“Well, I’m sorry I made you come home, but I’m sure you’ll have another opportunity with him.”
“He held my hand.” I smile at the memory. My whole body gets tingly at the thought of it. “I mean, just for a minute because one of his friends started teasing him. But… it was…”
“You should invite him over to the house.”
“You mean while you’re home?”
“Oh God. Unthinkable.”
“Mom…”
Mom winks at me. “What? I’ll be cool.”
Oh my God, she will definitely not be cool. She’ll probably drag out old photo albums and show him pictures of potty training.
“You can take him up to your room,” she adds. “As long as you keep the door open.”
“Do we have to keep it open? It’s not like we’re going to do anything.”
Mom snorts. But I guess maybe she’s right. If Liam and I were alone in a room…
God, the thought of it makes me all tingly again. I can’t wait to see him again.
Mom pulls up the Honda in front of our house, and by this point, I’ve mostly forgiven her. Aside from Madison, my mother is my best friend and it’s hard to stay angry at her. And she’s probably right. I don’t think I’ve blown it with Liam. Aren’t you supposed to play hard to get with boys?
So I’m in a pretty good mood when I get out of the car. Until I see who’s sitting on the front steps to our house.
Chapter 16
Erika
The smell of the meatloaf in the oven fills the kitchen as I chop cucumbers for the salad that will be the green element of our dinner tonight. My mother raised me to always add a green element to dinner. Even though it’s a guarantee that Hannah will pick it off her plate with her thumb and forefinger and look at it like it’s dog poop. And Liam might also. Actually, it’s fifty-fifty that Jason will too.
Still, you have to have a green element.
The front door slams shut, which means Jason is home from work. Right on time. He’s removed his shoes by the door—getting him to do that was a victory that was hard won. He wanders into the kitchen, looking pretty dang handsome in his shirt and tie. He offers me a crooked smile. “Smells good.”
“Meatloaf.”
He joins me at the counter and looks down at the cucumber I’m chopping. “Funny. It doesn’t look like meatloaf.”
I roll my eyes and nudge him with my shoulder. “It’s in the oven. Five more minutes on the timer.”
He walks over to the oven and throws it open to peer at the meatloaf inside. I hate it when he does that because it disrupts the cooking process, but I grudgingly appreciate that he likes my cooking so much that he has to witness it in progress.
“How was traffic?” I ask. I still don’t know how he can brave the commute from Manhattan to Long Island during rush hour and keep a smile on his face. Five minutes on the Long Island Expressway and I’m crabby all day.
“Not bad.” He sticks his thumb into his tie to loosen it. “Can I help with chopping?”
I snort. Jason is good with computers, but cooking is definitely not his thing. When he’s chopping vegetables, he’s just as likely to slice off a chunk of his finger—I’d rather not have blood all over my salad. “That’s okay.”
“What?” He points at the tomato on the counter. “I could chop that up for you.”
“Hmm. Could you?”
“Sure. I have great knife skills or whatever.” When I give him a look, he grins at me. “Come on. It’s just for our dinner. It’s not like we’re entering the salad in a salad competition.”
“How about you set the table?”
“Your wish is my command, m’lady.”
I roll my eyes. “Can you yell for Hannah and Liam to come down first?”
“You got it.”
Jason pulls his tie the rest of the way off as he wanders over to the staircase to yell for the kids to come down for dinner. Then he obediently comes back to the kitchen to set the table. He’s being a five-star husband tonight.
“Did you have a good day at work today?” I say as I start chopping the tomato.
He nods eagerly. “The team is making great progress. Everyone is working really hard, and we’re going to have a new product soon. It’s exciting.”
Jason explained to me some of the software they’re building, and I don’t entirely understand it. He is definitely some kind of genius. It’s a bit intimidating, because I’m definitely not a genius, but after twenty years of marriage, I don’t feel insecure about that anymore. At least it means we can afford a nice house and nice cars. And maybe if he gets some time off, we can take a nice vacation as a family.