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I was right, and the three of them were all in the kitchen. I had never seen Finn in Romero’s house before, but he certainly looked right at home.
Romero was seated at the round table with his back to the wall so he could see the other two. There was a glass of dark red wine on the table in front of him. The one and only time I had seen him drink before had been at Ariel’s wedding, and the man had really gotten sauced up. That was the night I had encouraged him to go for Isobel by dumping her ass in his lap.
If he was drinking tonight, I just knew this dinner was going to be interesting, for sure. If he got too fucked up, though, I might have to take Baxter home early because I didn’t want to traumatize the poor kid any worse than he’d already been traumatized.
Isobel stood next to Finn at the stove, and she also had a glass of wine in her hand. As often as I had seen her drink, I’d only ever seen her get too drunk at the wedding as well.
Finn was the only one of them not drinking. He was preparing food, and he appeared to be instructing Isobel and having her help him.
She liked to give me a hard time for my lack of culinary skills, but hers were only a little better than my own. I might have actually had her beat because I was a boss when it came to grilling things.
“What’s for dinner?” I asked as I pulled a beer out of the fridge for myself and a can of Dr Pepper for Baxter. He was obsessed with the stuff, and I more than likely should have paid more attention to his diet, but I didn’t have it in me to deny him anything.
Baxter pulled out a chair beside Romero and sat at the table. I dropped both drinks off at the table and then got out a glass. I filled it with ice and popped in one of the straws I knew Romero only had in the first place because Baxter loved the damn things.
By the time I made it back to the table, he had the can open and was eagerly waiting for me. I sat the glass down in front of him and got a hurried, “Thanks,” in response.
“Finn’s teaching me how to make chili,” Isobel happily shared with me. I wouldn’t be surprised if she started clapping and jumping up and down in her excitement. “There’s also going to be salad and breadsticks. It’s been so long since I’ve had an honest to goodness home-cooked meal that I’m really looking forward to this one. Besides, I freakinglovechili. Yay!”
Now I really felt like shit despite the fact she was so obviously happy. It was my job to look after her, and I couldn’t even properly feed her.
God.
Damn.
It.
That was twice in one night two of my people unintentionally had me feeling like I had somehow dropped the ball with them. It was a terrible feeling, and I knew I had to do better from here on out.
Ariel also kept texting me way more than she ever had before, and though I texted her back, my heart wasn’t quite entirely in it because my sole focus was on bringing my own coven together. I loved my daughter with all my heart, and there would never be anything that I wouldn’t do for her, but her life was currently as close to perfect as it would ever get, and she didn’t need me as much as I would have once liked her to.
I needed to have a meeting with her where I told her what was going on in my life, but I was trying to hold off until after she talked and ironed everything out with Isobel.
There was zero doubt in my mind that the two of them would be able to get over this rift and work things out. At the end of the day, that was what family did, and those two were family whether they liked it or not.
I refused to insert myself in their issues. It would only look like I was choosing sides, and nothing good could come from that. They were the two most important women in my life, and if I got involved, I was worried about potentially hurting one of them. That would crush my heart and destroy my soul. Thankfully after that episode at Fortunes earlier, neither one of them had even attempted to drag me into the middle of it.
I sat at the table on the other side of Romero and watched Finn with Isobel. She lit up under his instruction and practically glowed. Who the hell knew making chili was so damn stimulating?
Isobel made the salad in a large bowl and mixed it all together while Finn set about making the breadsticks. He grumbled the whole time about how he wished he had more time to make homemade ones and how he hoped we didn’t hold the store-bought frozen ones against him. While he whined about that, Isobel added dressing to the salad, and she did it with a sweet smile on her face.
While I had been watching the two of them, Romero had engaged Baxter in a conversation about what my kid was learning at the makeshift magic school. Baxter ate up the attention, but I didn’t miss the curious looks he kept shooting at Finn.
Shit.
Oh, just another ball I had dropped tonight.
We had skipped out on introductions, and of course Baxter would be feeling not only anxious, but curious as well.
Son of a bitch, but my parenting skills were better than that. This wasn’t just on me though, we should havealldone better with him being here. I wasn’t the only one who loved the damn kid, and it wasn’t like this was my house or even my roommate who needed to be introduced.
I chugged down the last half of my beer and got up to throw it away into the trash bin. “Hey, Finn, come meet my boy, Baxter. I don’t think you’ve been introduced before, and it’s long overdue.”
Finn wiped his hands off on a dish towel and immediately headed toward Baxter. The man gave off a good fake vibe that everything was all good and he had all the confidence in the world. I saw his mask for what it was, and I easily saw right through it. He was definitely nervous about meeting Baxter.
I wanted to laugh, but I didn’t let it out of me. I didn’t want to be the reason these two didn’t click, and this meeting was far too important for me to fuck up. I didn’t think either Isobel or Romero would take kindly to that since they were both so fucking obsessed with Finn.
I might have been pissed if I didn’t know for a fact that they were both very much obsessed with me as well.
