“Thanks.” She looked up at us. “I miss them.”
“I’m sure you do,” Ashton said.
“What movie are we going to watch? Do you still want a movie, or would you just like to have dinner and then we can take you back to the hotel?” I asked, wanting to lighten the mood.
“I’d still like to watch something. If you don’t have time for a whole movie, we can just watch a show or something.” Her look went bashful. “I can take a car back. I'd just like some of those couch snuggles.”
“Couch snuggles are all yours. We can absolutely find something on the shorter side to watch so we can still get you back,” I offered.
“Maybe an animated movie? That would be fun,” she offered.
“Sounds fantastic.” I didn't care what we watched, as long as I got to hold her.
Chapter Fourteen
Ashton
“This is amazing,” I said in awe, leaning against the counter. Kai stood at the kitchen island making sushi.
Steven was on the balcony grilling the steaks.
I got out the really nice bottle of wine my agent had sent me for making the playoffs. He’d sent scotch for making the semis, and champagne for making the finals. What wine went with steak and sushi?
Did it even matter? I knew nothing about wine.
“I’m not making anything complicated. It’s just spicy tuna rolls and salmon rolls with avocado and cucumber. I can teach you. It’s not hard.” Kai deftly rolled it up and set it on a plate.
Not hard? It looked like sorcery to me.
“Here, let’s make this next one together. Wash your hands,” they instructed.
I washed my hands and went over to Kai. Carefully, they showed me how to put the warm rice on the seaweed and add the salmon along with the sliced avocado, and cucumber.
“Now we roll it up tight. Usually I use a roller.” Hands over mine, Kai helped me tightly roll up the sushi.
“Oh. I did it.”
Kai beamed at me. “See? Look at that! It’s beautiful.”
“Wow. I made sushi.” I dropped a picture in my family group chat.
We finished rolling them up. Then, Kai sliced them and put them on a plate.
I got utensils and wine glasses and set everything up on the coffee table in the living room. Really the table needed a candle, but we didn’t have any, because inevitably Steven would start playing with the melting wax and make a mess.
We didn’t have a lot of stuff in our condo, but we had a big, comfy couch, a coffee table, some lamps, and a big screen TV with surround sound. Thanks to my mom, our giant sectional had throw pillows that coordinated with our curtains and rug.
Did we have more blankets? Kai might like blankets for movie-watching.
I went into the linen cupboard and found a couple of throw blankets, mostly knitted ones made by my grandma, who kept sending them to me. I think she thought that we could just leave them out like a breadcrumb trail and it would lead the right omega directly to our living room.
They didn’t smell musty, so I threw one over the back of the couch and then put a couple on the arm chair that matched our couch–just in case.
Steven came in from the balcony with the cooked steaks on a platter. “Should we make plates in the kitchen and bring them out?”
“Yes.” The delicious aroma made my mouth water. I held up the fancy bottle of wine. “Why not?”
“Sounds good to me.” He went into the kitchen and saw the sushi. “Wow, those look great.”
