Conrad sighed, having already accepted chaos as a permanent feature of his household. “Thank you for taking them.”
“Oh, no need for that. I enjoyed it.”
“You didn’t have to stay out all evening.” He glanced at his watch. “Your shift is long over.”
I looked at the counter. There were no groceries out of the fridge, no pans heating, and no actual dinner plan visible anywhere.
“What were you planning to cook?” I asked.
He hesitated. “I planned to order out.”
I studied him, taking in the lines at the corners of his eyes that seemed just a little deeper than normal. “You’ve had a difficult day at work.”
“You don’t need to take care of dinner, Winnie. That’s not in your job description.”
“Neither was surviving the PTA.” I set my bag down decisively. “You sit. I cook.”
The relief on his face made my stomach turn inside out, which was utterly foolish. Relief didn’t mean anything more, and I shouldn’t want it to.
Conrad leaned back against the counter slightly. “Winnie?—”
“Sit,” I repeated, pointing toward the kitchen table.
To my immense satisfaction, he obeyed.
Billie squealed. “You have magical queen powers over Daddy now.”
“I do not.”
“You kind of do,” CJ said.
Bianca was already unpacking her puzzle kit at the table. “Dad only listens to approximately four people.”
“Who are the other three?” Conrad asked.
“Your boss. Dead Mom. The pediatrician. And now Winnie.”
The kitchen went still for half a heartbeat. Conrad looked down briefly, then back at Bianca with gentleness that carried no defensiveness at all anymore.
“That’s mostly accurate,” he admitted.
Something warm moved through me then, something frightening in its softness. I turned to the stove before anyone could notice.
“Billie,” I said briskly, “wash your hands if you intend to assist.”
“I intend!”
“With soap.”
While the children settled into their familiar rhythm, I began cooking.
The house came to life with CJ explaining pirate dentistry, Bianca bemoaning all the scientific inaccuracies at the museum, and Billie making Senator Crunch participate in imaginary senate hearings as she helped me season chicken and toss ingredients into pans. Conrad laughed quietly at something one of them said, despite how tired he was.
For a fleeting, precarious moment, with garlic warming in butter and children arguing over whether rubber cockroaches could hold public office, it became far too easy to imagine this was my real life instead of borrowed happiness I had no right to want.
11
CONRAD
