Wait For Me

??It’s late. Let’s get you two back to bed.”

Jack stops and looks at me. “Are you trying to get us back to bed so you can come out here and kiss Nora some more?”

Yes. That’s the plan.

19

Nora

Sun slices through the curtain, jabbing me in the eye. I reach for the cover and roll over, only to fall onto a cold, hard floor.

“What the hell?” I grunt.

“Dat’s a bad word.”

I blink and rub my eyes to find Emma’s chubby face staring down at me.

Okay, clearly I didn’t make it back to the loft last night.

“Good morning, sleepyhead.” Grayson holds out a hand and pulls me to my feet. Once I’m settled on the couch, he hands me a cup of coffee. “I wasn’t sure how you take your coffee, so I made it the way I make mine.”

I pull the warm cup to my mouth and take a sip. “This is great. I take it I fell asleep last night?”

“It took me a while to get the kids back to bed, and by the time I came back out here, you were zonked out on the couch, snoring like a banshee.”

“I was not snoring!”

“Like a banshee.” He smiles. “Next time I’ll record it.”

“Don’t do that,” I say, laughing.

Grayson laughs too. Things feel much easier between us this morning than they did yesterday, and that makes me happy.

“You looked peaceful, and I didn’t want to wake you, so I just covered you up.”

“Thank you.”

“Next time you can sweep in my woom.” Emma crawls onto the couch, sits beside me, and puts her hand on my leg. “We can have a swumber sweepover.”

“You mean a slumber party?”

“Yeah, dat.”

“That sounds fun. Count me in.”

“What about me? Can I come?” Grayson asks.

Emma shakes her head. “No boys.”

“That’s an awful rule.”

I smile around the rim of my cup. “One you’ll be glad you put into place in, oh, about twelve years.”

Grayson tips his cup toward me. “Touché.”

“Where are Jack and Henry?”

“Henry is still sleeping, and Jack is out back playing on the swing set.”