“I’m finished.” Dom announced a short while later as he closed the book. “I did the math earlier and I can do the reading when I go to bed later.”
I narrowed my eyes. “That’s your thing isn’t it? To read before bed. Or in bed, as the case may be.”
“Reading relaxes me. I don’t always enjoy the prescribed books from school but they’re not all bad. Still, I prefer mysteries and suspense.”
“I love suspense, too.” I gestured to my bedroom. “I have a small bookshelf in my bedroom if you want to take a look through it. You can read anything in there.”
I made a mental note to add a bookshelf to the living area when I got a new place. Bex and I had a meeting with Nick to discuss where our new safe house would be. I wanted to have a look at it before we moved. If the house was perfect, I wanted the kids to feel at home while we looked into keeping all of them permanently. If that was not the case, I would make sure none of them got their hopes up.
I turned to Dom. “You want to clean up here? Dinner will be ready soon and Bex should be here in the next couple of minutes.”
Dom nodded, picking his books up off the kitchen table. “What time do you have to leave?”
“Not for a little while, yet.”
I was pleased we were fitting into each other’s routine. Bex dropped Dom off at school while I was with the younger ones in the morning. If I was on shift at the hospital, then Mrs Salinger would look after them. As soon as Landon got into preschool,that would be a permanent fixture as well. Mrs Salinger looked after all the babies, so Vicky naturally fell into that anyway.
The front door opened drawing our attention. “Hi, honey, I’m home.” Her smile lit up the whole room as she looked at Dom but the sadness buried there concerned me, but we would get through that, too.
Yeah, I knew she wanted our arrangement to be permanent. And I believed down to my soul that we were the best thing for all three children. But we needed to prepare those kids for the possibility the courts may not agree. Hell, first I needed to prepare Bex for that. Not that she would listen to me. On that we were on the same page, we would rather get hurt than have those children feel even a little more insecurity.
Both Dom and I greeted her. One surly and one with over-compensated enthusiasm. She pursed her lips and closed her eyes as she dropped her bag on the small coffee table in the living room. She picked up Vicky from the floor and planted a big kiss on her lips.
She frowned between the two of us. “Is Landon still napping?”
“He fought it for so long.” I smiled as I settled three placemats on the kitchen table. “I figured he could sleep a little.”
“He’s going to be up all night.” Bex took Vicky and went into the room where the kids slept. “Hello, munchkin, did you have a good nap?”
She was there long enough for Dom to change course and continue setting the table. We overheard Bex promising to let him watch a little Paw Patrol after dinner. I could easily picture Landon’s smile. He was still not talking to anyone except Dom, but he was communicating. And that bright smile of his was showing more and more. Both Bex and I were confident the kid would be talking to all of us real soon.
Dom rolled his eyes at me. “She spoils him.”
“I think she just loves seeing him smile.” I lifted a brow at him. “I think she wouldn’t mind seeing yours from time to time as well.”
Bex strolled through to the kitchen holding Vicky in her arm with Landon holding her hand. Everyone was all smiles and my heart did a funny flip thing and I had to resist the urge to rub my chest. Dom was staring at them, too. I wondered if he was thinking the same thing I was. Probably not.
Bex took a deep inhale as I took Vicky from her. She picked up Landon and placed him in the high chair. “What’s for dinner?”
“Chicken stew and rice.” I wasn’t a gourmet chef or anything but I could hold my own. Eating out or even ordering in, was expensive while I lived in New York. It also got tedious after a while. I followed YouTube tutorials and called Mrs. Salinger often, until I knew what I was doing in the kitchen.
Bex could cook, or at least she could ensure that we would not starve. One thing we had learned in the few weeks we lived together was that we could not be in the kitchen at the same time. Since we had very different methods of doing things, we came to the conclusion that whoever cooked would clean as well. I was more of a clean as I go kind of person and Bex found the need to dirty as many surfaces and containers in the process.
Once we were all seated and every one had dished, conversation flowed better than I expected. Dom was considering joining the football team even though the season had already started.
“And the homecoming dance is next week. We’re not going to that.”
Bex and I shared a look before she spoke. “We? Do you have a girlfriend already?”
“Your surprise is noted.” Dom said deadpan. “But no. Since we’re all grounded, we decided to hang out at Holden’s house.”
“I don’t think you understand what being grounded means.” Bex's frown deepened. “No hanging out anywhere.”
“I’m still grounded?” Dom looked between the two of us expectantly. What he was expecting, I wasn’t sure.
It was Bex’s turn to roll her eyes. “Just because you actually like spending time inside, doesn’t mean we’ve become more lenient.”
We kept up the litany of small talk until the little ones were ready for bed.
