Page 32 of Rome
Chapter 10
Abby
Ethan was engrossed in the movie he’d selected, something with a talking dog in it. He was curled up on the couch next to me, with his head resting on my belly. The baby had been active, and Ethan had giggled every time he felt her move. My phone chimed about thirty minutes into the movie, and I fished it out of the pocket of my cardigan to see a text from Molly.
MOLLY: Since tomorrow is a teacher in-service day and the kids don’t have school, Cole and I wanted to take Ethan to the Children’s Museum this afternoon and then have him spend the night with us.
ME: Wow, he would love that, but are you sure? I know you still have to go to work tomorrow, even though the kids are out.
MOLLY: We’re sure. It will be fun. I have to be at school by eight for training, but Cole doesn’t have to be at the bar until three, so he can bring him home sometime after lunch.
ME: That would be wonderful, thank you!!!
MOLLY: Great. We’ll pick him up in an hour and take him to lunch first.
I picked up the remote and paused the movie to tell Ethan about the change in plans. As expected, he was thrilled about going to the Children’s Museum, and even more excited about a sleepover with Uncle Jag and his teacher. The museum was one of his very favorite places to go, so we usually went every few months. I wasn’t up to doing that much walking right now, so I was glad he was getting the chance to go with them.
He raced upstairs to start packing, and I took a second to type out another text to Caleb.
ME: In case you haven’t heard yet, Jagger and Molly are taking Ethan to the museum this afternoon and he’s sleeping over at their place, so we’ll have the house all to ourselves. Maybe we can implement your idea to fuck me into the mattress a little earlier than originally planned?
I attached a GIF of a wizened old woman waggling her eyebrows suggestively – just because it made me laugh – then hit send before going upstairs to help Ethan pack. By the time I got back downstairs, I had a return text waiting.
CALEB: I’ll be home in a couple of hours. Dealing with some shit here. I miss you, baby girl, and I love you so much.
I smiled and typed out a response, including a kissy face emoji before I sent it.
ME: I love you, too. I can’t wait to have you show me just how much you missed me.
Ethan and I watched a little more of the movie until the doorbell rang. He raced to answer it, with me reminding him to wait for me before he opened the door. I unlocked it and swung it open to see Jagger standing on the porch. I looked around him and spotted Molly waiting in the car.
I was a little surprised that she hadn’t gotten out of the car to say hello, and Jagger must have noticed the look of confusion on my face.
“She, uh, got a text as we were pulling in and needed to respond.” I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but something about Jagger’s response seemed stilted, uncomfortable even.
“Is everything OK, Jag?” I asked softly as soon as Ethan ran back to the living room to grab his backpack.
Jagger gave me a distracted smile, not looking me in the eye as he nodded. I started to say more, but Ethan ran back over to us, backpack in hand, and asked Jagger where they were going to go for lunch.
“I think we’re going to go to the diner. I’m in the mood for a milkshake.”
Ethan loved that idea and gave me a quick hug and kiss before running over to the car.
“Love you, Mommy,” he yelled over his shoulder, and I saw Molly smile and wave from the front seat of Jagger’s Charger. I wondered if I was just imagining that her smile looked a bit forced.
“Thanks for taking him. He’s so excited about it.”
“It will be fun. I’ll, uh, drop E off around two tomorrow, OK?”
“Sure. I’m working from home tomorrow on some accounts payable stuff for Irish, so I’ll be home all day.”
Jagger hesitated, then put his hands on my shoulder and bent to kiss my cheek. “Love you, Abs. Call if you need me.” As he stepped back and dropped his hands, I noticed that the knuckles on his hand were reddened, swollen, and busted open in one spot. I knew he had to break up fights at the bar once in a while, so it wasn’t the first time I’d seen him with busted knuckles.
“Do you want some ice for your hand?”
He glanced down, curling his hand into a fist and then opening it and flexing his fingers.
“No, I’m good. I’ll see you tomorrow. Don’t forget to call if you need anything.”
