AllFreeNovel
Share Us
* * *
It was nearly ten-thirty when Cullen got home that night. After being called away from the office midday, he’d had a lot to catch up on when he got back. Plus, there had been an emergency he’d had to handle. It had taken him that long to get everything in order.
He put his key in the lock, but before he could open the door, someone opened it for him from the inside. Lily was standing there. Cullen’s first thought was What did they do? Please don’t tell me you’re leaving.
But Lily simply pressed her finger to her lips in the international sign for quiet. She motioned him inside. The door clicked behind him, and for one glorious moment, Cullen stood in the deafening silence. The kids were quiet. The dog wasn’t even barking. It was a calm he hadn’t heard in days.
Lily walked toward the kitchen and he followed her.
“How in the world did you manage this?” he asked. “Did you slip a tranquilizer into their dinner?”
“No, of course not,” she said. “I told you I would tire them out by keeping them busy.”
He glanced around at the clean kitchen and the tidy family room, surprised not to see a mess.
“They’re angels when they sleep, aren’t they?” he said. “This place looks great. Did they help you?”
“A little bit,” she said. “We had a good bit of fun, too. In fact, we made Christmas decorations out of some glitter and construction paper I had in my trunk.” She gestured toward the table, where he could see several flat and shiny objects neatly laid out.
“But they cleaned up after themselves,” she said. “We even tackled that blue mess in the upstairs bathroom.”
“The blue potion?” He had forgotten all about it in his rush to get back to work. “You cleaned it up?”
“Potion? Is that what that was?”
She must’ve had a speck of glitter on her cheek, because something glinted in the kitchen light. Maybe it was pixie dust. Maybe that was her secret. She certainly was as cute as a pixie with her blond hair, laughing green eyes and smooth ivory skin.
“Apparently so,” he said. “You didn’t have to clean it up.”
She chuckled and Cullen had to ball his hands into fists to keep from leaning in and brushing the glitter off her cheek.
“If it sat there any longer,” she said, “it was going to either start expanding out into the hall and take over the entire house or dry out on the toilet and tile and stain everything blue. We actually made a game out of it. The kids were great once they got used to the idea that they had to clean up their messes. Are you hungry? Because I’m happy to reheat some pizza for you.”
The non sequitur threw him, but as he made the jump from the blue potion to her offer of food, a feeling of gratitude washed over him.
“No, thanks,” he said. “I’m sure you’re exhausted. You need to get home so you can get some rest for tomorrow.”
He wasn’t sure that the feeling inside him might not actually be relief. Not only did Lily have the situation firmly under control, but for the first time since the kids had arrived, he was able to take a deep breath and let himself believe that maybe, just maybe, everything was going to work out. And to think there had been a few shaky days there when he’d convinced himself that he’d gotten in way over his head by taking in the kids, even for a little while.
She walked over to the table and picked up her purse. She shrugged into her coat and fished her keys out of her bag before pulling on a pair of red leather gloves. “Actually before I go, I wanted to ask you if you had a schedule you wanted the kids to follow. We didn’t really get a chance to talk about specifics before you left to go back to the hospital earlier today.”
Schedule? “No. You just keep doing what you’re doing. I’ll be working late most nights. I won’t be around much.”
Maybe it was his imagination, but the sparkle in her eyes seemed to dim a few watts.
“There’s a park not too far from here. It’s just a short drive. You all could go there. I know it’s cold outside, but if you bundle them up they’d be fine. Is your car big enough to transport five?”
Lily frowned. “No. I have a sedan. It seats four. I guess that’s a problem. Maybe we could walk to the park.”
