“No, I did,” I said, sticking my tongue out at Malena.
“At least you’ll always be able to see her, even in the dark,” Malena said and picked up her bag, winking at me. “Call me tonight?”
“I will. Thanks for coming over.”
She hugged us and kissed Lena’s head. “Anytime.”
I worked the rest of the day, watching the clock, every passing minute bringing me closer to seeing Sebastian again. No matter how much he hurt me, the invisible connection pulling me to him was still there.
I picked Luca up with Gears trailing us. After asking where Sebastian was when he didn’t come along to pick him up, Luca chattered the whole way back.
“Why do you have to works tonight?” Luca asked later that night when he was getting ready for bed. I was once again running late, but apparently so was Sebastian.
“Because I need to earn money,” I said. He was a bit young to understand why people had to work, but I tried my best to explain it to him.
“Buts we got money,” he said, stepping into his pajama pants.
“We do because I have a job. If I didn’t go anymore, then we wouldn’t have any money and would have to sleep in a tent.”
I hadn’t thought that through properly, because sleeping in a tent was an exciting prospect for my kids.
“I wants to sleep in a tent,” Luca cried.
Lena joined him. “Me too.”
“Who’s going to sleep in a tent?” Stella asked, appearing in the door.
“Me, because Mom is staying home,” Luca said with a big smile.
Stella looked at me with a smirk on her face. “Is that right?”
I caught Luca and lifted him, making sure I had his attention. “Sleeping in a tent isn’t really a good idea. Especially not when it’s cold. I’ll still have to go to work.”
He slumped in my arms, and his bottom lip quivered. “But I love tents.”
“How about we put one up in the living room?” Stella suggested.
“Small problem,” I said, putting Luca back on his feet. “I don’t have one.”
Her excitement didn’t falter. “I’ll message Mason to drop one off. He’s got about ten.”
She pulled her phone out and started typing, Luca and Lena dancing around her.
I left them to it and searched for my shoes and bag. Every day I promised myself I’d put them down near the front door so I would find them again. And every day I dropped them somewhere in the house and forgot where.
My shoes were under the couch, and my bag was in the bathroom.
I opened the front door, calling across the street to Gears. “Do you know where Sebastian is? I have to go to work.”
He jogged over, coming to stand in front of me. “He’s on his way.”
“Okay, thanks,” I said, and he went back to his post across the street. They couldn’t be more obvious if they tried. No way would Jim come back with a big bike and bigger dude sitting in front of my house.
When a knock sounded a few minutes later, I kissed the kids goodbye and waved to Stella. “Have fun.”
I opened the door, but instead of Sebastian, it was Mason standing in front of me. “Hey, Mason. You here to drop off the tent?”
He nodded and leaned in, kissing me on the cheek.
