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Leonie looks at me and shifts from foot to foot. “You could stay too.”
“I’d love that.”
We prepare the dough using extra chocolate chips. “We’re going to stay the entire weekend,” she says, wiping the flour from her face.
Tamara and I exchange a look. This will be tense, but I smile at the little girl, her happiness infectious.
“We can go swimming tomorrow,” I offer, and her blue eyes widen.
She bounces up and down while we finish putting the cookies in the oven. This is how Kieran and Nora find us. My husband smiles at us with fondness, and even his mother’s lips flinch into a smile that vanishes just as quickly.
“Bedtime.”
Leonie goes to her mother, but she runs right back to me, and says, “I like you.”
Three simple words that warm my heart.
“I like you too.”
“Can we be friends?”
“Leonie, that’s enough,” her mother says and her little face falls.
I bend down and say, “I’d love to be your friend.”
They disappear up the stairs and Tamara excuses herself. Alone with my husband, I find his brows pinched, exhaustion taking over his features.
“That bad?”
His grunt is answer enough.
I loop my elbow around his and say, “Let’s take a walk.”
We stroll down the pathway and halt at the forest entrance. Owls hoot, unperturbed, secluded by the thick leaves. The round moon peeks through the branches. He kicks a few stones with his shoe, looking at the dense forest.
“Would you like to talk?”
“Talk, huh?”
“Yes, you open your mouth and speak and hope the other person listens. But rest assured, I am a good listener.”
Kieran chuckles lightly, and we drop onto the bench.
“My mother hates me, sweetheart. There is not much to say about it.”
I want to say I remember her, how she fussed around him. Her eyes used to shine with the same love as she has for her daughter. She used to be warm, caring.
“I knew about your mother and my father having an affair.”
I blink at him, shock muting me. My weight liquefies and seeps through the wood of the bench. “My mother will never get past the betrayal, which I get. I think I’d go ballistic, thinking about the woman I love and my best friend fucking behind my back.”
His eyes find me, dark and full of possession. At the intensity, my throat dries, and I push the words out.
“I’d react the same.”
He nods as if satisfied with my answer and he goes on, “But he was my father, and I loved him, regardless. When I caught them, I was so angry. I yelled at them. I knew things would go to shit, and quickly.”
“They were in love, Kieran.”
