Chapter 10 #3
Finn finally exited the pantry as Dylan shook his head. “It was creepin’ Jesse out ’cause we don’t have any curtains or anythin’ down here.”
Curtis looked at me, raised his eyebrows, and lifted the coffee carafe. I nodded. Maybe I’d shoot the coffee and chase it with an energy drink. I wasn’t sure anything else would fully wake me up. I wondered briefly if you could chew the grinds to get the caffeine quicker.
“Did you unload the mattress?” Curtis asked Dylan as he prepared the coffee.
“No, I forgot it was in there,” Dylan said, dropping the chair back to four legs.
“Go do that now, yeah? Then Jess’ll have somewhere to sleep tonight.”
“I’ll help,” Jesse said, hopping down from the counter.
“I can carry a mattress,” Dylan informed them as they raced each other out of the kitchen.
I barely heard them as I stared at Curtis’s back.
It was such a small thing, but…he’d shortened Jesse’s name.
“Mom, can you help me?” Finn asked, thrusting the box of cereal in my face. “I can’t get the bag open.”
“Sure,” I replied distractedly.
I helped Finn with his cereal and was still standing at the counter when Curtis set a cup of coffee down in front of me. His hand slid around to press against my belly as his lips hit the back of my neck.
“You wanna hit some garage sales today and see if we can find some furniture?”
“Sure,” I breathed, my skin breaking out in goose bumps.
Curtis lifted his head when there was a loud thump by the front door.
“We’re okay,” Jesse called out, laughter in their voice.
“When you’re done, get dressed,” Curtis called back. “We’re gonna go see if we can find you some furniture.”
“Awesome!” Jess called back.
“Do I have to go?” Dylan asked.
“He’s going,” Jesse countered.
“I have furniture,” Dylan reminded his dad.
There was some kind of hushed conversation that we couldn’t hear, then Dylan spoke again.
“Fine, I’ll go!”
“They’re friends now,” Finn informed us gloomily as he stared at the back of the cereal box.
“Oh yeah?” Curtis asked, walking back to the coffeepot. He must have chugged his coffee to finish it, but I wasn’t sure how since mine was still hotter than Mt. Doom.
“Yeah, they like the same video game, I guess,” Finn said, his disappointed eyes meeting mine.
My gut sank. I was glad that Jesse and Dylan were getting along, but I knew how it felt to be left behind. The other two kids were teenagers, and while Finn was pretty cool most of the time, he wasn’t there yet.
“You know,” Curtis said, meeting my eyes in silent communication that I couldn’t decipher. “If it’s cool with your mom, I think Mia’s home today. You wanna see if you can go hang with her while we look for furniture?”
I nodded. Kara and Draco’s oldest was the same age as Finn and lived just down the street. They’d played really well together at the barbecue, and it was kind of perfect because I already knew her parents.
“Yeah.” Finn perked up and looked at me. “Is that okay?”
“They might be busy.”
“I’ll go get dressed!” Finn announced as he shot up from his chair.
Curtis pulled his phone out of his pocket. “They better not be busy,” he said, raising the phone to his ear as his sympathetic eyes met mine. “That was fuckin’ brutal.”
My heart thumped in my chest as he walked toward me, kissing me on the temple as he passed me.
“Hey, bro, is it cool if Finn comes to play with the girls for a few hours?” He walked out of the kitchen. “Yeah, seems Jesse and Dylan are buds now, and Finn’s feelin’ left out.”
His voice drifted away while I stood frozen in the kitchen.
We’d spent the five days getting to know each other, building a routine, and generally trying to find a new normal that worked for everyone.
The situation was far from typical, and while the kids seemed to have gotten as comfortable as they were able without any furniture, Curtis and I had gone to great lengths to make sure that nothing rocked the boat.
I’d invited Dylan along with the kids and me when we were running errands, or offered him lunch when I made it, making a point to let him know he was included.
Curtis had been the same. He talked to Jesse about music and to Finn about literally anything.
He cracked jokes and teased them, like I noticed he did to his nieces and the other kids at the barbecue.
If I thought back, maybe I could think of a time when he’d shortened Jesse’s name like only our family did or gone out of his way to brighten Finn’s day.
The fact was, I hadn’t really seen those things if he’d done them. There was a level of familiarity that I hadn’t noticed before in the way he’d used Jesse’s nickname, and his eyes had met mine in commiseration when Finn was bummed out.
I’d been so sure that sex wouldn’t change anything, and on the outside it hadn’t.
But I’d overlooked the inevitable sense of intimacy that was impossible to ignore—the kind that assigned importance to simple everyday occurrences.
The kind of intimacy that turned a roommate into a partner.
I followed Curtis upstairs, wondering what kind of Pandora’s box we’d opened and if it was even possible to close it again.