“Two kids. One parent. You tell me,” I whispered.
“Fair point.” She raised the magazine and smacked it down between my legs and looked up at me triumphantly. “Dead.”
“No it’s not,” I said.
“Huh? What?”
“It’s on your arm.” I pointed.
“Then get it off!” she wailed, shaking both arms in the air like she was going to take flight. “Rip!”
“Stop moving!” I grabbed her right arm and swatted the spider away. Ben grabbed a yellow Lego and took care of the rest. “Always knew Legos killed.”
“Now we have proof,” Colby whispered, her voice quivering.
I hadn’t realized we were so close until she spoke, until I looked down and noticed I was holding her and she wasn’t pulling away. Just like the night before.
“Sorry.” She licked her lips but didn’t move other than that, just stared up at me, eyes searching.
“At least we both survived.” My voice was deep, like I was minutes away from growling and carrying her upstairs over my shoulder, then slamming the door and announcing, Mine!
Her body was soft against me, her hair a mess, but I liked it. Why did I suddenly like the mess?
Why did I suddenly like her so much she consumed my every waking thought? So much that I didn’t want to go to work—and I loved work. But suddenly all I wanted to do was stay with her and kill spiders.
I cleared my throat. “I should be going.”
“Yeah.” She started to pull away.
“Stu, nooo!” Ben yelled. “Out! Out!”
We broke apart quickly as Colby managed to grab the cat and pat the back of his head.
“No, Stu!” Ben started to sob. “He’s choking on the spider!”
“You’re gonna have to put your hands inside his mouth and pull it out!” Colby held up the cat to me as its legs dangled. It kept coughing, its eyes watering.
With a muffled curse I reached two fingers into Stu’s mouth and pulled out a crumpled-up, soggy brown spider.
Amazing.
And it was only Monday.
Colby burst out laughing as I dropped the spider into the trash can and carried the cat over to Ben. “He’s fine, bud.”
He wiped his nose and sniffled. “Dad got me Stu.”
I shared a knowing look with Colby, then leaned down on my haunches. “Do you want to talk about your dad? Sometimes it helps to talk about the people we’re missing.” I was taking a page from Colby’s book and hoping it would help.
“No.” He shrugged. “I talk to him every night.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “What do you guys talk about?”
He shrugged. “Dumb stuff like how Stu’s doing, Viera’s dolls, my spelling tests, the time you got kicked out of my jujitsu match—”
I shot a glare at Colby when she snorted behind her hand.
“Oh, and how I pray every night for you and Aunt Colby to get married so we can be a family again.”