Page 106 of Insidious

Another silence thrummed between us. Not comfortable, exactly, but not hostile either.

Then, I’d blurted before I could lose my nerve—

“Would you maybe want to babysit Amelie tomorrow?”

Manon had gone completely quiet, like she could not believe her ears.

The silence went on so long that I thought maybe the call had dropped.

Then—

“You would trust me with her?”

The emotion in her voice made me tear up a little.

I glanced upstairs instinctively. I thought about Isaac carrying Amelie into that house every week. I thought about the way Manon looked at my child like she was something holy.

“I think,” I said slowly, “I’d like to try to rebuild our bridges.”

And Manon sounded like she might cry. “Yes,” she whispered. “Yes. I’d like that very much.”

Chapter 28

Luna

The bedroom window is open wide, curtains stirring lazily in the breeze. I wake slowly, cocooned in warmth and sunlight, watching dust motes lazily drift through the gold light.

For a long moment, I just lie here, remembering last night.

After Amelie finally went down, we stayed awake beneath the sheets, talking quietly in the dark.

Nothing special. Just work and not forgetting to put the garbage out tomorrow.

“I am going to do the full six months of maternity leave,” I admitted, watching the shadows move across the ceiling in the low light. All the doors were open so we would hear Amelie next door, just in case the baby monitor failed. But I knew both Isaac and I would be getting up to check on her at least once during the night.

“Then take it,” Isaac replied.

“Maybe the part-time after that as well,” I continued. “They said I can do remote work for some of it too.”

I felt it as he nodded against the pillow.

“That sounds good.”

“And you?”

“I’ll probably keep working from home as much as I can. I don’t want to miss a single Amelie moment. I am afraid I am going to have to take all the photos and videos. You suck at it.”

“Yeah. I do.” I am prone to getting excited and forgetting I am recording. The result is a lot of strange videos.

The lull after that was comfortable. We have never had to fill those spaces, and that has not changed.

Slowly, I turned towards him and shuffled closer. He turned as well. His hand drifted slowly, hesitantly, up and down my back.

My leg hooked over his. I could feel his hardness pressed against my thigh. I just blinked sleepily.

“That feels painful,” I muttered, pressing closer.

Isaac groaned softly into the pillow.