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"I hope so," she says as she looks up at him, her chin resting on her knees. "I knew it was going to be hard. It's ridiculous that it's taken me so off guard."
"You're allowed to feel whatever you feel, Colleen," he tells her. "Maybe not out there with the dancers and the coaches watching, you would never. But here? In my house, sitting with me on this couch, you get to feel whatever you need to feel, and then you get to go out there and kick that dude's ass. Figuratively speaking at least. Though, if you want to go physically kick his ass, I'm with you. We'll never work in ballroom dancing again, but it might just be worth it," he says.
It coaxes a small smile out of her.
"And the Safe Sports people, are they taking it seriously? "He knows that, even though abuse from coaches is within Safe Sport's purview, they haven't been as effective as anyone had hoped.
"It took a bit, but they're on board now," she sighs. "Once there were adults who could corroborate some of her story..." she trails off because he knows what that means. "They mostly seemed miffed that we were involved." What she means, he thinks, is that they were miffed that Colleen was involved, and they'd have to go by the book because someone high profile is watching.
"You knew what it would take, Colleen, and you made it happen. I'm so proud of you."
"There's still so much to do and I'm already so tired," Colleen admits.
"Stay here tonight," he offers. "I know you're 'fond of your bed' and all, but if you want the company, stay tonight. Let me take care of you for once so you can take care of those girls."
Colleen looks up at him for a few beats, her eyes darting between his face and the door, only to shrug and lay her head against the couch cushions in surrender. "Can you stay up with me for a bit? My mind is still going too fast to sleep yet."
He's so shocked she's willing to ask that he's willing even if he has to stay up all night with her and go through tomorrow's practice feeling like a zombie. "Yeah. Come here." He tugs on her hand and pulls her to him. Once she's comfy and settled, he wraps his arms around her.
They stay silent for a long time, enough that Dustin is almost certain she's fallen asleep when she startles him.
"Thank you," she says, her voice louder than expected in the quiet room.
"Hmm?"
"For sharing Simon's first steps with me and letting me be a part of that. It made a bad day a lot better. You could have held off on pushing him till you were with your mom and dad or anyone.
"He was stoked to get to you, Colleen. That was all him," he says, unsure why he isn't admitting that he had maybe held off on pushing Simon while Colleen was gone and then was highly hopeful that he would choose today to take those steps. If it hadn't worked, it wouldn't have been an enormous deal, Colleen still would have been able to have the distraction of Simon trying to walk, but Dustin is happy that she got to be here for that moment.
Colleen cranes her head so she can look at him with skepticism. Dustin shrugs in response and winks at her, which has her rolling her eyes and turning away. They settle into silence again, and then Dustin can't suppress three huge yawns in short order, so Colleen moves away from him, and he leads her to the guest room, which has a half bath attached, and then quickly shows her where she can find the necessities in the hall bathroom. He has it stocked with toiletries, though he knows she likely has her own set in her go bag. He points out where the towels and facecloths are and even shows her that her preferred make-up remover is in the cabinet under the sink. The look she gives him makes him shrug and shrink back a bit. Maybe it's a little weird, but the more she comes all the way out to the boonies to hang out with him and Simon, the more he recognizes just how far he lives, and he doesn't want a lack of something so simple to be what keeps her from staying if staying makes the most sense.
That's how he justifies it to himself anyway.
"That should be everything, but I'm just down the hall if you need anything. Anything."
Colleen nods, hugs him, kisses his cheek, murmurs, "Thank you," and then ducks into the guest room, shutting the door softly behind her. Dustin stands in the hallway, staring at the door briefly, before heading to his bed.
His sleep is fitful, and he welcomes the distraction when Simon wakes up at 6 am, chattering away to the few stuffed animals Dustin lets him keep in his crib. Since the baby isn't upset, Dustin leaves him to be for a bit, as much as he'd love to allow indeed Simon and his happy morning smiles to distract him, and he heads into the kitchen to make some coffee and sort out breakfast.
He pours some water from the tap into his cup and then dumps that water into the electric kettle, measuring the appropriate amount of coffee into a metal pour-over filter and pulling the cream out of the fridge. He spots a bag of lemons he'd bought a couple of weeks ago for a meal he never made in the crisper, so he takes one out, squeezing it to see if it's still good. It seems fine, so he puts it on the counter next to a mug he takes down from the cabinet. He honestly has no idea if Colleen still drinks hot lemon water before her coffee, but at least now she has the choice.
Once the kettle has boiled, he pours the hot water over the coffee and prepares Simon for the morning while the coffee filters through.
Simon is sitting up in his crib, holding his dragon a few inches from his face and whispering, roaring at it. It's the cutest thing, and Dustin watches from the doorway as Simon, the dragon, and his stuffed dino softly roar over and over.
"What are you doing, buddy?" Dustin asks after a few moments of creeping into the doorway.
Simon sits up straight and peeks up at Dustin, "Dada!"
Dustin gets Simon changed, narrating what he's doing the whole time. He also quizzes Simon on his animal noises, getting a correct response for cow, monkey, dog, and dinosaur but no answer for a cat or sheep. When prompted, Simon correctly points out his nose and tummy but not his feet. All in all, not bad for an almost 14-month-old.
Dustin sets Simon in his highchair and pours some Cheerios onto the tray to occupy him while he scrambles up some eggs and makes toast. Simon keeps up a running commentary that Dustin responds to when he knows what's being said. Occasionally Dustin will interrupt him and ask him what a sheep says. Simon laughs every time he stops to think about it and then shrugs instead, prompting his dad to baa at him, which Simon finds hilarious. He can get some food into Simon between the quizzing and the laughter, which is more than can be said for some mornings.
He's about to free Simon from his highchair when the guest bedroom door opens, and a sleepy Colleen steps out. Her hair is pulled back in a half pony, and she's wearing a grey hoodie over her pink sleep shorts with donuts on them.
"Sorry we woke you," Dustin offers. "I probably should have thought of that before offering you the bed."
"Waking up to baby laughter is the best way to wake up before 7:30 am. I didn't know what I'd been missing," she says, still sleepy.
