“Yeah, they like the same video game, I guess,” Finn said, his disappointed eyes meeting mine.
My gut sank. I was glad that Jesse and Dylan were getting along, but I knew how it felt to be left behind. The other two kids were teenagers, and while Finn was pretty cool most of the time, he wasn’t there yet.
“You know,” Curtis said, meeting my eyes in silent communication that I couldn’t decipher. “If it’s cool with your mom, I think Mia’s home today. You wanna see if you can go hang with her while we look for furniture?”
I nodded. Kara and Draco’s oldest was the same age as Finn and lived just down the street. They’d played really well together at the barbecue, and it was kind of perfect because I already knew her parents.
“Yeah.” Finn perked up and looked at me. “Is that okay?”
“They might be busy.”
“I’ll go get dressed!” Finn announced as he shot up from his chair.
Curtis pulled his phone out of his pocket. “They better not be busy,” he said, raising the phone to his ear as his sympathetic eyes met mine. “That was fuckin’ brutal.”
My heart thumped in my chest as he walked toward me, kissing me on the temple as he passed me.
“Hey, bro, is it cool if Finn comes to play with the girls for a few hours?” He walked out of the kitchen. “Yeah, seems Jesse and Dylan are buds now, and Finn’s feelin’ left out.”
His voice drifted away while I stood frozen in the kitchen.
We’d spent the five days getting to know each other, building a routine, and generally trying to find a new normal that worked for everyone. The situation was far from typical, and while the kids seemed to have gotten as comfortable as they were able without any furniture, Curtis and I had gone to great lengths to make sure that nothing rocked the boat. I’d invited Dylan alongwith the kids and me when we were running errands, or offered him lunch when I made it, making a point to let him know he was included. Curtis had been the same. He talked to Jesse about music and to Finn about literally anything. He cracked jokes and teased them, like I noticed he did to his nieces and the other kids at the barbecue.
If I thought back, maybe I could think of a time when he’d shortened Jesse’s name like only our family did or gone out of his way to brighten Finn’s day.
The fact was, I hadn’t really seen those things if he’d done them. There was a level of familiarity that I hadn’t noticed before in the way he’d used Jesse’s nickname, and his eyes had met mine in commiseration when Finn was bummed out.
I’d been so sure that sex wouldn’t change anything, and on the outside it hadn’t.
But I’d overlooked the inevitable sense of intimacy that was impossible to ignore—the kind that assigned importance to simple everyday occurrences.
The kind of intimacy that turned a roommate into a partner.
I followed Curtis upstairs, wondering what kind of Pandora’s box we’d opened and if it was even possible to close it again.
Chapter 11
Curtis
“Hey, baby,” Igreeted, holding Teddy’s door open as she hopped out of her truck. “How’d Finn sleep in his new bed last night?”
“He said he had dreams about falling off a building,” she replied dryly, stopping to look up at me. “But I had to wake him up this morning before I left, so I think it’s fine.”
I chuckled as I leaned down and brushed my lips over hers.
We’d hit the jackpot yesterday when we found a fancy-ass neighborhood that was having a massive community garage sale and pretty much furnished the entire house. We hadn’t been able to fit it in Teddy’s truck, and we’d had to take a load back home, unload it, and then bring both Teddy’s and Dylan’s trucks back for the rest.
“Did you find out what this is about?” Teddy asked as we walked toward the clubhouse. “Grease was at the house last week. It seems like he could’ve told me whatever he needed to then.”
“No, I haven’t heard anything,” I replied. “You turn your phone on this morning?”
“Not yet,” she confessed with a wince. “I figured I’d get this over with first.”
“Not smart,” I murmured as I opened the door for her. “You can’t prepare for the shit you don’t see comin’.”
“I’ll turn it on as soon as we’re done,” she assured me. “Before I drive home.”
“You’ll fill me in on anythin’ I need to know?”
