“Right. Well, looks like I am being summoned.” I shake my head, sip my glass, and adjust my buttoned-down blue shirt that matches my dark jeans and shoes.
By the time that I make it to the kitchen, Abby and my mother are laughing about something, while she helps my mother arrange a replenished snack tray. Abby’s eyes immediately flick up to meet mine and she offers me a closed-lip smile that tells me she is on to our parents too.
“Mother.” It comes out a little stiff.
“Mon amour, I was just catching up with Abby. Such a sweetheart to help me.” My mother touches Abby’s arm as she gushes her praises.
Abby licks her lips and seems to be enjoying this situation.
“I had no idea you were going to be here,” I mention.
Abby looks at me. “Me neither. But your mother phoned me a few hours ago along with my parents and informed me I had no choice.” Abby throws on an overly done smile.
My eyes slide up and I nod once, biting my inner cheek in delight of this situation.
“Maybe, Abby, you can help Lucas? I am out of ice for the cosmopolitans. It is so much easier with a bag of ice than the ice from the fridge. I think you will need to go to the store,” my mother requests as she arranges crackers on a tray. Almost sounding convincing, but I know better.
“Uhm… sure, why not? I can help Lucas.” Abby is caught off guard about what to do, but her eyes meet mine and we exchange a flirtatious look.
“Merci. It’s just ice we need. Nate isn’t coming until later, and I don’t want to wait. Thank you both,” my mother quickly adds, before taking her tray and shimmying off to the living room where the noise is picking up.
Abby and I look at each other and admittedly it is with smoldering looks, only intensified when I touch her arm briefly.
“Come on,” I tell her and motion for her to follow.
“I should grab my coat,” Abby comments.
Ignoring her, I yank her arm and guide us to the end of the downstairs hall past the laundry room and open the door to the garage. Walking into the garage, I close the door behind us then walk up to the chest freezer. Opening the door to the freezer, my hand indicates for her to look.
Abby gives me a puzzled look then examines the freezer and starts to laugh.
“Yeah, something tells me that we don’t need to trek it to the grocery store.” My mouth slants into a lopsided grin.
“Well, there are a lot of bags of ice,” she states and shakes her head in amusement.
“My mother is always up to tricks,” I admit.
Abby puts a hand on her hip and tilts her head to the side. “What now? She’ll be upset her plan was an epic fail.”
“Come with me upstairs?”
Abby’s eyes question me. “Someone is blunt.” Her lips quirk.
I smile. “Yeah yeah yeah. No, I want to check on Theo.”
Abby’s face lightens as she nods in agreement and follows me through the house and upstairs.
Despite the noise downstairs, it’s quiet upstairs. We soften our steps as we approach Theo’s room. Gently I crack open his door and see that he is sound asleep with a dinosaur stuffed animal and small nightlight on. My parents decided to make one of the guest rooms into a Theo room. They went a little overboard.
Gently closing the door behind me, my eyes look at Abby who was watching me check on my son with a soft smile on her face.
My hand goes out indicating for her to take it, and she does. I walk us a few steps to my room then close the door behind us as I turn the light on. Abby walks into the room and flops onto the edge of the bed.
“You have Theo for the weekend?”
“Yeah, which works out great as my parents really wanted to see him.”
She smiles at me and there is a pause.
