“I don’t blame her. They’re horrible little fuckers. We can tutor her?—”
“No. I told you. No homeschooling! She needs some normalcy and neither of us are that. I work in my PJs, you don’t sleep when you’re in the middle of a project, and we’re the literal poster children for people with zero work/life balance.”
“Maybe additional tutors then.”
“She already has four!”
“More won’t hurt. She’s understimulated.”
I wiggled my head. “That’s an idea, I guess, but you watch her prioritize the subjects she’s interested in.”
“Of course.” He dropped a kiss on my lips. “I hated school. It never stimulated me, and I struggled to find a baseline that worked. If we can help her, I want to.”
“Be a mom, they said. Best job in the world, they said. No one told me I’d have to make decisions like an adult!”
“You’ve been rocking those decisions, babe. You didn’t know your kid was gonna be a genius. Just be grateful we are and that we know what she’s going through.”
“I swear she has an old head on young shoulders.” I huffed. “Fine, we’ll talk to her about getting more tutors in subjects that’ll extend her reach, like in Mandarin or something, but only if she keeps up her grades at school.”
“That’s the priority,” he agreed. “We don’t want her falling behind.”
“What was she doing when you grabbed us some coffee? I left her with homework.”
“Cartwheels, mostly.”
“Damn. She only does those now when she’s procrastinating or when Jake and Cam beg her to do a routine in the living room.” I blinked. “You ever think she’s growing up really fast?”
“I think all kids grow up faster than their parents are comfortable with.”
“Stop being reasonable.”
“What can I say? It’s in my DNA.”
“Oh, yeah.Sure.”
“Shehasfinished procrastinating. She’d almost completed her homework.”
“That’s a relief. I told her we’d head to the pool after we put her and Benji’s tree up. You coming?”
“To see you in your swimsuit? Hell, yeah, I’m coming.”
My lips twitched. “Only you’d think my one-piece was hot.”
“Hey,Baywatchwas my jam.”
“Want me to run in slow motion?”
“I mean… if the kids decide they prefer to watch TV? Sure. Treat me.”
I tapped his chin. “You’ll get a treat if you find me a STEM tutor. Maybe if she can design a bridge in her spare time, it’ll stop her being bored. I fucking hate that word now. I actually feel sorry for my dad, and that’s just obscene.”
“Consider it done.” Hands on my ass, he stood up with me in his arms, smirking all the while.
Because this wasn’t the first time I’d let him lug me around, I rested my chin on his shoulder as he carried me into the living room, where Christmas had officially vomited over the apartment.
I’d never really thought about how awesome it’d be to have a partner. One who shared the burden and who I could trust to do the job right—but that’s what Conor had become for me.
I knew that if I gave him a task, he’d follow through with it. Give him parameters and my man was a boss at checking off items on his to-do list.
