“Mary prepared us a delicious chicken salad for lunch, and an extensive fruit platter for afternoon snacking. Mia quite enjoys the watermelon, so she was promised more if she could swim, unassisted, from one side of the pool to the other.”
Stunned, I take solace in the tinkle of her laughter in the backyard.She didn’t drown. “She made it?”
He clicks his tongue. “Eh… Not quite unassisted. She panicked halfway across and grabbed the wall. But she got further today than she did yesterday, and further yesterday than the day before.”
“Progress is progress.”
“It certainly is. Progress comes from perseverance. Perseverance was rewarded with watermelon.”
“As it should.” I walk with him all the way to the kitchen and deposit him on a stool at the counter, because the strength he had when webegan, compared to now, is noticeably different. Heading to the fridge and taking out a jug of lemon water, I bring it back to the counter and love how, magically, Mary pops up and deposits two glasses and a smile. “Thank you.” I fill both glasses and push one across to Steve, then, setting the jug down, I pick up the second and wander toward the back door. Cato floats on his back in the middle of the pool, seemingly oblivious to the little girl who runs around the edge. But the instant her feet leave the tile, he rolls with an alligator-like ferocity and grabs her before she’s under for more than a second.
I watch them for a moment, holding my breath each time Mia drops below the surface, then breathing again as he throws her into the air.
“I spent almost every single day of his nineteen years with that boy.” Mary strolls across the kitchen, risking a peek at the pair outside. “I never once considered a future where he would become a father. I especially didn’t consider one where he could begoodat it.” She exhales a happy sigh. “Someday, when the time is right and the circumstances are perfect, he’ll make a baby of his own. He’ll outshine every star in the sky. I’m quite certain.”
“Mmm.” I get caught in Mia’s laughing gaze. Her silly expression. Though I could’ve sworn Cato’s playfulness was enough to keep her preoccupied. I send a little finger wave her way, then I turn on my heels and head back to the counter. “I think you may be right. It’s hard for me to align this Cato with the man who…”Invites random women into my bathroom purely to annoy me. “The man who datesfreely.”
Mary snorts.
“But watching him with Mia, I’ve found, is quite soothing to my soul.” I take a seat on the stool beside Steve and rest my elbow on the counter. “What do you think we should do for dinner?”
Surprised, his eyes widen far enough that even the bushy eyebrows he keeps above them shift. “What do you mean?”
“Ah… I mean, there’s a general societal expectation that we eat three meals a day. I admit I don’t always comply, but I’m home reasonably early tonight, my belly’s grumbling a little, and Mary’s here for however long you are. I’m not too proud to hope she might grace us with something delicious. Or,” I swing my gaze her way, “I could show you the traditions of my people.” I take out my phone and set it on the counter:stillno call from Archer. “There’s this magical portal on my phone that, if you press a button here, a button there, exchange a bit of money, and wait approximately twenty minutes, burritos just turn up at the door. It’s amazing, honestly.”
Mary rolls her eyes and strides to the fridge, yanks the door open, and gestures toward a dish already wrapped in foil. “Mr. Morris and I prepared something a little earlier.”
“Nice! What did you make? Although…” I furrow my brows. “That dish seems kinda small, don’t you think? There are five of us, and?—”
“Twoof us,” she inserts firmly. “You, Detective Malone, and Cato have a standing invitation to join the Lawrences for dinner tonight.”
“Minka!” Mia skids through the back door in a cute two-piece swimsuit, goggles knotted in her hair, and water dripping onto the tile at her feet. She throws her arms in the air and performs an excited little butt wiggle. “We’re going to the mayor’s house for dinner! Aren’t you so excited?”
“Ah… no?”
“This is it, Aunty Minka! This is my chance to kick that scoundrel in his kneecaps!”
“You’re having dinner with the Lawrences,” Mary insists through tight lips. “It’s settled.”
“I can’t! I don’t even have a bottle of wine to offer the scoundrel. It would be rude of me to show up empty-handed.”
She brushes the dish aside and reaches deep into the back of the fridge. Turning to us again, she reveals a bottle of something fancy and red.It’s like she thinks her organizational skills make me happy. “No empty hands necessary. Aren’t you lucky?”
MINKA
From grieving the relationship IthoughtI broke with Archer, to rejoicing in our reconnection, to bathing in the comfort of a normal day for the first time in too long, tothis…
I want to hurt him.
“What do you mean you’re running late?” I stalk out of our closet in fresh clothes, dry hair, one shoe on my foot, and the other tucked between my ribs and arm. “Archer, you can’t be late! I’m not going to that dinner alone!”
“Not alone,” he chuckles through the phone.Chuckles! “I’m leaving here in ten minutes, I promise.”
“But it’s already ten to seven!” I switch our call to speaker and toss the damn thing onto our bed, then spinning with a grunt, I fold and work on my second shoe. “I don’t want to goat all,Archer! I especially don’t want to go without you.”
“Minnnka.” He sounds so fucking relaxed. So happy. So doesn’t-care-if-Minka-is-having-a-mental-break. “Get your ass downstairs and walk next door. You’re gonna be fine.”
“But—”