counters, and the brushed gold fixtures that Billie choose with my mom, since the two of them have a better eye for design than I do.

“You have a beautiful home,” she tells me, stopping at the edge of the island.

“I’ll tell Billie and Mom you said so,” I smile at her. “When I bought it a few years ago Billie came up with the color concept of the kitchen and her and Ma picked everything out.”

“They did a great job.” She shifts on her feet. “Is Billie at school still?”