She was pretending that things weren’t getting real. That making love until the world stopped was usual, typical. And he was letting her.
It was a problem he needed to tackle sooner rather than later.
So far, the new episodes were doing well. Silas had sat in on a couple of their work meetings, mainly because he liked watching Maggie when she was in all-business mode. She had a seemingly endless well of energy. He sometimes wondered if he was the only one who saw beneath it. Who caught the slump of her shoulders when she’d pushed too hard for too long. The shadows under her eyes when she got lost in budgets and spreadsheets late at night.
He stepped back and assessed the eyes on the tree trunk. They looked just a little bit ridiculous, and he couldn’t wait for her to find them.
Picking up his coffee, Silas gave the tree a salute and headed back toward the house.
Maggie would be dressed and grilling Cody on his plans for the weekend. She’d confessed to Silas that she thought there was a girl in the picture, but neither of them had managed to pry anything out of the kid yet. He made a note to try again that evening and then wondered if he was an idiot for taking it for granted that he’d be here at the dinner table.
Things had the potential to go horribly wrong, and he couldn’t quite shake the feeling that some kind of disaster was lurking just beyond the horizon.
On an impulse, he dug out his phone and carefully chose a funny good-morning GIF to send his siblings.
Taylor: I miss mountain time. I’ve been up for three hours.
Niri: That’s the problem with the East Coast. That and the fact that YOUR FAMILY LIVES IN IDAHO.
Michael: Are we shouty caps already today? Wake up on the wrong side of the bed?
Niri: You try waking up 36 times with a baby jumping on your bladder.
Silas: Taylor, I looked at flights from Boston and there’s some good deals this summer. Hint. Hint.
Niri: YES! COME HOME!
Michael: You should. I can’t quite remember what my niece and nephew look like. What are their names again?
Silas: Chewbacca and Lego Face, right?
Taylor: Thanks, assholes. Way to ruin the surprise. John and I booked tickets for the last week in August. AND IF YOU TELL THE MOMS AND DADS I WILL MURDER ALL OF YOUR FACES!
Michael: The last weekend of August. Didn’t anyone tell you? The rest of the family is going to Disney without you. Sorry we’ll miss you.
Niri: I’ll grab you a pair of the mouse ears if I have time between all of our fun family activities.
Taylor: You are terrible people. If I had any sense at all I’d cancel the flight to Boise and book myself into a spa for a week.
Silas: I guess we could reschedule the Taylor-free Disney trip. Maybe we can squeeze it in before our Taylor-free Alaska cruise instead.
Taylor: middle finger emoji
Niri: Okay. Razzing over. I’M SO HAPPY YOU’RE COMING HOME!! I’M CRYING!!
Silas: Me, too. But with very manly tears.
Michael: I’m smiling appreciatively.
Taylor: You guys are the worst. I love you shitheads.
Silas: We love you back, turd breath.
Comforted with the constancy of his siblings, Silas headed inside for more coffee. He was just pouring when the doorbell groaned out a greeting.
“Sy, can you get that?” Maggie called from upstairs.
“On it,” he called, heading for the front door. Kevin and the kittens exploded past him.
He opened the door and barely restrained his dog from plowing through the screen into the visitor. A woman with short-cropped dark hair and an exasperated expression on her pretty face bounced a sobbing toddler on her hip.
“They’re friendly,” he promised as he held the screen open for her. “Come on in.”
After a slight hesitation, she stepped over the threshold.
“Kevin, sit.”
The dog sat and stared up at the stranger with adoration in his eyes. One of the kittens ran up his back and jumped, sinking its claws into Sy’s shorts. It was downright undignified.
“Kevin and Hot Landscaper Guy, right?” the woman said over the wails of the boy in her arms.
“That’s right,” he answered, holding the screen door open and shooing dog and cats outside. “What can I do for you?”
“Is Maggie around?” she asked.
The little boy spotted him and, with fat tears still rolling down his cheeks, reached for Silas. “Buddy, remember Stranger Danger?” she said with exasperation that tinged toward hysteria.
“Come on in,” Silas offered, deciding not to be offended about being called a dangerous stranger. “Do you want any coffee? Water?”