from setting out the items I had brought from home. I wanted to push Corey a little more today.
“Did you think I wouldn’t be here before you, baby?”
I stood, lacing his fingers with mine. He no longer hesitated when I led him into the playroom. He
knew it was nap time and trusted that I would help him pull asleep. He’d even quit glancing over his
shoulder to make sure we were alone. Somehow, he’d grown self-conscious about naptime since I’d
caught him that first day.
“You could have had something else going on. I don’t expect you to drop everything for me.” His
eyelids were already drooping. I had no doubt he’d be fast asleep within minutes of me tucking him
in. Then, I would split my time between working on the other playroom and checking on him.
“I had nothing going on,” I promised him. “There is no place I would rather be than here with
you.”
“You’re still not sick of it?” He flopped onto the edge of the bed. At least once a week, he
checked in to see if I was tired of his irregular schedule and inability to be there as often as I’d like
him to be.
“One of the benefits of being retired is I can do whatever I want, whenever I want,” I pointed out.
Corey chuckled. “Saying it like that makes you sound old.”
I shrugged. “Some days I feel it. But that’s okay, because being older makes me wiser.”
“Yeah, we’ll go with that,” Corey scoffed as he toed off his shoes. When I sat on the bed next to
him, dropping my bag to the floor, Corey combed his fingers through the silver at my temples. “I like
you just the way you are. And you’re not really that old.”
“And yet you like to bring it up every chance you get.”
“Can’t help it.” Corey giggled. “It’s your fault for letting me get away with being a brat.”
“Oh, it is, is it?” I tugged at the blankets on the bed, pulling them back. Corey slid in
automatically, turning to his side. “Then maybe we’ll have to do something about that tonight.”
“Tonight?”
Okay, so perhaps that wasn’t the smoothest segue but now that it was out, all I could do was
explain. “I was hoping you’d come home with me. You don’t have Willow again until the weekend,
right?”
The corners of Corey’s mouth quirked up, his gaze softening. He reached out for my hand. “I love
that you’ve memorized when she’s with me.”
