“You’re doing the jaw thing.”
“What jaw thing?”
“The clenching thing. You do it when you’re annoyed.”
I consciously unclenched my jaw. “I am not annoyed.”
“Okay.” She didn’t sound convinced. “Torin was just telling me about Killian’s afternoon. Apparently he tried to teach the stable cats to count.”
“Did it work?”
“The cats were unimpressed. Killian was devastated.”
I huffed a laugh despite myself. “Our son is…Creative.”
“He gets it from you.” She squeezed my hand again, her thumb tracing circles on my palm. The tension in my shoulders eased slightly. She was here. It didn’t matter that Torin made her laugh earlier. I would make her laugh later. And scream. Mostly scream.
Killian was counting on his fingers again between us, his little face scrunched in concentration.
“One, two, three...”
“Quietly, remember?” Wen whispered.
“Four, five, six, um...” He looked at his fingers, confused.
“Seven,” Wen supplied quietly.
“Seven! What’s after seven?”
“Eight.”
“Eight, nine...” He paused, clearly struggling. “Twelve?”
“Ten, sweetheart.”
“Oh yeah! Ten!” He looked around the room, then back at his fingers. “I need more fingers.”
“You can use your toes later,” I told him.
“Really?!” His eyes went huge. “I have TEN toes!”
“That’s twenty total,” Wen said.
“TWENTY! That’s SO MANY!”
Several nearby guests were watching our son with expressions ranging from amusement to bewilderment. He was waving his fingers around now, apparently trying to figure out the logistics of counting his toes while wearing shoes.
I surveyed the room one more time. Wen’s hand was warm in mine, her thumb still tracing those absent circles on my palm, and across the room Torin caught my eye with a small nod. Reliable, trustworthy. Completely not deserving of the window treatment I’d been imagining earlier.
This was going to be a very long night, but at least I’d get to make Wen scream later, and that made everything worth it.
3
— • —
Wen
The banquet was going about as well as could be expected, which meant it was a barely controlled disaster wrapped in formal pleasantries and passive-aggressive small talk.
