Reese grunts, and I know I’ve used up my conversation quota for the night. “Let us know when you book the vet. I’ll clear my schedule for the day.”
“Will do. Love you.”
“I love you too, Reese.”
Ending the call, I put my phone on the counter. I ladle our dinner into bowls to start cooling, and then pull the pan of cornbread from the oven.
“Time to wash up for dinner, monkeys,” I call to the girls.
“This episode is almost over,” Lauren responds.
“What numbers are on the right side of the screen?”
“7, 3, 4.”
“Okay. Once the credits roll, you need to turn it off, please.”
Setting the table with only three places has started to feel weird again. Gia spends most of her evenings with us now, and the only reason she’s not here tonight is that she and Gwen took Farrah out to the Chateau to celebrate Farrah getting accepted into a master’s program in the fall.
The girls come to the table a few minutes later and dig into their chili immediately. I’m surprised I didn’t have to remind them to turn their show off this time.
“It’s weird without G,” Leah says.
“Yeah. Maybe she’ll bring home dessert,” Lauren agrees.
“I don’t think she’s coming over tonight. It’ll be late when she’s done with dinner.”
“G isn’t going to read us another chapter tonight?” Leah asks, disappointment clear in her voice.
“Probably not tonight.”
“She should just live here all the time,” Lauren says.
“Yeah! Why can’t she do that?”
“Does she not want to live with us?” Lauren narrows her eyes at me as if I might’ve done something to make Gia not want to be here full-time.
“Gia and I haven’t talked about her moving in here. That’s a big step in adult relationships. It’s not something you do just because you like spending time with someone.”
“Why not? If you like being with them all the time, you should live together.”
I open my mouth to respond, but I don’t have a decent explanation. It seems stupid to say we haven’t been together long enough when the appropriate timeframe should be determined by us, not society. “Every good relationship requires communication. Gia and I need to discuss living together before we do it.”
“When will you talk about it?” Lauren asks.
“I don’t know, sweetheart. But to be clear, that’s something you guys would be okay with? You want Gia to live here all the time?”
“I like when she’s here,” Leah says.
“Me too. She makes you happy, Daddy.”
“Yeah, you started smiling again when she comed ober.”
The girls keep eating their food as if they didn’t just drop a revelation on me. They’re right. I didn’t smile all that often before Gia came into our lives. The girls were about the only thing that could make me smile anymore since Hannah died. How did they notice that and I didn’t? “She definitely makes me happy.”
“We know,” Lauren responds. “That’s why we kept inviting her to stuff.”
“The book fair was my idea.” Leah smiles proudly.
