The light in the staircase turned on, making it easier for us to see one another.
“I had a great time tonight. Thank you for inviting me,” Rooney said.
I smiled at her and nodded. “I had a great time too. I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon then?” I asked, leaning against the doorframe and crossing my arms.
I wasn’t ready to let her go yet, but if this friendship had to work without weird things happening between us, I had to let go once it was enough.
And right now, we had already spent half of the weekend together, which was more than enough being friends.
“Yes, I’ll be here tomorrow afternoon. I can’t wait.”
She fidgeted with her fingers in front of her belly, and for a second there was unsureness flashing through her eyes.
I could tell she wanted to take a step forward, and since I was the older one here, I took it into my own hands to say goodnight first.
I loosened my arms over my chest again and reached out to place on hand on her waist, then leaned forward to kiss her cheek and pull her closer into a quick but tight hug.
Her arms came around me and her hands moved to my shoulders before stepping back again to put distance between us.
“Good night, Rooney.”
“Good night,” she whispered, then quickly spun around to walk up the stairs.
I took a deep breath and waited until her door closed, then I walked back inside and locked the door myself.
A breath of fresh air.
That’s how I’d describe Rooney.
After I collected all my thoughts, I walked back into the living room to put away the wine and two glasses, then headed over to Ira’s room to check if he was still asleep.
I smiled at the sight of his closed eyes and parted lips, and the sound of his soft breathing added to the cuteness.
As much as I wanted him to learn to sleep in his own bed at night, I had moments in which I wanted to just pick him up and take him to my bedroom to cuddle him.
Often times I felt like I was the child, and he the one who protected me.
In a way he did, because without him I had no idea where I’d be.
Probably lost, working all day with no clue what my life would become.
Ira was my purpose, for now and forever.
*
“It’s Rooney!” Ira called out as the doorbell rang.
It was too early for it to be Rooney.
Not even eight a.m., and we hadn’t even started on breakfast yet.
“I don’t think it’s Rooney, buddy. Let’s go check.”
He grabbed my hand and pulled me off the couch we were sitting on while looking through a comic book.
When we reached the door, I lifted him up to let him look through the peephole.
“It’s Grandma!”
I frowned, then stepped back a little to open the door.
“You’re up early,” I told my mother.
“I knew you’d be up, so I thought I’d come visit you two. Oh, look at you! You’ve already grown since I last saw you!” she said, holding out her hands to Ira.
I let him cling to my mom and walked back inside. “We haven’t had breakfast yet. Wanna join?”
“Of course! Rob won’t be up until later and he stopped eating breakfast a while ago. Not sure how that would help his health.”
“I am healthy,” Ira called out, pointing at his chest.
“I know you are, sweetie.” She let him down so he could run back to the couch and continue looking through the comic book while I started to brew some coffee.
“How are you doing?” Mom asked, sitting down at the table.
“Good. Had a stressful week at work but the weekend’s treating us right.”
“I see. And you had a visitor?” she asked.
I raised a brow and turned to look at her, and when I followed her gaze, I sighed at the bottle of wine on the counter.
“Uh, yes, I did. Last night.”
“Is she still here?”
“Mom,” I muttered, turning to look at her again. “No woman slept over last night. She’s our new neighbor. Sweet girl, but nothing happened between us.”
“Too bad. I was hoping you finally found a woman.”
I rolled my eyes and turned back to the stove. “Mom, let’s please not talk about this.”
“Why not? It’s been years since you had a date and I don’t think just having someone over without wanting more is what you need right now.”
“You don’t know what I need. She’s a friend and Ira likes her too. Besides,