Page 80 of Tides That Bind

Well, now I know I’m not making things up. It’s beyond obvious he’s looking anywhere but at me.

“Thanks for these,” Riley tells her. Spinning on his heel, he heads toward the curtain before stopping. “Oh. As your attorney, I’m going to advise you to get somemats. And up your insurance policy.”

I put my hands on my hips. “I haven’tretainedyou yet,” I remind him.

Riley smirks. “Oh, you will.”

Caroline gives me one long hard stare.

“I’ll see you at home,” Riley calls out before he pushes through the plastic curtain.

“What?” I ask Caroline.

“Did I miss something?”

I move toward the ladder to close it. “No.”

“I did, didn’t I?”

My face is burning.

“You two are beingniceto each other. That’s kind of…odd.”

I fold the ladder and wait for her to help me carry it back to the side of the new studio space. “What do you think about this whole thing he’s doing to get Tides back?”

Caroline grunts as we lift the metal. “Does it matter?”

“I just want your opinion.”

She sighs. “When it comes to anything Riley is involved in, I’ve learned to keep my opinion to myself.”

I stop walking. “You don’t think he can do it?”

“I didn’t say that. I just said what I think doesn’t matter. Riley will figure out a way to get what he wants.”

The curtain still sways from when Riley walked through it and I wonder, exactly, what that is.

In the week or so since Lucas ran away from home, I’ve been met with the same scene every morning. And the more I see it, the more I am swept up in a feeling of sweet wholesomeness I used to have before Nate passed away.

I used to smile at my kitchen table after lengthy family meals, or when Nate and Lucas would team up against me in a game of Monopoly on a weekend afternoon. Those things were complicatedby Riley, our forever plus one. But now, it’s his presence at the kitchen table as he taps a pencil against the wood and slides a paper across to Lucas that doesn’t just fill me up, but tops me off with extra joy to start my day.

My kitchen table might not look the way I always dreamed about—fit with the ideal family. But it’s a lot fuller now even with Nate’s empty chair. When I first catch sight of them, I think about the night Lucas ran away. It takes only a few seconds to realize, maybe Lucas didn’t run away from home, buttoit. He ran to Riley…the person who he needs at this moment in his life.

“Gotcha,” Lucas puts down his pencil and dances in his seat.

Riley spoons cereal into his mouth. “Best of seven.” He taps the paper. “Let’s go.”

“The tic-tac-toe playoffs are going to have to wait. We need to get going, Lucas. Finish your breakfast and go upstairs and get dressed.” I look at the clock as I zip Lucas's lunch bag shut.

Clearly annoyed, Lucas lifts his cereal bowl to drink the left-over milk before placing it back on the table. “Can Riley take me to school?”

“I can’t today, Lucas. I have an appointment to get ready for.” When Lucas frowns, Riley adds, “Maybe tomorrow, if your mom says it’s okay.”

They both turn to me.

I love my kid, but the puppy dog face hasn’t worked on me in years. But now, it’s Riley’s soft, pleading smile that has me saying yes.

Between the two of them, I’m not so sure I have a say in the matter at all.

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