Cain bit his tongue to interrupt his rising thoughts with the flash of discomfort.
“What’s for dinner?” Ashton jumped forward in his seat to poke his head up front.
“Chicken and potatoes,” Cain said. Chicken was a favorite of Ashton’s, so Cain didn’t mind cooking it. Actually, he loved it a lot more than other meats himself.
“Real chicken?” Ashton’s eyes were wide with hope.
Cain laughed. “If by real you mean plucked and processed, then yes.”
Ashton fell back in his seat. “Oh,” he said.
Nora turned around and looked at him. “Oh? Did you want to go find a farm and kill one yourself?”
“Yes,” Ashton said.
She raised an eyebrow and looked at Cain. He just smiled, and laughed to himself. Ever since Ashton could comprehend what being a dragon meant, he had always hoped to be able to fly and catch his own food.
When Cain and Ashton had gone camping together, they did just that. Ashton flew on Cain’s back and they found some wild animals to catch and cook over the open fire. Cain hadn’t the faintest idea where Ashton’s obsessions with chickens came from, but it made shopping and cooking easy.
“I’ll have to reheat the food,” Cain said, once they arrived walking towards the kitchen. “I’ll be right out with it.”
Nora followed him into the kitchen. “I’ll help,” she said.
Cain chuckled. “Honestly, I was just going to throw it in the microwave.”
There was sadness in the smile that spread across her face. “Microwave it is,” she said.
“What,” Cain began, “am I a bad parent for microwaving my kid’s food?” He winced at the sound of his own voice.
Why did he get so defensive, all of a sudden? He hadn’t tried to connect and build a relationship with anyone in a while. He would have to learn how to communicate all over again.
“No, of course not,” Nora said. “I wasn’t even thinking about that, but if you want to get into it....” She didn’t finish the sentence.
“I don’t,” Cain said. “Not before dinner.”
He really wanted dinner to go well. He wanted everyone to relax and enjoy the food. Anything that Nora and Cain had to talk about, could wait until later, much later.
Chapter 5 – Nora
Dinner was almost painful sitting under Cain’s piercing gaze. Nora kept shifting in her seat wondering what he was thinking about her. He had arrived at the school unexpectedly, and for a minute she had thought he was going to freak out over Ashton’s getting into a fight.
Cain’s eyes had narrowed to a piercing gaze, and Nora had wanted nothing more than to protect Ashton. She was ready to yell at Cain for being so inconsiderate, but then he was the one that offered to talk over dinner.
When June had shown up unexpectedly she was thankful for his presence. She was about to reach for his hand seeking comfort, but she squared her shoulders and stepped forward to encounter the unexpected presence.
It took her a minute to recognize June, but when she did, it didn’t ease her worried, and only made her more nervous. June was an old student from about ten years ago, and was very antisocial. But, as long as Cain was behind her she could push herself forward and talk to June.
It wasn’t until June had mentioned Cain and Ashton as her family that she remembered she could leave the situation. Nora didn’t correct her assumption, knowing it would only mean she would have to stand there and talk more. She didn’t want to talk at all, not to June.
There was something about Cain standing behind her, waiting. Somehow, she knew that if she had been in trouble he would have protected her. Even the way he was watching her eat was as if he wanted to make sure she liked the food; that it was good enough for her.
“This is really good,” Nora said. After working all day with loud kids, Nora would normally welcome the quiet of her home, but this silence was unbearable.
“I’m glad you like it,” Cain said. He coughed, to clear his throat. “Ashton, what do you think?”
“It tastes like chicken,” he said around a mouthful.
Both Nora and Cain chuckled. They looked at each other, and said nothing more, but allowed soft smiles to play on their lips.
“Um, Ashton,” Nora began, “I want you to work on your homework from today and if you have any questions you can bring it to me.” She looked toward Cain and cleared her throat. “Cain and I need to talk a little bit.”
Ashton’s eyes darted between Cain and Nora. She could only imagine what he was thinking. He set his fork on the plate.
“Why?” he asked. “Is it about me? Is it because I got into a fight?”
“If it was for you to know you’d be apart of it,” Cain said.
Nora flicked her eyes to Cain before settling on Ashton again. “Yes, we will be talking about you among other things. The fight you got into today will only be a small part of it.”
“Oh okay,” Ashton said. He shoved the rest of his chicken into his mouth. Around the food he said, “I’ll go study now, then.”
He took his plate to the kitchen. Nora and Cain watched him haul his bag out of the room, and disappear around the corner.
Nora set her napkin on her empty plate and said, “Should we start with what just happened?”
Cain reclined in his chair and put an arm on the back of it. “Something just happened?”
“Ashton was worried about what we were going talk about, and instead of allaying his fears you made them worse by practically telling him he was in the wrong for wanting to know.” She could already feel her temper rising. She tried to push it down; there was no reason for her to get angry, but every time she talked with Cain she wanted to release every pent up emotion.
Nora had never felt this way before, but when she was with Cain she trusted he would take everything she gave him and process it to give a proper response. She’d only known him for just over a day; there was no way she could be so vulnerable with him. She needed to be more careful.
Taking a deep breath, she tried to continue speaking, to explain how Cain might have handled the situation better. “You’re right in that if it was important for him to be around he would be, but it is okay to give him the main idea of what we’ll be talking about. When you do that you alleviate any anxiety that he might have otherwise.”
“How do you know he would have anxiety?”
“Every kid experiences anxiety. They will sit there staring at their homework trying to think of what it was they did wrong to necessitate such a private conversation to begin with. I can almost guarantee that if I had not said anything, Ashton would be sitting in there beating himself up for being a horrible student, which in turn would create more of an attitude from him tomorrow.”
Nora worried her lip. She felt the skin break and tasted the iron as she continued to roll the tender area between her teeth. Had she gone too far and said too much?
“Please continue; there is obviously more you wish to say.” His voice was slowly becoming huskier, and his eyelids had dropped low as well.
“You told him that his behavior at school is normal for who he is, and I think that was the worst thing you could have said to Ashton.” Nora kept her own voice low, and spoke slowly not wanting to push anymore than she had.