Swoon by CM Foss

Author:CM Foss
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2015-03-30T17:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Steph

“Hello?” I whispered as I pushed open Lissa’s front door.

Why I was whispering, I didn’t know. The sound of some sort of monster, or crying baby more likely, was coming from the back of the house. Lissa darted across the hall from the kitchen wearing a dark red bra and pulling a white tank top over her head as she hurried to Thomas’s room. She waved a hand, but that was all the acknowledgement we got. Lawrence and I exchanged a wide-eyed look but shrugged and tiptoed in.

We had stopped at the store on our way back from Charlottesville for steaks and salad fixings, and then came straight here for an early, easy dinner. I was guessing easy wasn’t how it was going to go. We busied ourselves in the kitchen, pouring glasses of wine, when Ethan walked in. His face was pale, eyes bloodshot, jaw unshaven, hair a mess.

“Rough day?” I asked.

He nodded and chuckled. “You could say that. Really it’s not all that different. We just had a couple of good days, so we’re out of practice. Lissa got puked on right before you walked in, and he’s been screaming every time she’s not holding him.” Blowing out a deep breath, he rubbed his face with both his hands, then grabbed a glass of wine and took a big sip.

“Hey, man, do you want us to go?” Lawrence asked.

Ethan shook his head. “No. She’ll come out if she can. But you may as well hang out and eat. Otherwise it’s just me and Charlie.” He paused when his phone dinged from his jeans pocket. He pulled it out and smiled while reading the text, the look transforming his tired features. “Lissa says to stay and eat and for me to bring her a glass of wine.”

Ethan quickly filled a glass then hustled it back to his wife. I grinned after him, glad my friend had him in her life. Lawrence tugged a curl hanging down my back and I turned.

“I’ll go light the barbecue.”

“Okay. I’ll get everything else ready.”

Ethan returned and the two men headed outside. Because it takes two men to light a fire, I guessed. In the time it took them to complete their task, I’d readied the steaks, assembled a nice salad, and made dressing. I slid open the back door and passed the platter of meat through, along with tongs. They grunted their acknowledgment.

I shrugged to myself, grabbed a glass of wine, and walked to the living room to settle back with Charlie, Lissa’s dog, on the couch. I stroked her long, black fur and leaned over to pull my phone out of my back pocket. Lissa and I started texting nonsense back and forth and I promised to bring her a plate of food. It must be weird sitting in that back room, listening to the world go on around you. But she had me giggling, imagining her voice through her texts, by the time the boys started bringing plates in.

Ethan disappeared to take food to Lissa but reappeared quickly with a sheepish expression.

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