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She clicked her tongue. “Cutting it close, weren’t you? Now, come on. You can help set the table.”
Zach grinned. “Well, you didn’t text, so I know we still had some time.”
Aunt Lori lightly swatted his arm. “Don’t tempt me to use the most embarrassing emojis, promise or no promise. Now, get a move on before the food gets cold.”
Not long after we reached the dining room, my kids soon raced in, and we all helped set the table.
With both Emilia and Abby absent, the table was a little calmer than normal. Although I did my best to avoid watching Sabrina and Beck. I knew they weren’t deliberately trying to make anyone uncomfortable, but each little touch, smile, and whisper made me wish I’d had that at some point. Early in my marriage to Andrea, I’d believed I was in love with her. But in retrospect, I think it’d been more wish and lust than truth.
Especially given her actions over the years.
Thankfully, my children distracted me, and we went through the bedtime routine. After they showered—both were proud of the fact they didn’t have to take baths any longer, like “little babies,” as they put it—I tucked them in and asked, “Do you want me to read a book or make a story tonight?”
Avery bounced in place, scaring the kittens from her bed. The black-and-white cats glared from their new perch on Wyatt’s blanket but soon purred from Wyatt’s chin scratches.
She said, “Let’s make one together, Daddy.”
I glanced at Wyatt, who shrugged. Avery said, “He says yes.”
Studying my son, I looked for the happier boy he’d been before his mother’s death. While Wyatt had never been chatty like his sister, he was way too quiet and reserved, especially for his age. I’d suggested therapy, but he’d refused. And then we’d been uprooted here, and I hadn’t asked again. I might have to.
Regardless, now wasn’t the time. I wouldn’t spoil what had become my favorite part of the day. I nodded toward my daughter. “It’s your turn to start this time, love.”
She sat, tapping her chin in thought, and I smiled. Avery took the make-a-story ritual more seriously than anyone else. Although I knew it’d be some sort of fairy tale, as she always wanted something with a little fantasy to it.
With a nod, she finally said, “There was a fairy queen who had lots of magic. With a wave of her hand, she could…”
Avery tossed a stuffed rabbit at her brother, who’d been focused on the kittens, and Wyatt sighed. “Fine. With a wave of her hand she could make anyone happy. One day…”
His words went straight to my heart. I wanted to ask what I could do but knew that some of it was beyond my control.
Except for what they’d asked of me earlier in the day—to spend the summer days over at Emilia’s.
Since I sat on Wyatt’s bed, he poked my arm. “Your turn, Dad.”
I cleared my throat. “One day, a hairy, grumpy orc appeared. He was mean and rude and liked to destroy things. However…”
Avery moved until she kneeled on her bed, clearly excited with the story tonight. “However, the orc had a big secret—he loved his kids and he wanted to find them a new mother.”
I eyed my daughter. It was going to be another single-dad-finds-love-again story tonight.
My son added, “The orc’s kids had met the fairy queen once before and liked her, and thought she’d be a good mother. Their dad was strong and smart, even if he was hairy, and so they told him about a quest she’d advertised so their dad could meet her.”
Fuck, if they were hinting, they weren’t being subtle about it.
Well, time to dust off my creativity. “But the orc knew he could never find the lost cat and bring it to the queen for a reward. So instead he…”
Avery scowled at me, and I bit back a smile. I didn’t mind making the story romantic, as long as it didn’t hit so close to home. Because I wouldn’t give them hope, even through the veil of a story, that I was going to marry again.
Then triumph flashed in Avery’s eyes, and I held back a groan, knowing she’d thought of a way to steer the story back. “So instead of the lost cat, he brought the fairy queen a pair of kittens, the cutest kittens ever, with shiny golden fur—like real gold—that was still soft and eyes that changed color depending on if they were happy or sad or mad. She saw them and…”
A little of the old Wyatt returned as excitement filled his eyes. “She loved the golden kittens, but she knew taking them away from the orc’s kids would make them sad. So she invited all of them to live close by…”
Oh, for fuck’s sake. They really were determined to put the orc and fairy queen together, weren’t they? “So she invited them to live close by and since the orc was good with animals, he became in charge of her horses. The kids played with the kittens every day, and the fairy queen went away to…”
Avery glared at me, but I didn’t bat an eyelash. Sometimes I liked messing with my kids a little.
But the determined glint in my daughter’s eye said game on. “The fairy queen went away to learn some more magic. She could tell the orc was unhappy. But no matter how much magic she used, she could never make him happy. But then she found out he was cursed. And so when she returned…”
