Page 36 of Twins for Three Bad Boys

“That’s just my face.”

I laugh, and he looks pleased with himself.

“Okay,” I say, lowering my voice like we’re negotiating a hostage situation. “How about this. We don’t call it nap time.”

He narrows his eyes. “What do we call it?”

“Dinosaur recharge time.”

He pauses.

I add quickly, “Even dinosaurs have to recharge, or they get cranky.”

Evan’s expression becomes very serious. “T. rex doesn’t nap.”

“T. rex absolutely naps,” I insist. “They just call it… uh… predator meditation.”

Evan snorts. Actually snorts. Like a tiny old man.

Then he climbs onto the couch with his favorite stuffed dog and lets me tuck a blanket over him as though I’ve been doing it forever.

He’s asleep within five minutes.

His lashes fan out against his cheeks, mouth slightly open, one hand curled around the wooden toy I gave him yesterday as if he’s afraid someone will take it.

I watch him for a long moment, chest tight with an emotion I don’t have a name for.

Protectiveness, maybe? Or longing. Or the strange, unexpected ache of being allowed to matter to someone again.

I should move. Clean. Do something useful.

Instead, I sit there quietly, letting the silence settle.

It’s the first moment of calm I’ve had in weeks that isn’t laced with fear.

Wayne comes home at five.

I hear the truck before I see him, the rumble cutting through the quiet like a signal flare.

My stomach flips.

I hate that my body does that. He’s a storm, and I’m a field with no shelter.

Evan bolts up the moment the front door opens, like he has some internal radar for his dad.

“Daddy!”

Wayne steps inside and catches him easily, lifting him up with one arm. “Hey, bud.”

Evan launches into an enthusiastic summary of his day. Lava rescues, dinosaur recharge time, and the fact that I “breathe loud but not like I’m mad.”

Wayne’s gaze flicks to me at that last part, almost startled.

I pretend I’m very interested in the kitchen counter.

“He’s been great,” I say quickly, because I don’t know what else to do. “We’ve had a good day.”

Wayne nods once. “Good.”