The kids dug into the food, though Wren especially seemed glum. She took her meal and sat down at the table, and Zach did the same.
They ate with only minimal shenanigans, though Alden managed to get a piece of spaghetti stuck to the ceiling, which Zach retrieved. Daisy thought her heart might actually burst.
“Okay,” Daisy said. “Go up and brush your teeth. Then I’ll come in to read you your stories and tuck you in.”
The kids scampered off with only mild complaints. She attributed their good nature to the pasta and breadsticks.
“You didn’t have to do all this.” She touched his arm, his body, warm and solid beneath her hand, a comfort she was afraid of getting used to.
“I know,” Zach responded.
“Do you ... do you have nieces and nephews? Because you seem like you’re really good with kids.”
“I do. But I always figure you just treat kids the way you wish you got treated. I personally would love it if someone got me pasta when I was hungry. So I followed that instinct.”
“I know I loved it,” she said.
“Then settle down, and don’t act like you’re about to throw me out the front door.” His gaze was serious, so much it made her chest hurt.
“I’m not throwing you out, I promise. But you really don’t have to stay.”
“I haven’t done a damned thing I haven’t wanted to do all day.”
She smiled slowly. “Do you have my bra?”
“What?”
“I left my bra at your house.”
“I don’t have your bra. Does that mean you aren’t wearing one?”
“Yes. Thankfully sort of hidden by the sweatshirt.”
“That’s all I’m going to be thinking about for the rest of tonight.”
For the rest of tonight. Would he spend the night? Did she want him to? It seemed like such a big, dangerous thing to have him in her house, with her kids, like they were a couple when they were very much not labeling it at the moment for obvious reasons.
Dangerous because it made her want things she couldn’t want right now. Because it would be foolish to rush right into something permanent, and Zach ...
Zach was looking at her like he would stay as long as she wanted him to.
“I have to do story time,” she said.
“I’ll wait.”
She read the kids their stories, but they weren’t as bright and happy as they often were. Of course, the kids were mourning that all of this was different. That Jonathan wasn’t part of bedtime, bath time, story time. She’d mourned it too.
But he’d made his choice.
She needed to make hers. To stand firm in hers.
She tucked Wren in, then followed the boys to their rooms, where she tucked them in too. As she closed Alden’s door behind her, she saw Zach at the top of the stairs. She reached her hand out toward him, and he came to her.
She led him down the hallway, toward the room she’d shared with Jonathan for all those years. “Do you want to spend the night?” she whispered.
“I thought you’d never ask, Daisy.”
At least now she was grateful she wasn’t wearing a bra. Everything would go that much faster. She was desperate for him.
