“West.” She puts her hands on my shoulders. “If we’d had condoms, it would have already happened. Women like sex too.”
That’s good to hear. I drop my lips to hers, kissing her soundly but chastely since Joey’s five feet away and the house is full of people.
Then I step away.
“Well, before anything physical happens, I need a shower.”
“Yes, you do,” she teases, shooing me toward the stairs.
I press a quick kiss to the tip of her nose and then take the stairs two at a time. I have a lot to do, including showering, laundry, packing, and figuring out dinner. But spending the evening with Serena is at the top of that list.
Chapter
Sixteen
Serena
The afternoon is busy, between doing what seems like endless loads of laundry, keeping an eye on Joey, and then helping West make dinner for the whole crew. We opt for pasta since that’s easiest, and I watch him make an alfredo sauce from scratch that makes my mouth water. I’m a pretty good cook, but he’s a natural. The way he whisks the cream shows a man who’s not just comfortable in the kitchen but also enjoys it.
Just like I do.
I put together a rosemary garlic butter to make garlic bread as he sautés chicken breasts in a pan to put on the pasta.
It’s a lot of food, but there are nine of us.
Viktor, Simon, and Felix fill their plates and then go eat in another room while Bodi, Jayne, Lindy, West, Joey, and I settle around the large island. Joey is excited to be on a grown-up stool, and he’s already become Lindy’s shadow. She seems to be enjoying it, though, and keeps him entertained as we eat.
I can’t remember the last time someone took over with Joey, beyond when he’s at daycare or the rare occasion I bring him to school with me for a special event, and it’s nice to just be able to breathe. Talk to adults. Enjoy a glass of wine without worrying about driving or Joey or anything, really.
“Where do you work, Serena?” Jayne asks me.
“Peachtree Academy,” I reply.
“That’s where I go!” Lindy interjects. “Are you a teacher?”
“No, I run the cafeteria,” I reply. “I create all the recipes and meals for breakfast and lunch.”
“I love the turkey tetrus,” Lindy says solemnly.
I squint trying to figure out what she means. “Turkey tetrazzini?”
“That’s it!” She grins at me.
I want to say I recognize her but there are a lot of kids at lunchtime and there are four separate lunch groups since the school runs kindergarten through twelfth grade.
“I’m glad you like it. What about the brownies?”
“Those are yummy too!”
I wink at West. “See?”
He chuckles. “Now I need to try them.”
We talk about recipes and food, and he mentions our cook-off.
“I was looking at the calendar,” he says. “How does Saturday the seventeenth sound? We have games Friday and Sunday, so we should be pretty flexible that Saturday since we’ll likely only have practice in the morning.”
“Works for me,” Bodi says.