Page 108 of Craving Theodora
“Yeah,” they replied, their head snapping around to look at me. “Fine.”
“Okay if it’s not.”
“Someone cleaned up in here,” they replied, looking into the living room. Sometime in the last week, the walls had been wiped clean or repainted, the smashed furniture had been carted away, and they’d replaced the carpeting in the living room. A new couch even sat in place of the old one.
“We should rearrange it,” Dylan said, moving past me. “It’s kinda creepy now.”
“We can do that,” I agreed as he walked up to Jess and put his hand on their shoulder. They moved into the kitchen and out of sight.
Out on the porch, Teddy was still talking to Kara and Charlie while Finn waited.
“Kids are in the kitchen if you wanna go get a snack,” I told him, ruffling his hair.
With a nod, he went into the house.
“Poor guy,” Charlie noted, watching him go. “He’s been so quiet since it happened.”
“He’s doing a little better than he was,” Teddy said, glancing toward the open door. “Now that Dyl and Jesse are up and moving around. It’s going to take a minute to get back to normal.”
“Bring him over soon,” Charlie said with a smile as she moved in for a hug. “He can go swimming with Beau. My eldest is so quiet. Finn will have to talk to fill in the awkward silences. Plus, you know,pool.”
“I will,” Teddy replied. “Thanks for being our welcoming party.”
“I’m here anytime,” Charlie replied, leaning back to look in Teddy’s eyes. “All you have to do is call.”
“I’ll remember that.”
“Okay, my turn,” Kara said lightly, moving in to hug Teddy as Charlie came to me.
“I’m up late with the baby,” she told me as she wrapped her arms around my waist and pressed her cheek to my shoulder. “If you can’t sleep or whatever, just text me. Seriously. She’s cute, but she never fucking sleeps.”
“Will do.”
“You’re not going to text me, are you?”
“Probably not.”
“Fine.” She shrugged as she pulled away. “I’ll just text you.”
Kara gave me a quick hug, and then Teddy and I watched them walk away down the street.
“You ready?” I asked her, pulling her against me. “It’s just a house,” I mimicked Jesse, keeping my teeth clenched while I said it.
“I never thought that I’d enjoy Jesse being a pain in the ass,” Teddy replied with a sigh. “But they’re right. It’s just a fucking house.”
Turning purposefully, she lifted her chin and walked inside.
I’d never been so glad for a bonus room as I was that night. It took a bit of time to get the kids upstairs, and once they were there, none of us was anxious for them to go back downstairs again, but the room gave us a place to hang out that wasn’t full of terrifying memories. We settled in to watch movies and ordered pizza. Jess complained how cruel it was that we got to eat good food while they had to drink their dinner through a straw, but they were half joking. The other half watched Dylan eat his pizza with undisguised envy.
I took on the job of going downstairs for drinks and whatever else everyone needed. I was more than happy to do it, and the more often I made my way through the lower floor, the easier it was to do it. The only fucked part of the night was when I realized that there still wasn’t a rod in the sliding glass door and practically tore the house apart looking for something to put in the track. Eventually, I just cut the broom in half and used that. I’d buy a new broom the next time I was at the store.
It was good, though. Not great, but good. It was comforting to be back together, in a place where our things were surrounding us and we weren’t huffing the scent of disinfectant constantly. The kids joked around, even if they were more subdued than usual. Teddy laughed at Jesse’s jokes, and Finncomplained for the first time in a week when Jesse was hogging the throw blanket from the back of the couch.
At bedtime, when the kids could barely keep their eyes open anymore, Dylan disappeared into his room, and Finn followed Jess into their room and made a bed on the floor. We said goodnight to them all, but stayed in the hallway for a while, listening to see if anyone needed us. Eventually, Jesse’s light went dark, but Dylan’s didn’t.
Finally, we went into our room, and I quietly closed the door behind us, making Teddy look at me uncertainly.
“The house is locked up tight,” I told her, sliding off my cut. “I put a rod in the track of the door. There are two boys outside. One’s on the street, and the other is in the backyard. The kids are asleep in their beds. We’re good, Teddy. For tonight, it’s all good.”
