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“Good to be home,” Duncan grinned. With his free arm, he squeezed me until I felt air leave my lungs.
Julius stomped in last, closing the door behind him. He rubbed his hands together and looked up absently.
“Nice job,” he said.
“Thanks.”
“Looks good and tight,” he nodded. “Should we fire the HVAC guys on Monday, or—”
“Maybe not fire them,” I replied, “but at least give them a good old-fashioned ass-kicking. They’re definitely cutting corners.”
Julius nodded appreciatively. “Duly noted.”
I glanced down again, and noticed a pair of bags dangling from Julius’s two long arms. They were overflowing at the top with bright red and yellow orbs. He saw me looking and hefted them my way.
“Apples.”
“You went apple-picking?”
“Oh yeah,” laughed Liam. “You should’ve seen the little ones, running up and down the rows of the orchard. Must’ve tripped a dozen times each. I’ve got… pictures and video… if you want to…”
His voice trailed off into broken sentence fragments. Probably because he saw my whole face change.
“What?”
“I would’ve wanted to go apple-picking.”
The way I said it was so sad, so pathetic, I regretted the words immediately. The guys had done nothing wrong! If anything they’d been super nice, taking the babies through their morning routines and whisking them away so I could sleep in.
This istheirfamily,I reminded myself.Not yours.
And here I was, pouting like a little kid. Laying some kind of a weird guilt-trip on them, for absolutely nothing.
“Delilah we’re so sorry!” Liam cried. “If we’d known—”
“No, no,” I waved him off. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. Forget I even mentioned it.” I smiled warmly. “I’m glad the five of you had so much fun!”
Julius took Jace down the hall, and Duncan carried Courtney. That left Liam and I standing there awkwardly.
“Did you bring coffee?” I asked hopefully.
He shook his head. “No, sorry about that too. I know we said we would, but we ended up coming home a lot later than originally planned.”
“No biggie,” I smiled. I picked up the apple bags Julius had set down and carried them into the kitchen.
“The twins are zonked,” said Liam, following after me. “We figured we’d put them down, order some takeout, then sit on the couch and eat it. Thai food, or maybe that fusion place.”
“You guys get whatever you want,” I told him. “I’m going out.”
I’d made the decision as soon as I saw the apples. It wasn’t that I was angry, or at least I didn’tthinkI was, but I suddenly had the overwhelming need to go for a drive.
“Are you sure?” asked Liam. There was concern and regret in his voice. I wanted neither. “Because I—”
BZZZZT.
The phone going off in my pocket vibrated my entire thigh. I slipped it out and glanced at the screen.
MEET AT THE RESTAURANT TONIGHT? OR SHOULD I PICK YOU UP?
