“Sitdown, Kayden,” she said firmly. I suppressed a smile at her tone as I lowered myself back to the couch. She left no room for argument sometimes, and it made my skin tingle.
“Mommy made chili. It’s my favorite. Do you like chili?” Kaylee asked.
“I do,” I said. “What kind of stuff is in your mom’s chili?”
She tilted her head to the side and regarded me carefully. “Beans, tomatoes, corn, cheese. What do you put in your chili?”
“I like all of that too. Sometimes I use ground beef and sometimes I like chicken chili.”
“Chicken chili?” She giggled. “Chicken doesn’t go in chili.”
“Sure it does,” I said, leaning forward and resting my elbows on my knees. “Maybe I’ll make it for you and your mom one night and you can see for yourself.”
“Okay,” she said with a small shrug. “Do you want to color with me?”
I looked at Olivia who was setting bowls on the round table in the corner of the kitchen. She tipped her head in Kaylee’s direction with an encouraging smile, so I got up and pulled out one of the small chairs at the kid’s table. “What’s the name of the T. rex?”
“Charlie,” she said, without looking up as she switched colors. “He’s purple, but T. rexes aren’t really purple.”
“They might be,” I said, picking up a purple crayon to color the picture next to the one she was working on. “Most of what we know about dinosaurs is because of fossils and scientists haven’t been able to determine color based on fossils.”
She lifted her head and looked at me again. “How do you know so much about dinosaurs if you don’t watchDinosaur Island?”
“I read a lot,” I said, smiling at her. “Plus, I likeThe Land Before Timemovies.”
“Are those about dinosaurs?”
“Yep.”
“Mommy, can we watchThe Land Before Time?”
Olivia laughed, “Sure, if Kayden wants to stay for a movie we can watch it after dinner.”
Kaylee looked at me expectantly. “Do you want to stay?”
A grin spread across my face. “Yeah, I’d really like that.”
“If we’re watching a movie, you better get over here for dinner,” Olivia called playfully.
Kaylee pushed herself up from the table. “Come on,” she said, waving for me to follow.
Olivia had set bowls for her and me across the table from each other with Kaylee’s between us. Kaylee climbed into her booster seat and Olivia pushed her into the table.
“Are you dating Mommy?” Kaylee said just as I lifted a spoonful of chili to my mouth. The shock of her question surprised me, and I spilled chili on my shirt. I set my spoon down and picked up my napkin to dab it clean.
“Kaylee,” Olivia chided. “That’s not a very polite question.”
“When Grandma brought Carl over for dinner, they were dating,” she said.
Olivia locked eyes with me and I noticed her hand shaking slightly as she lowered her spoon to her bowl and turned to face her daughter.Ourdaughter.
“Kaylee, Kayden is a really special friend.”
“Like Jace?” she asked, looking between us.
I choked on a sip of water.
“Kind of like Jace,” Olivia said cautiously. “Honey, you know how a lot of your friends at school have a mommy and a daddy.”
