Page 139 of I Loved You First

“I guess I can call the psychologist and cancel our appointment. I think we can navigate our family of three on our own.”

She nodded. “I agree.”

“Let’s get you home,” he said as he took her hand, standing as she did, wrapping his arm around her again. “Are we meeting at the school to pick Brady up, or do you want me to come get you?”

“How about you come get me since there’s bound to be a ton of traffic? And maybe leave a few minutes to spare.”

He raised his brow as he looked at her, catching her drift easily enough.

“It would be a shame not to take advantage of a quiet house,” she added as she shrugged.

“Maybe we can take advantage this morning and this afternoon.”

She grinned. “Yes, please.”

He laughed as they got back in the truck.

thirty-six

Rain fell in torrents as Fiona sat across from Brady at the table while he worked on his first official homework assignment.

“We get to have show-and-tell every day for a whole week. At preschool we only had it on Fridays.”

Fiona grinned as she drew her own picture, thrilled that Brady had loved his first day. He’d talked about nothing else since she and Cam had picked him up yesterday afternoon. “That’s a fun way to start kindergarten.”

“Yup,” he said as he grabbed a blue crayon. “We have to sit on our letter on the alphabet carpet while Mrs. Shultz reads us a story. Then we’ll take turns sharing our show-and-tell, which is our homework.”

“Do you go in order of your letter on the carpet, or does Mrs. Shultz take turns picking different students?”

“You have to be a good listener if you want to have a turn. That’s how it works in kindergarten.”

Fiona nodded solemnly, allowing Brady to be the expert on all things kindergarten. “That makes sense. Everyone deserves to have a polite audience when it’s their turn.”

“Uh-huh, “Brady agreed. “That way we can ask good questions or make a polite comment to our classmate. If you don’t listen, you won’t know what to say.”

She grinned, impressed by his logic. “Your brain is brilliant, buddy.”

He beamed. “My brain says thank you.”

She chuckled, loving the sweet boy across the table. “You’re welcome.”

Her gaze wandered toward the hallway, catching the occasional deep murmur of Cam’s voice carrying from the office as he spoke to one of his suppliers on the phone. He’d headed down the hall several minutes ago, not wanting to disturb homework time.

Brady set down his crayon. “I’m all done. Except I need to spell Dad and Fiona on my page.”

Fiona studied his picture, recognizing the blue waves as the lake, the Space Needle, and a circle that was most likely a Ferris wheel, plus the three of them smiling. “That looks great, Brady.”

“Yup. It’s my favorite stuff that I did this summer. We went to Seattle so you could come live with us. And we went on the Ferris wheel that was high in the sky, and we went swimming in the lake a lot.”

Her smile was back. “That was my favorite stuff, too.”

Brady looked at her picture with clouds and a happy sun in the sky. “You drew me. And Dad. And you.”

She nodded. “I did.”

“And you made words.”

She nodded again, looking at the question she’d written below the people she’d drawn.