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“You do have a point, Bray,” Adele observes, zipping up her diaper bag and getting her baby carrier ready to go on.
“Not everyone who lives in the same apartment gets married,” I say.
“That’s true,” Braeden says, like he’s got wisdom beyond his years. “I need to go to the baff-room before we go, Mom.”
“Okay, baby boy. Go to the big bathroom and make sure I didn’t forget any of my stuff in there, like your toothbrush, okay?”
“Okay.”
***
“Can I call you Auntie Jada even if you don’t marry my unco?”
“That’s up to your mom,” I say.
“Of course it’s fine with her,” he waves his little hand and squeezes me one more time.
“Your kids are the cutest, Adele,” I tell her.
She smiles. “You have my number. Let me know if I have to come back here and kick Auz’s ass.”
I laugh and then tickle Lilly’s cheek before I pass Adele the cart holding her luggage and stroller.
I wave goodbye one more time before they disappear out of sight to board their flight and then grab a taxi back to the condo and arrive mid-afternoon. I took steaks out of the freezer before we left. I check on their thawing progress and then prep potatoes and brussels sprouts to go into the oven, too. I run the vacuum, empty the dishwasher, change the beds, and tidy Austin’s as well as the main bathroom before I set my laptop up on the island and put some music on.
Time to write.
I can’t make myself start something new and I am far too addicted to that Austin smut I’m writing, so I decide to bid on some freelance gigs. Maybe if I do something else, it will spark some new ideas.
I also decide to keep my distance from Austin. I plan to do everything I can to avoid him as much as possible this week. And, going forward.
I make sure I’m in my room at five o’clock. I’ve got his dinner on the top shelf in the fridge, his lunch bag packed for the morning.
***
It’s Monday evening and I’ve held off with my need to pee for almost half an hour until I surmise he’s most likely in the master bedroom because there’s no noise, not even the TV.
I held it, wishing this room still had that ensuite Aiden took out to make the master bathroom bigger. Unable to wait any longer, I dash quick in and out of the bathroom and go to bed early.
Phew. I managed to avoid him all day.
***
Tuesday, I work some more on the Austin smut story (because I can’t help myself) and then I go out for a long walk in the park to clear my head in the afternoon. It works wonders for my creativity and I go back to the apartment and while putting together a lasagna and Caesar salad for dinner, I decide I’ll also pop a piece of lasagna into his lunch for the next day. I’ve thought smart and bought a second lunch bag so that I don’t have to wait for his bag in the evenings to pack his lunch. My two lunch bag system will mean that as long as one of them is on the hook by the door, I’ll be good to prep lunch when I prep dinner and continue my avoid-Austin efforts.
While walking today, I saw a young couple arguing in the park. She looked furious and he looked sorry. There was some sort of grovel happening there and I had to keep moving so I didn’t get to see how it turned out, but her eyes were softening so I’m thinking good things.
I came up with an idea for a romance story based on a misunderstanding. The couple in the park were both good-looking and so I finally start working on a story about characters I could envision, looking nothing like Austin, nothing like me.
***
Wednesday, I have a similar schedule as Tuesday. I clean in the morning, go out in the afternoon for a walk and to hit the butcher shop to pick up some chicken for tonight, and then my last stop is the deli for some sandwich fixings. I make a roasted stuffed chicken and some roasted potatoes with glazed carrots for dinner and then put some aside for chicken salad on croissants for myself and him for lunch the next day. He hasn’t gotten in by the time I’m in bed, so I gather he’s worked late, or he’s gone out.
In the morning, like usual, I see that his lunch is gone and the plate and cutlery from the night before as well as the coffee mug from the morning are in the dishwasher.
A great thing about working for Austin Carmichael is that he’s tidy. Aiden wasn’t. Not remotely. Working for Aiden was like cleaning up after a pack of zoo monkeys who’d been given props. The only thing that saved me was that the apartment isn’t huge and he never cooked.
