Chapter 60
I stoodup as the car made its way toward the house and pulled into the driveway. I walked down the porch stairs, and Rose flung her door open even before Jasmine’s car came to a full stop. Seconds later, she was launching herself at me, clinging tight. Her sobs shook her whole body. I held her against me, stroking her hair.
Bailey came next, wrapping his arms around both of us. He was more restrained than his sister, but his arms were no less tight. I kissed the top of his head.
“Are you staying this time?” Bailey asked.
“Your ocean is my ocean.”
He squeezed me tighter. Rose squirmed out of our grip. She ran to Jasmine, wrapping her arms around her waist, looking up into Jasmine’s face and smiling. “We can be a real family now, together again.”
“We sure can,” Jasmine said.
Bailey led me inside. “Do you want to see my assignment?”
“I’d love to.”
“I’ll go get it.”
Rose sat at the table. “It’s a huge poster. We have to put it in the broom cupboard every night to keep it hidden from Timmy. I think Bailey would lose his shit if it got destroyed.”
I raised my eyebrows at her and tried not to laugh at her phrase, even if it was amusing coming from a nine-year-old. I waited for her to reconsider her statement.
Rose pursed her lips and nodded. “Bailey would be distraught if Timmy ruined it.”
I smiled. Her word usage was humorous. “That’s better. A new favourite word?”
She nodded. “Mummy was upset when you left, but upset is a very boring word. Everyone uses it. So I looked in the thesaurus you gave me for Christmas. Distraught was a much better word.”
“I was distraught too, in here.” I pointed to my heart.
Bailey appeared with a roll of paper. He rolled it out. It was at least four feet by six feet. He’d drawn a dissection of an ocean scene—the sand stretching out to the ocean, the world below the surface of the water and above it. I studied the drawings. Crabs under the sand through to birds in the sky.
I put my arm around Bailey’s shoulders. “This is excellent work.”
“Do you think you can help me make sure I got everything?”
“Sure can.”
“He also needs to do a report on the ecosystem,” Jasmine said.
“You’re an expert on reports,” Rose said. “You did one to become a doctor, or was it a professor? It doesn’t matter. Mum said your report was hundreds of pages long. And you were busy making it perfect. That’s why you couldn’t ring.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Rose wasn’t that talkative when we spoke online, but she sure made up for it now.
“Remember the first night you stayed with us? We had my favourite meal then. I think we should have your favourite tonight.”
“That’s a good idea, Rose,” Jasmine said. “Why don’t you help me with dinner while Ethan helps Bailey with his assignment?”
Rose left her seat. “We need to do my home reading first.”
“We can do it in your room.”
Rose giggled as she followed her mum. “Was I giving Ethan an earbashing?”
Jasmine laughed. “You were giving everyone an earbashing.”
Bailey and I looked at each other and smiled. As a family, we fit together perfectly.