“There you are!” Cara greets me brightly, as Max runs over to give me a hug. Nina gives me a slightly nervous smile, and I nod at her, not wanting to come on too strong, but I wish I could give her a hug, too.
“Perfect timing,” Cara continues, as she takes a seat at the dining table, gesturing for the kids to do the same. It takes a second for Max to unlatch himself from me, but he takes his seat and Nina and I do the same.
“I didn’t know you were such a great cook,” I remark to Cara, and she laughs, shaking her head.
“Oh, I’m not, but I’m trying to learn,” She replies. “Marsha was kind enough to give me one of her recipes today. I think I could just about manage to recreate it, as long as I’ve a whole afternoon to make it happen...” She takes a bite of the dish, closes her eyes, and groans. “God, though, that might be worth it,” she replies, and she glances over to Nina. “What do you think, Nina? Good?”
“Great!” she replies, putting her thumb up, and Cara grins and reaches over to muss her hair.
“We used to have this great Indian place not far from where we lived before,” Cara adds, a little wistfully. “If I could just get the recipes from there, I bet I would be able to figure out how they make them so delicious...”
I tense slightly at her mention of her life before this. It’s hard not to wonder if she wants it back, at least some parts of it, given the way that I’ve closed everything around her here. But she swiftly brushes it off, no doubt able to guess that it’s the last thing I want to talk about right now.
“What were you guys studying today?” I ask.
“Studying? I don’t think I’d go that far, I’m hardly getting them to college level,” Cara teases lightly. “But we were looking at some beautiful art, weren’t we, guys?”
They both nod, their little faces lighting up in unison. Sometimes, it’s hard to imagine that they haven’t known each other their entire lives, with just how similar they seem.
“Yeah, we looked at these old teacups!” Max replies, and I cock an eyebrow, glancing to Cara for clarification.
“I had a kid’s art book, and it has artifacts from around the world,” she explains. “We looked through some of them and talked a bit about where they came from, went to look at a globe so we could see how far they had travelled...”
Soon, the two kids are filling me on everything they’ve done that day, and I listen as I enjoy the delicious curry that Cara made for me. The way they talk over each other, excitedly adding in little details that they felt the other had missed out, is so damn cute, and I know that Cara feels it, too. She catches my eye occasionally, and I can see the warmth and care for the kids written all over her face.
The rest of the evening passes quicker than I can even keep track of it, the conversation flowing with a surprising ease. Cara talks to the kids in a way that really gets them going, and she sits back and sips on her water as she listens to them speak. And, beneath the table, I shift my leg slightly, so that it is leaning against hers. I don’t know if she even notices at first, but then, I feel her pressing back against me a little bit, and I grin.
Oh, yeah. She knows.
Soon enough, our plates are clear, and she claps her hands together.
“Alright, guys, let’s get this place cleaned up,” she announces. “Nina, Max, you take the plates to the sink, I’ll wash up-”
“No way,” I assure her, standing up before she can. “You made dinner, it’s my job to clean up.”
She glances up at me, clearly slightly surprised by my insistence. “You sure?”
“Certain.”
“Well, you’re not going to hear any argument from me,” she replies, tucking her hands behind her head and stretching out slightly. The angle I’m standing at, I can see the way her hair waves down over her shoulder, brushing against her collarbone in a way that is distinctly difficult to ignore.
I help the kids with the dishes, and soon, we have the place tidied. As I’m putting away the last of the cutlery, she ushers them towards the door.
“You should be getting ready for bed,” she tells them both, and Nina protests.
“But I was going to?—”
“Whatever it is, I promise we can do it tomorrow,” she replies gently. “Come on. Bed, now.”
She steers them through to their rooms, and I hear her soothing them as she calms them down for bed. The sound of her voice drifting through from next door, it brings a smile to my face, because it’s the first time I’ve really been able to share this with someone. The feeling of being a parent, of caring for these kids as though it is the most natural thing in the world. I’ve done all of it alone till now, and I didn’t realize what I was missing.
By the time that she has come back through, I’ve poured us both a glass of wine, and she looks at the bottle on the counter with some surprise.
“I thought you would be getting back to work by now.”
“You want me to leave you to it?”
She pauses for a moment, and then reaches out to take the glass of wine, her lips gliding along the rim as she takes a long sip. “No,” she replies, almost casually. “No, I think you should stay.”
