Okay, looked like she was playing babysitter. She swept into the kitchen and found the girls sitting at the counter with their bowls of cereal. “Sorry to make you rush, babes, but we have to go now. I’m going to have to drop you off a little early. That’s okay, right?” She cringed, realizing she wanted a ten-year-old to validate her life choices.
The girls whispered to each other, then Amaya slurped another mouthful of cereal and hopped off the stool.
“Bailey—”
“It’s fine, mom. Just a sec. She’s going to ask her dad something.”
“Bailes, I don’t have time for extras this morning.” Aelin grabbed a protein shake from the fridge. The breakfast of champions slash soon-to-be-divorced moms who hoped to someday focus on getting back into shape but were still in the trenches of their emotional trauma.
“He said yes!” Amaya ran back into the kitchen, her eyes lit up like Christmas trees.
Bailey spun on her stool. “Amaya and I want to walk to school.”
Aelin started to open her mouth, then froze as Ryan entered her field of view.
He cleared his throat. “Sorry. She left the door open.”
Aelin turned back to Bailey. “I love this idea, but Bailes, you know your dad won’t?—”
“He’s not even here anymore! Why does he get to say when I only go to his house after school?”
Aelin’s cheeks flushed. Perfect. More of their dirty laundry just flung around for Ryan to inspect. She grabbed her keys from the bowl on the counter. “I can explain all of that later, but if we don’t leave now?—”
“He said I couldn’tbiketo school. He never said I couldn’twalk. Plus I’ll have a friend with me.” She threw her arm around Amaya who was drinking from her bowl, and pink cereal milk sloshed onto the counter. “Then you wouldn’t have to drop me off early, and you’d still be on time to the lawyer’s office.”
“Wow, Bailey. We’re really just throwing it all out there,” Aelin snapped, snatching the dishcloth from the sink and wiping up the mess.
“I can take them.” Ryan leaned against the wall, and when Aelin looked up, she felt a little like a bird who’d just run headfirst into a sparkling glass window. There was a man in her kitchen. A man with grey eyes and an impressive jawline wearing a collared shirt and pants that looked like they had to be Lululemon athletic fit.
“Dad, you have a meeting,” Amaya whined.
“They sent me a Zoom link. I can turn it on in the car.”
Aelin exhaled, grabbing her purse from the counter on the other side of the fridge. “No service, remember?”
Ryan opened his mouth, then closed it.
Aelin put her hands on her hips. “You’re okay with them walking together?”
He shrugged. “It’s what, a ten-minute walk?”
“Something like that.” Aelin ignored the girls squeezing their arms around each other and crossing their fingers.
“I could take the meeting here. Amaya has a watch. If something happens, I’ll be just a few seconds away,” he said.
Amaya held up her wrist, showing off her device. Aelin had thought about getting one of those for Bailey for Christmas, but it required an extra data plan.
Aelin nodded. “Fine. But stick together and look both ways across the street.”
She couldn’t even hear herself over the sound of their elated cheers. They cleared their bowls and ran to the front entryway to slip on their shoes and grab their backpacks.
Aelin followed, then stopped when she noticed Ryan hadn’t moved.
“You left this. On the porch.” He held up her phone, and Aelin exhaled. She hadn’t realized she didn’t have it.
“Thank you.” She took it from him and glanced at the screen. Three new messages. Her heart punched through her chest at the preview glaring at her from Clark Moses.
This would all be a lot simpler if you weren’t so difficult and exhausting to love
