"I guess we need to get on the road," she said reluctantly, and hauled up her tragic, drooping bundle of videogame-deprived daughter.
"Call me," Dan said. He pecked her cheek and then, to her surprise and delight, kissed the top of Lissy's head.
"Say thank you to Dan for a nice evening," Paula told Lissy. "And for the cookies."
"Thank you," Lissy mumbled, dangling out of Paula's arms as if all her bones had turned to Jello.
"Do you really want to be carried to the car?"
"Yes," Lissy said, and spoiled the effect by giggling. She had oozed down until her knees were on the floor.
"You're much too heavy. Come on, honey, this isn't funny. You need to walk."
"I'll carry her," Dan said, and Lissy squealed in delight as he picked her up and slung her over his shoulder.
"Put me down, no, I'm too big!"
"Not for me," Dan said cheerfully. He winked at Paula. "Open the door, would you?"
Paula laughed and opened it.
It wasn't exactly the romantic walk to the car that she might have liked, not with a giggling, shrieking little girl slung across Dan's shoulder. But somehow it seemed appropriate to end the evening like this. Her life couldn't be separated from her children's lives, and one of the things she loved in Dan was that he didn't want to try. He accepted the complete package, kids and divorce and all.
Lissy shrieked louder and clung as Dan threatened to drop her in the snow, but when he set her down, she buckled herself into the backseat with a surprising amount of agreeableness.
Dan leaned over to give Paula one last goodnight kiss. It felt like they were banking kisses to be saved for the next few hours.
"See you," she whispered against his cheek as he hugged her.
"See you too," he whispered into her hair.
And then she was pulling out of the driveway in the snow, looking back to see him standing in the cold, bare-armed with just his T-shirt on, waving. She rolled down the window to wave back, ignoring Lissy's squawk from the backseat.
"Okay, okay, don't be a fragile flower. I'm rolling it up now."
"Can I have my cookie now?" Lissy asked, and Paula passed it into the back.
"So did you have fun playing with Sandy?"
"He has so many games," Lissy said rapturously. "He has Ponymaker 12 with all the special patches and things. We made a pony with sixteen legs. And he has Truck Racer Evolution and we made a giant centipede truck that was actually a lot of little trucks all jammed together and it turns out that you can actually run them up the side of a building if they're long enough—"
Paula went on making listening noises as she was regaled with the greatest hits of the night's gaming session all the way back to town. The house was mostly dark, with a light in the living room and another in the window of Austin's room.
We're back, she texted Austin from the garage as she rousted Lissy out of the car, along with the Tupperware container of cookies that Dan had given her for the road. She was pleased to see that Austin had remembered to make sure all the doors were locked, and let herself into the house quietly.
"Austin?" she called.
No answer. He was probably upstairs. Still, while Lissy fussily peeled out of her outside gear in the entryway, Paula took a quick walk through the downstairs, turning on lights. Everything was fine, of course, and she turned them all off again and texted Dan to let him know she was home. Call you after Lissy's in bed, she texted. It was ridiculous, they'd just talked for hours, but already she couldn't wait to hear his voice again.
Mina just woke up, so I'll be distracted for a while anyway, he texted back. Call anytime.
Lissy had reached the cranky stage of tiredness and adrenaline crash after the games. Paula herded her upstairs and deposited her in the bathroom for teeth-brushing.
"You go change into your pajamas when you're done, and I'll tuck you in soon, okay? I'm going to check on your brother."
The door of Austin's room was firmly closed, with a stripe of light showing underneath. So he was still up. Paula tapped on the door, at first quietly, then more firmly.
"Austin?" she called through the door. "Honey, it's Mom. I just want to say good night."
There was no answer. He must have his headphones in, or maybe he'd fallen asleep