Chapter 21 – Nalia #2
“It’s fine.” I move around the counter. “I’m actually glad that you stopped by and that we were able to talk.”
“Me too.” He wraps his arm around me, pulling me into his side. “I’ll see you Sunday at Mom and Dad’s, right?”
“I’ll be there.” I hug him back then walk him to the door. When I get it open, he stops before he steps outside.
“I know I haven’t told you, but I’m glad you’re back.”
“Me too,” I mutter, and he knocks my shoulder before he steps out the door, saying over his shoulder.
“See you Sunday.”
“See you Sunday.” I close the door, letting out a breath.
Okay, that started off good, got really bad, then got good again, so all in all I’m glad that he came over and we were able to talk, and that I was able to be honest with him about how I feel.
With a weight lifted off my shoulders, I drag in a breath and head back to my office to work.
* * *
“What’s all this?” Logan asks from the front door as I walk up the front steps with two overflowing bags of groceries behind Zuri.
“I decided that I would make dinner since you’re the one who’s always cooking.” My eyes slide closed when he leans down, touching his lips to the corner of mine while taking the bags from me.
“Can you cook?” Coop asks as I stop to give Dozer, who is dancing at my feet, some attention while he closes the door.
“I’m not the best cook, but I can make a few things.”
“I can only make toast,” he mutters.
“Really?” Zuri frowns at him.
“What can you cook?” he asks her with a frown of his own.
“Everything,” she shrugs,
“Yeah, right.” He rolls his eyes.
“She’s been cooking since she was probably five, honey.” I ruffle his hair as I walk past him into the kitchen. What I don’t tell him is that she didn’t have a choice but to learn how to cook with Sharon as her mom.
“What are you making?” Logan asks, standing over my shoulder while I start to unpack the shopping bags.
“Baked ziti,” Zuri tells him as she takes out the three Kinder eggs she had me buy from the other bag, passing one to Cooper.
“What’s baked ziti?” Cooper asks, opening his egg.
I don’t say anything about either of them having candy before dinner.
Growing up, my parents never made eating junk food a big deal.
If we wanted candy, chips, or anything else, we could have it, and I can honestly say that it made my relationship with food so much healthier than my friends, who could only have a treat every now and then because if their parents weren’t around, they would gorge on sweets and junk food until they were sick.
“It’s basically baked spaghetti with mozzarella cheese,” I explain.
“Right on, I love spaghetti.”
“You’ll love it,” Zuri tells him, then asks. “Do you want to play Phogs?”
“Can we?” Cooper asks, looking between his dad and me.
I look at Logan to answer. Zuri and I went home after school and she did homework before we went to the store after she said that she was cool with coming over here for dinner, but I don’t know if Coop has already got his done.
“Yeah, that’s fine with me,” he mutters, and the kids smile at each other before disappearing out of the kitchen.
As we hear their footsteps on the stairs, his eyes lock on mine, and he smiles, closing the distance between us.
“Hey.” He hooks his finger in the loop of my jeans and drags me towards him.
“Hey.” I rest my hands against his chest.
“You have a good day?” The fingers of his free hand slide along my jaw, back into my hair.
“It was okay.”
“Just, okay?”
“My brother Sage stopped by my place to talk this afternoon.” I tell him and he keeps his eyes locked on mine as he waits for me to continue. “My mom told him about the situation with Sharon, and he offered to help me out if I needed it.”
“You have a lot of people in your corner.”
“I do.” I lean into him. “We also spoke some about Sharon.” I drop my eyes to my hands resting against his chest. “He hasn’t been very happy about the relationship I had with our birth mom, so he and I have had some issues over the years.”
“Was he cool when you two talked?” He uses his fingers on my chin to bring my gaze back up to his.
“Yeah, and I was able to be honest about some stuff, and I think that he finally saw things from my point of view for the first time.”
“What stuff?”
“That I’ve felt like I was living a double life for a long time with my family here, never really being able to talk about my life in Colorado without upsetting someone.”
“Upsetting him?”
“Mostly him, but I also didn’t want to hurt my parents’ feelings by talking about Sharon, good or bad.”
“You were stuck in the middle.” His expression gentles. “And trying to protect everyone but yourself.”
“It didn’t work, though. People were still hurt, it’s just that no one talked about it.”
“That’s how those things go usually.”
“Yeah,” I agree, and he pulls me in for a hug.
“I’m glad that you’re all working through things.”
“Me too.” I tip my head back to look up at him, and he dips his chin down and brushes his lips across mine as we hear the front door open.
After kissing me once more, he lets me go, and we both look to the kitchen entryway as Billie walks in.
“Hey.” She shrugs off her backpack dropping it onto the table. “Is it okay if Cat comes over?” She asks walking to the fridge. “We have a history test tomorrow that we need to study for.”
“That’s fine,” Logan tells her as I grab the third Kinder egg Zuri picked up and pass it over to her.
“Thanks. I love these.” She grins at me and opens a can of seltzer water. “What are we having for dinner?”
“I’m making baked ziti.” I go back to unpacking the stuff I brought in. “I also got salad, asparagus, plus garlic bread.”
“Nice.” She rips open the egg and starts eating it while asking me. “Can Cat stay?”
“If it’s okay with your dad,” I tell her, and she looks over at Logan.
“She’s always welcome.”
“Cool, I’ll let her know.” She finishes off her egg and tosses the plastic in the trash, then grabs a small bag of popcorn from the basket on the counter before taking a seat at the island with her phone and drink.
“What do you need me to help with?” Logan rests his hand on my lower back when I finish emptying the shopping bags.
“If you can just get me a pan for the sauce and a pot for the pasta.” I take the ice cream I bought to the freezer and put it away but leave out the cookie dough, chocolate, and caramel sauce.
“What are you making with that?” Billie asks, eyeing the cookie dough.
“Zuri wanted to make pizzookie for dessert,” I tell her as Cooper and Zuri come back into the kitchen.
“I’ll help you make dessert,” she tells Zuri while Cooper walks around the island getting two bags of popcorn and throwing one to Zuri.
“Okay.” Zuri takes a seat at the island next to her with her bag of popcorn.
“You’re already done with the game?” Logan asks, placing a pot of water on the stove.
“We’re hungry,” Cooper says around a mouthful of popcorn as he takes a seat on the opposite side of Billie at the counter.
“When are you not hungry?”
“I don’t know.” Cooper shrugs as the doorbell rings.
“That’s probably Cat,” Billie says, getting up and walking out of the kitchen, coming back a second later with Kristy right behind her.
“Mom,” Cooper shouts, jumping off his stool and running to his mom and wrapping his arms around her waist.
“Hey,” Kristy says, her smile seeming forced when she sees me at the stove with Logan.
“I didn’t know you were stopping by,” he tells her, and she shrugs.
“I wanted to talk to Billie about Friday,” she tells Logan while Billie takes her seat back at the counter.
“What’s Friday?”
“I got you an appointment to take your driver's test in the afternoon.”
“Oh,” she mutters, not looking at all excited about the idea. “What time?”
“Twelve, I’ll pick you up early from school, and we’ll go do your test, then go to lunch after to celebrate.”
“I’m not sure I’m ready.”
“You’re ready,” Logan tells her, taking a can of crushed tomatoes from me when he sees I’m struggling with his can opener.
“You’ve mastered parallel parking, which is the hardest part,” Kristy adds, and Billie shakes her head.
“I don’t know.”
I can hear the hesitation and nerves in her voice before I decide to chime in. “I don’t want to sound like I’m bragging or anything, but I took the road test three times before I passed, and it wasn’t a big deal.”
“Three times?” Billie repeats with her eyes wide as she stares at me.
“Hey, no judging.”
“I’m not.” She presses her lips together to keep from smiling.
“You are, but it’s okay.” I shrug. “My point is, if you fail, you can just take it again.”
“Okay,” she laughs, then looks at her mom, “I’ll go Friday.”
“Good.” Kristy smiles at her, then me, and mouths thanks.
Nodding, I ask her without thinking, “Do you want to stay for dinner? We’re having baked ziti.”
“And pizzookie for dessert,” Billie adds.
“Oh.” She looks to Logan, who is standing next to me, and starts to shake her head.
“Please, Mom,” Cooper says, holding up his hands that are pressed together.
“Umm.” She looks at me. “Are you sure?”
“Of course,” I tell her, and she studies me for a long moment before nodding.
“I’d love that, thanks, I just need to run out to my car and get my bag since I left it on the passenger seat.”
“I’ll go with you,” Cooper tells her, then asks Zuri, “Do you want to come?”
“Sure.” She gets up and leaves the kitchen with the two of them. As I hear the front door open Billie gets off her stool staring at her phone.
“Cat’s almost here, I’m going to go out and meet her.”
“Sure,” Logan says.
Alone in the kitchen with Logan I start to add the ground beef and Italian sausage into the pan for the sauce and he steps up behind me wrapping his arms around my middle.
“Thanks, baby.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“You think you didn’t, but you did.” He touches his mouth to my neck, which sends a tingle down my spine. “How did I get so fucking lucky?”
I don’t have time to reply before the front door opens again, but I’m thinking the same thing as the kitchen once more fills with people.