“Can we put the soccer decals on my bedroom walls?” She didn’t even bother to remove her jacket before asking the question when they entered his house. “You said the paint would be dry by today.”
He knew her teacher’s routine. Every Monday, Mrs. Wilson sent the students home with a packet of work, which was due on Friday. Students could do it all at once or a little each night. She didn’t care, as long as they turned it in on Friday. If it’d been up to him, he would’ve let Reese decide how she wanted to tackle the weekly assignment. Taylor, on the other hand, insisted Reese do a little each night. Since she was the one in charge, he made sure Reese completed one assignment before she did anything else when she stayed with him after school.
“Homework first. You know that. While you do that, I’ll start dinner, and when you’re done, I’ll help you if you want.”
In addition to picking up Reese on Tuesdays and Thursdays, he also prepared dinner for the three of them. Although it wasn’t uncommon for Taylor to leave work late, and then they ate without her.
Reese’s sigh almost knocked him over, but she sat down at the kitchen table and pulled out her school folder. “I’m going to do the math tonight.”
“Really? You always save math until the end. Are you feeling okay, short stuff?” The girl treated her math assignments similar to the way most people treated snakes. She always avoided it for as long as possible and didn’t even look at it until Thursdays.
“We’re going over how to multiply double-digit numbers. It’s super easy because Aunt Taylor taught me how to do it last year.”
He interpreted her statement to mean she’d zip through her work tonight, and then they could hang the decals.
“What are we having for dinner?” Reese asked as she flipped through pages in her homework packet.
“Steak and baked potatoes.” While they’d improved considerably since he moved here, compared to Taylor’s and Priscilla’s, his culinary skills were somewhat lacking. However, he excelled at grilling, and he did it regardless of whether it was raining or there were several feet of snow on the ground.
“Yes, steak!”
He’d expected such a reaction. The girl loved meat, especially steak and burgers.
Two
If Taylor never stepped foot in another high-end women’s clothing store until after she retired, it’d still be too soon. More than once, Taylor had insisted Judith, Curt’s mom, didn’t need to consult her on what she wore to the wedding. Actually, she’d told Mom the same thing when she asked not only for Taylor to go shopping with her but also to help her make the final decision. Much like Mom, though, Judith dismissed her comments.
Still, she’d delayed the shopping trip with Curt’s mom for as long as possible in the hope Judith would get tired of waiting and either go alone or perhaps with her daughter or one of her nieces. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Curt’s mom or enjoy spending time with her. Taylor genuinely liked Judith. From the very first day they’d met, she’d been nothing but friendly, and she treated Reese like a granddaughter. If Judith wanted her to accompany her almost anywhere else, Taylor would have been happy to. But she hated shopping. Whenever possible, Taylor ordered what she or Reese needed from the internet. Heck, she even ordered deodorant in bulk from the internet to avoid shopping in stores.
She’d finally caved to Judith’s requests last week. And today, as promised, Taylor left work early and met her on Newbury Street, the home to some of the most exclusive stores in Boston. Before they even left the first store, Taylor wished she’d suggested to Curt that they either elope or get married at the town hall with just her mom, Reese, and his parents in attendance with a nice dinner at her favorite Italian restaurant afterward. If they’d taken either of those two routes, she could’ve escaped weeks of shopping for everything from the perfect wedding gown to a pretty junior bridesmaid dress for Reese, a task that had been almost as difficult as finding the perfect location for the reception, because Reese hated wearing dresses.
Thankfully, today’s shopping trip was a success, and fingers crossed, except for her final dress fitting, she wouldn’t need to step foot in another clothing store for a long time. Although considering Reese’s current growth spurt, she might need to purchase the girl a whole new wardrobe when she and Curt returned from their honeymoon. Already some of the jeans she’d bought Reese in August right before school started were getting too short. But she wouldn’t worry about future trips to the mall, shopping, or even work anymore tonight.
“Where is everyone?” Taylor called out after entering Curt’s home. By now, Reese would have finished with her homework. Curt always made sure she tackled it right after soccer practice. So if she had to guess, she’d say the two of them were upstairs working on Reese’s bedroom, or Reese was in the living room reading. Her niece devoured books. After playing soccer and, more recently, lacrosse, reading was her favorite activity. Occasionally, when she got here on Tuesdays and Thursdays, she’d find Reese and Curt in the living room either playing video games or watching a movie. Curt had plenty of both on hand that were age appropriate for Reese. But it didn’t happen often.
“I’m in the kitchen.” Curt’s voice reached her in the foyer.
If he was in the kitchen, most likely, Reese had her nose buried in a book. And when she got lost in a story, she hated to be pulled out, and Taylor tried not to do so unless she had to. Rather than go in search of Reese, she turned down the hall toward the kitchen.
She found Curt at the counter. Stepping up behind him and putting a hand on his shoulder, Taylor kissed his cheek. “Hey, you.”
Rather than give her a chance to ask about his day or what Reese was up to, Curt turned, put his arms around her, and kissed her.
Lifting his lips from hers, he smiled. “I’m glad you’re home.”
Although she and Reese didn’t technically live there yet and wouldn’t for a couple more weeks, on multiple occasions, Curt told them he wanted them both to consider this home. In the beginning, she’d found it a little awkward. She’d only ever called two places home: the apartment she’d lived in for a short time in Boston before becoming Reese’s guardian and her parents’ house where she’d grown up and had been living again for the past several years. Reese hadn’t suffered from the same feelings. She’d taken Curt’s words to heart and acted the same way here as she did next door. And that even included leaving her shoes in the middle of the living room floor for people to trip over.
“Did you and Mom find a dress?”
“Yep.” She stepped out of his embrace and opened a cabinet door. “Fingers crossed, except for finishing the seating arrangement and my last dress fitting, everything for the wedding is done.”
Not long after they’d first met, she’d attended his cousin Gray’s wedding in Newport. Even though they’d left before the ceremony actually started, she’d seen the number of guests in attendance. So, from the moment she accepted Curt’s proposal, she’d prepared herself for a lot of negotiating because her ideal wedding didn’t involve having hundreds of guests on hand.