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Tori points the tongs in her hand at him. “That doesn’t mean you get to embarrass me like that.” She regards me. “Do you want a BLT? It’s almost ready.”
“No thanks, I ate.” Dropping my voice conspiratorially, I lean over the table. “What did you do?”
Tori leans against the stove. “I’ll tell you what he did. I had an appointment at the dentist and I made the mistake of taking him with me.”
“I was there for moral support!”
“It was a cleaning!”
Oliver watches them with amusement and munches on a potato chip.
“Anyway,” Tori continues. “There was a couple in there who had two kids with them. Toddlers. They weren’t really watching them, and they were getting into everything. I had to guard my purse when the boy went for it. The little girl kept trying to untie Paul’s shoe for some reason. They were a couple of terrors. Finally, the mother looks up from her phone long enough to come over to get her once she started trying to climb on Paul’s lap. Tell her what you said, Paul.”
Paul holds up his hands and shakes his head, biting back a smile.
“He looks at the mother and goes, ‘Aw, what cute babies. I’m not usually allowed within twenty-five feet of one.’”
“Oh my god.” Water almost makes its way out of my nose and Oliver covers his mouth, his shoulders shaking.
“The mother snatched both kids up, moved to the opposite end of the waiting room and guarded them like we might steal them.”
“That’s awful,” I laugh. “And genius.”
Tori rolls her eyes at me before setting a BLT in front of Oliver, and another on Paul’s plate. “Don’t encourage him.”
Paul shrugs and picks up the sandwich. “It always works.”
Tori spins around and stares at him. “Always?You’ve done it before?”
Paul’s eyes dart back and forth. “I…may have misspoke.”
Tori grabs her sandwich and sits next to me. “You’re home early.”
“My client went into labor. We rescheduled to do newborn photos in a few weeks. Also never bring your boyfriend to my studio."
Everyone laughs, and it’s good to see Oliver joining in. I’m confident I made the right decision bringing him here.
Once Tori and Paul leave, I ask Oliver if he feels up to a little walk. “There’s a place I want to show you that might trigger some memories.”
“Yes, let’s go.”
When we step outside, I point out the house across the street. “I told you that you grew up in that house. It’s vacant right now. The new owner rents it out usually. I called them to see if maybe we could get the keys to look around. I’m waiting on them to call back.”
He nods, staring at his childhood home. “I don’t recognize it.”
“It’s okay. When we were kids, we spent a lot of time at our treehouse. I thought we could start there.”
It’s a warm, sunny day and walking into the woods feels like stepping back in time. The smell of the trees, the soft ground under my feet. Our old trail has faded and become overgrown with disuse, but I could find my way blindfolded.
We remain silent, listening to the birds and the wind through the trees. Our hike is purposefully slow. Not only because I don’t want to wear Oliver out. He needs time to soak in the surroundings. Who knows what sight or sound might bring everything flooding back.
“It’s beautiful out here,” Oliver murmurs.
“It is. It’s just a little patch of woods between the subdivision and the highway, but it was the best place in the world to us. Especially here.” I gesture up to the treehouse that still sits in the sprawling oak.
Right after Alden and I moved back into the neighborhood, we came to see if it was still standing. He was thrilled to find it in decent shape. I can see the grin he wore as he looked up at it and his voice echoes in my head.“I’m going to fix it up for our kids.”
“Ella? Are you okay?” Oliver asks.
