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“I’m a bit hungry.”
“Well, you’re supposed to listen to your body more than anything else,” Brian frowned. “You have to take care of yourself to take care of Kylie, right? Let’s go get you something to eat.”
I followed him into the kitchen. The big mansion looked considerably brighter since I’d moved in. I immediately began redecorating. The decor and lighting have been significantly updated. Brian had even let me paint the majority of the walls while I was in the nesting stage of my pregnancy.
Despite his claim that it would happen, what I hadn't done was learn how to cook. We’d fallen into a pattern in this room, and we knew our roles. Mine was to sit at the table and wait to be served, and I took my seat now.
Brian opened the fridge. “Juice or water?”“I’d murder you for a Diet Coke.”
“Not until you’re done with breastfeeding.”
“I know, I know.” It was a decision I would have made for myself anyway, but having him order me into it was comforting. “Grapefruit juice, then.”
He poured out a glass and put it on the table. “What do you want to eat?”
“Potatoes? With cheese? Do we have something like that?”
“As it happens, we do.” He pulled out some cut-up potatoes. “I got these ready while you were napping yesterday. Want to hand me the grater?”
It was hanging on a peg on the wall beside me. I pulled it down and gave it to him, and he began to grate cheddar cheese into a bowl.
“You’re amazing,” I murmured, sipping my juice. “Getting up and cooking for me in the middle of the night like this. I don’t know how I would have handled parenthood without you.”
“You’d have done fine,” he said. “You do great at everything you try. Just look at how well you’re doing at work.”
It was true. I’d been promoted just three months ago, which had come as a surprise since it had been right before the start of my maternity leave. Even though I knew Grummond liked me and valued my work, I hadn’t expected to be promoted right before taking a long hiatus. Apparently, he appreciated me more than I’d realized because when he promoted me, he told me that part of his intention was to make sure I had a reason to return.
I hadn’t bothered telling him that that was never in question. I loved my job. I wouldn’t have given it up for anything.
At my father’s urging, Brian, meanwhile, had decided to retire. It was a tremendous relief to me to know that when I eventually did have to go back to work, he’d be able to be here with Kylie. And until then, the two of us would be able to spend her first few months at home bonding with her and getting to know the shape of our new family.
Brian sprinkled the cheese over the potatoes and put the pan in the oven. He poured a second glass of juice—he’d given up alcohol in solidarity with me while I was pregnant, though I had told him he didn’t have to do that—and sat next to me at the table. He grabbed my feet and pulled them up into his lap, and I sighed as he began to massage them. “That feels amazing,” I said. “You have no idea.”
“You work so hard. I know the last few months have been rough on you. Being so pregnant and going to work every day, then the birth, and now taking care of Kylie at all hours, you deserve a little pampering.”
“Well, I won’t say no to that.” I sipped my juice.
“So I’ve been thinking, you know, the house we stayed in when we went to Fiji?”
“Sure,” I said eagerly, wondering if he was thinking of suggesting that we go back. Those weeks had been magical.
“You liked that place, right?”
“I loved it. It was one of my favorite places I’ve ever been.”
“Okay,” Brian said. “That’s good. I’m glad to hear it.”
“You are? Why?”
“Because I bought it.”
My jaw dropped. I wasn’t sure I had heard right. “You bought… that house?”
“You said we ought to have a vacation home.”“Yeah, I did, but I never thought it would happen so soon.”
“You said that if it weren’t for our jobs, you’d want to live there full time.”
“It was a fantasy,” I said weakly. “I didn’t expect you to take me seriously.”
