And Sundays she occupied herself while Grey took to the girls to visit one or the other of their grandparents.
But today was different. Hanging out in the house with the girls around but nothing for them to do was weird. Now they were up in their rooms, leaving her alone with Grey, who, for once, came out of his office. They sat at opposite ends of the family room—him binge-watching a favorite show on TV and her reading a book with Nefertiti curled up in the crook of her bent legs, snoring softly.
Only she’d read the same damn paragraph over and over for about twenty minutes now. Rowan hid a sigh and hopped up.
“Tea?” she asked.
Grey’s ready smile set her heart fluttering like a hummingbird’s wings. He’d been doing that more lately. “It’s not nighttime,” he teased.
“We’ll do a black tea then and risk the caffeine.”
“You and your tea.” He shook his head.
“Is that a no?”
“Actually, it sounds good.”
Almost on autopilot, Rowan moved to the stovetop where she got out the teapot, filling it with water.
Grey appeared at her side and, without a word and in perfect tandem, he got out the teacups and the tin of loose-leaf tea. She reached in a drawer to hand him the infusers, which he filled.
Before she knew it, they were leaning against the counter, sipping warm, soothing liquid like they did every night. Some nights they talked for hours, others they sat together in companionable quiet. Like now. But right now, in the middle of the day when it was harder to pretend they were living in a different world, it struck her how…homey…a picture they made. A pleasant habit. Almost as though they’d been doing this for years. Rowan closed her eyes, but couldn’t remove the images of what they could be if…
If nothing.
A series of sharp pings sounded and Grey pulled out his cell phone to check the screen. “What the hell?”
Rowan peeked over the top of her cup to find Grey staring at his phone.
Uh-oh. Slowly, she buried her face in the tea. Was he only just now figuring out his phone had an issue? It had been weeks since she’d cast that spell. No way was she that good. He had to have noticed the issue sooner, right?
Another hiss of frustration followed by mutterings. “No wonder.”
“What?”
“I knew there was something wrong with my phone. I thought I’d missed a few calls. People have said they left messages, which I didn’t get. Well, I guess they all just showed up at once, thirty missed messages.”
A quick peek revealed his disgruntled expression as, one after the other, he listened to each voice mail. Laughter burbled up from a wicked place inside her. She couldn’t stop the small snigger that escaped.
“Did you say something?”
Rats. With effort she composed her expression into something she hoped was suitably innocent. “Did you leave it on silent accidentally?” Not laughing at his offended expression ended up being harder than she’d thought, or she might’ve kept her mouth shut.
“No,” he snapped.
With a shrug she raised her book again.
“Rowan?” Chloe’s voice preceded her into the room as she tromped down the wooden stairs with all the finesse of a twelve-year-old girl.
“In here,” Rowan called. She set her cup down on the counter.
Chloe appeared in the doorway. “Can I ask you something?”
“What do you need, Chloe?” Grey asked.
Rowan had to give the man props. His question wasn’t brusque or condescending. He truly wanted to help.
“Um. This is something I need Rowan’s help with. Thanks, Dad.”
“Okay.” He said the word slowly, but let it go.
The glance he flicked her way held an emotion she couldn’t quite identify. Trust, if she didn’t know better. Delilah had warned her about Grey’s questions lately. Trust wasn’t something she’d earned with him yet.
Shaking off the worry, and curious anyway, Rowan followed when Chloe beckoned her into the foyer.
“What’s up?”
Chloe checked behind Rowan first. “I started my period,” she whispered, cheeks turning red.
Oh. “Oh.” Rowan mentally winced at her lame response. Time to rally. “Well, welcome to womanhood, sweetie. You’ll find out quickly enough that periods are a pain in the rear, but it’s exciting to start. Now…when I started, I was horribly embarrassed. But my friend Maureen was thrilled. Which one are you?”
Chloe wrinkled her nose. “Embarrassed.”
“Got it. In that case, I’ll save the banner and cake, and no announcements at dinner.” Rowan winked, and Chloe relaxed enough to giggle.
A small glow of pride and happiness sparked in her heart. She’d been helpful in