My heart. He’s making the whooshing noise we always do when we’re playing cars to signify gas going into the car.
“Do you need new tires?” Eli asks.
“Yes, I do,” Noel says. “How can I get new tires?”
“You drive it into here. I can put your car in the air.”
“Nice. And then we can get back to racing?”
I walk over to the door to Coop’s room, looking in. All three of them are on the floor, Cooper lying on his stomach and Noel and Eli sitting.
“Time for breakfast, boys,” I say, my heart racing when Noel’s eyes meet mine.
“Leave your car right there,” Eli tells Noel. “I’ll put new tires on.”
The boys pop up from the floor and leave the room, Noel taking a little longer to get up.
“Want some breakfast?” I ask. “We have coffee.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course. I make the best cinnamon rolls ever.”
I lead the way back downstairs, Noel following.
“I wanted that one!” Eli cries. “Mom!”
“I’ll tear it in half and you can share it.”
“That’s not fair.”
“It’s all the same bacon. None of it is special.”
“Or maybe all of it is,” Noel says, a smile in his voice. “It’s not every day someone makes me a nice breakfast like this. Thanks for cooking breakfast, Blair and Jules.”
That ends the argument.
“Thanks for breakfast,” Eli says.
“Noel, you can sit by me,” Coop says.
Eli wants to sit on his other side, and both boys fight for Noel’s attention while they’re all eating. Noel drinks two cups ofcoffee in fifteen minutes, likely as tired as I am from our hours of talking.
But it was nice. Really nice. When I said I was done talking about my mother, he dropped it. We talked about everything and nothing.
“That was delicious, thank you.” Noel brings his dishes over to the sink. “I’m sorry I have to go.”
“No.” Coop looks crestfallen.
“When are you coming back?” Eli asks.
“He’ll be back sometime,” I say, keeping things vague. I turn to Noel. “I’ll walk you to the door.”
Once we’re there, he gives my hand a quick squeeze and mouths, “Sorry”.
“It’s okay,” I say softly. “Thanks for playing with them.”
“It was fun.”
