“I do.” Theo smiled, “He’s a really good kid.”
“He likes you, too,” Nina said. “Last night, he wanted to wait and have dinner with you when you came home. I kept telling him you’d be late, but he wanted to wait up. Finally, he agreed to go to sleep when I told him he could have breakfast with you first thing today.”
“Really?” Theo glanced down at Nina. “In that case, I’ll try to be home for dinnertime more often.”
“Oh, you don’t have to. I know you’re busy.”
“Maybe I can’t make it every night, but at least sometimes. Now, let’s load up our superhero and say our goodbyes.”
Theo and Nina went to collect Jack, who grumbled a little about leaving his friends but eventually agreed to go with the promise of a movie night later that evening. Together, the three of them walked over to say goodbye to Charles.
“It was a pleasure talking to you today,” Charles said. He held out his hand, which Theo took. When he pulled his hand back, he saw that Charles had slipped him a business card, which he deftly tucked into his pocket to look at later. Theo grinned internally. Everything was falling into place.
“You too,” he said.
“Nice to see you,” Nina added.
“Bye,” Jack said, perhaps a little rudely, but Charles smiled down at the boy.
“See you all later.”
The trio headed to the parking lot. Halfway there, Jack got tired and tugged on Nina’s arm, so she lifted him up, and he rested his head on her shoulder. Theo smiled at the touching image ofthe boy’s eyes growing heavy. The little lad had run around with such abandon while playing with him, but he was so adorably tired now.
They loaded Jack into the car and drove home, mostly in companionable silence. When they were almost there, Theo showed Nina the business card.
“Good for you,” she said. “I guess Jack and I are doing our jobs.”
“You sure are,” Theo agreed. “I can’t thank you enough.”
“The money is enough of a thank-you,” Nina said. She was clearly joking, but the words made Theo’s heart heavy. He’d almost,almost,forgotten that this was all a temporary arrangement and that Nina and Jack would be leaving sooner or later. And that they were only here because he’d promised them money.
“Don’t worry, I’ll get you a card, too,” Theo said, joking along with her instead of admitting the strange heaviness in his heart.
“That sounds great.”
That night, Theo stayed for the movie night, though he worked a little on his laptop during the slower scenes of the animated movie. They all had dinner together, then he headed off to work more. It had been a good day.
CHAPTER 12
NINA
Nina was running late. Just a few minutes, but still. She’d been working until the last minute and ended up sprinting around the house, grabbing things to get ready for pick-up. She pulled the door open, purse in hand and shoes on, and came face-to-face with Theo.
“Ready to go?” he asked, like they did this every day.
“You’re coming?”
“Of course.” Theo stepped back to let her exit. “The pick-up line is a great place for networking. I’m hoping to see Charles Ackley once more before I reach out.”
“Right. That makes sense.” Nina tried to pretend she wasn’t disappointed. Part of her had hoped that Theo had come just because he wanted to spend time with her and Jack, but that was silly. Theo had been clear from the moment she’d met him — his work came first, end of story.
“Ready?” Theo repeated. She nodded, and they went out to the car together. On the drive over to the school, she tuned the radio to her favorite pop station and hummed under her breath.
“How was your day?” Theo asked.
“Good, mostly,” Nina said. “I got a lot of work done. How was yours?”
“Not bad.” They smiled at each other, and for a moment, Nina felt like they were a real married couple catching up after a long day of work. Then she remembered that they weren’t and turned up the radio to prevent further conversation.
