Fireworks didn’t bother Junie. Never had. Ordo, on the other hand, in his advancing age, would whimper and pace. Lurielle had huffed and puffed one weekend at the cabin, when an impromptu shower of sparks over the valley sent the big mastiff into a nervous panting fit. She had glowered over the non-sanctioned explosives, but Khash had only tutted at her reaction.
“And that’s why he needs to go inside. He’s the one with the sensitivity, Bluebell. Not the rest of us. And Lilypiddles needs to go in with him, because Big Daddy wants to eat his burger in peace.”
They were working on the concept of inside voices, and Kora was trying. But she’d realized she couldn’t constantly shush her daughter to avoid teaching Kael to manage his own discomfort. The nursery had become his domain, with trains on the floor and an airplane hanging from the glow-in-the-dark star-covered ceiling, a sanctuary of quiet away from the racket of his sister, and Kora was practicing volume modulation, not breaking glasses in doors, keeping the dino noises to a minimum.
“Great job, bub,” Lurielle told him once his blue and green dinosaur headphones were over his sleek dark hair. Her eyes moved back to the diva. “Kora? Remember where we’re going today? To play with your friend Aelin. And we have to use our inside voices, right?”
“Shhhhh!” Kora held her tiny finger to her mouth, demonstrating to Lurielle that she did, in fact, remember how to use her inside voice.
“Nice work. Let’s practice now, okay?”Let’s play the quiet game until we’re there, please.
She didn’t know what to expect.
Silva had moved to the same condominium complex where Ris had lived previously, where Dynah still lived. It wasn’t anywhere close to the Elvish enclave where her family still was, and Lurielle couldn’t puzzle it out. She didn’t even know if she would see Silva that day. She’d arranged this playdate with Tate, after all.
Khash had, predictably, been irate.
“Do you mean to tell me I have to put myTate quotaback in business, Lurielle? Is that what you’re tellin’ me right now? What is wrong with your friend? Why would she get back with that no good, weaselly little—” He cut off, noticing Kora watching him intently from where she sat on the floor playing, dropping his head back and blowing out a hard breath. “Dirty ponds, darlin’. All your friends. Puttin’ their ducks in dirty ponds.”
“Yeah, well, you don’t have to put up with Yanna and the rest of the ‘infant precalculus just aligns with our values’ moms. We’re going to be stuck with these parents for more than a decade. We need to have some friends, and Silva isalreadymy friend.”
Khash had clenched his jaw tight, his lips sealed shut as if they had been glued, showing herexactlywhere his daughter had learned the same trick, refusing to concede that Tate wouldeverbe considered a friend, but he didn’t say anything further, and she was proud of him.
She needn’t have fretted, it turned out. Silva was there, smiling at the door as soon as they pulled into the tiny driveway of her condo.
Lurielle had barely seen her since she’d started back in the office. Silva was back in a different capacity, Ris had communicated, in a temporary position for someone on the design team who was out on her own maternity leave, a higher-level role than what she’d been in previously, but well within herpurview. Lurielle knew Silva was busier than she had been the last time they all worked together, but she didn’t know why she had yet to make it to the break room. She had yet to take Ris up on her invitation for them all to get together. She had come to a singular Soft Place meeting, and Lurielle had barely seen her since.
The distance didn’t seem to matter, as Silva held the door open, welcoming Lurielle and her brood into her home.
The first thing she noticed was how clean everything was. The whole condo smelled like a freshly peeled clementine, with no detritus on the tables, no toys strewn across the floor, no mystery baskets cluttering the corners. Lurielle gulped.Well, she only just moved in. And you have two.
She was almost surprised by the tightness of Silva’s hug.
“It issogood to see you,” the younger coworker said earnestly, squeezing with a strength that belied her slender frame. “I have everything set up outside since it’s such a beautiful day, but if the kids have any sort of grass allergy —”
“Nope. They are practically wild animals.”
Silva laughed, that high shimmering little bell that had been absent for so long. “Aelin is very excited to show off her new swing set. I think there’s rain in the forecast for later, so if it gets gloomy, we can move indoors.”
Silva’s daughter was dressed in a mint-green one-piece romper covered in embroidered ladybugs, her hair pulled up in a high ponytail that swished exactly like her mother’s. She could’ve been a model for the children’s boutique in town, looking neat and coordinated and perfectly put-together.
Comparison is the thief of joy, and you have two.
The children needed no buildup. The three of them tore out the back door as soon as Silva told Aelin to show Kora and her brother her new swing set. It was a castle-like climbing structure, Lurielle saw as they followed the kids out the door,featuring a slide, a ladder, three swings, and a short span of monkey bars. The little tower at the top of the slide had already been outfitted with lace curtains and a window box of flowers. The grass in the yard was uniform and neatly edged, as was the little patch of flowering groundcover at the rear of the house, beside the terrace. It was a shame Silva didn’t come to the perfect mother playgroup. She would fit right in, Lurielle thought sardonically.
Silva followed her eyes, intuiting what Lurielle was thinking with alarming clarity.
“Oh, this is all Tate. He asked her if she wanted a swing set, and a week later, he was putting this together. She has a little area rug, and a table and chair in there, and he brings her lunch like she’s a princess in a tower. The toys are organized in color-coded bins. The shelves in my cupboards are labeled. If a crumb drops on the floor, I’m pretty sure he can hear it all the way in Greenbridge Glen, and he shows up with a broom five minutes later.Everythingin the refrigerator has a date on it, Lurielle. I haven’t cooked in over a month. He would alphabetize my laundry if I gave him the opportunity. Please don’t thinkanyof this is me. I’d still be living out of boxes if I were my own.”
Lurielle was laughing before Silva had even finished. “I’ll be honest, thatdoesmake me feel a little better. Although I don’t know if I could deal with labeled shelves.”
Silva smiled grimly. “He needs a job. Desperately.”
She didn’t elaborate, and Lurielle didn’t want to ask. She hesitated, wondering what shedidfeel comfortable questioning.
“Where have you been hiding? I haven’t seen you in the office since you started back. Do they have you chained to the desk, not even allowed to take a break?” She kept her voice light. They had moved to the table by then, and Silva was pouring each of them a glass of lemonade.
“Oh, I get a break. And it’s desperately needed, because I’m having areallyhard time adjusting to being back.” Lurielle frowned at Silva’s admission, accompanied by a short burst of not-at-all Silva-like laughter. “I haven’t worked since I left, and . . . it’s been a lot. It’s the first time I’ve been away from her since she was born, so I usually just go to my car and cry during my break.”
