“Carter!” Amelia says excitedly. “Mommy got a PlayStation. Wanna play with me?”
“Not right now, okay? I have to make dinner.”
I walk over next to Kenna and peer down into what looks like beef stew. My mouth waters. The woman has skills.
On the counter next to the cooktop is a receipt. My eyes bug out when I see I wasn’t far off. She spent nine hundred seventy-nine dollars. Incash.
“Can Christian play with me?” Amelia asks from the couch.
I glance over once again at all the empty boxes from their shopping excursion. It’s evident Kenna wants to be self-sufficient. ‘We’re fine down here.’Does that mean she doesn’t want anything to do with us?
But what about last night? The snowman. The moment we had on the ground. The look we shared that I’m one-hundred-percent sure was not a figment of my imagination.
“He’s not all that great at stairs, pumpkin.”
“Because his legs are all wobbly?”
I smile. “Yeah.”
“I could bring it up there.”
“Amelia, we talked about this,” Kenna gently admonishes. “We’re not going to bother Carter and Christian.”
I lean close. “Bother us. Please.”
When I replay the words in my head and figure that might fall under the category of scaring her away, I step back and add, “I mean, it’s always been just the two of us. It’s nice having other people around for a change.”
She stirs the pot again. “We have dinner. And I need to wash my hair.”
Feeling put in my place, I nod and gesture to the couch. “I put some boxes over there. I’ll pop up to get more.”
“I’ll go with you. Amelia, can you help, please?”
I cock my head. “Those boxes are way too heavy for her.”
“I don’t want her down here with the pot on the cooktop.”
Fair point. I pick up some of the empty boxes, then have a thought. “Don’t you want to keep some of these to re-pack your purchases when you leave?”
She shrugs. “Most of this stuff won’t be needed. I’ll keep the PlayStation for Amelia, but other than that, maybe you could donate whatever you don’t want.”
Donate?I stare at the coffee maker that I know must have cost well over a hundred dollars and shake my head at this enigma of a situation. “Well, okay then.” Not sure what else to say, I proceed upstairs with my armful, Kenna and Amelia right behind me.
Instead of helping us with the boxes, Amelia begs Christian to play a game of Go Fish. It keeps her busy as we unload the rest of my car.
“Thank you for letting me use your car today,” Kenna says when the last of the boxes are downstairs.
“It’s yours to use as long as you’re here.”
“That’s really not necessary.”
“I’m driving a loaner from the shop. It’s all good.”
“But you have carpool tomorrow.”
I laugh. “The car does have a back seat, Kenna.”
“Still…” She walks over and stirs the pot. “I don’t want to—”
