Page 92 of When the Night is Over

The way he studies me and then smiles makes it hard to keep my head on straight. He hands me another muffin. “I did wake up earlier than the sun this morning.” Handing Ethan a small piece broken off from his own, he asks, “So was it a good surprise?”

“Yes.”

Simon nods, a smile stretching from ear to ear as he sinks back into his chair.

He looks hopeful.

After a day spent chasing after Moe, painting rocks, tossing stale bread to the birds and building a fort in Ethan’s room when he was supposed to be taking a nap, the two of them plop into seats at the dinner table looking positively wiped out.

“No nap.” I shoot Lawrence a look. “This could get ugly.”

Simon raises his hand and pledges, “I promise I won’t be a cranky pants.”

This cracks Ethan up. “Daddy a cranky pants!”

And dinner goes by like this, filled with happy chatter, sweetness and some more laughter. It’s good, so good that I have to pinch myself, remind myself that it’s not permanent.

“I got this.” He jumps up to finish clearing the table and shoos me away from the sink.

“All right then, I’m going to put my feet up and watch the sun set.” Joking, I add, “I take my tea with milk, no—”

He cuts in, waving me out the door. “I know exactly how you take your tea. Lawrence?”

“No tea for me. We got some nice homemade peach ice cream in the freezer, though. And Ethan knows how I take my ice cream, dontcha Ethan?”

I picture him nodding with his solemn little face. “Lotsa whip cweam.”

Lawrence joins me outside, resting his hip against the deck railing. “He dragged a chair over to help Simon wash the dishes.”

“Yeah, he’s really taken with him.”

“I like him, Charlotte.”

“Oh, I like him too...That’s not the problem.”

Ethan comes out holding a bowl with a mountain-sized dollop of whipped cream. He reaches up with two hands and gives it to Lawrence. “Here Paw-paw.”

“Thank you, that’s just how I like it.”

Ethan nods proudly, then turns to take the kid-sized bowl Simon has made for him. “Be right back,” Simon says, and returns a moment later with my tea and a mammoth bowl of ice cream for himself. “Here you go.”

“Thanks.”

He full-on moans when the ice cream hits his tongue. “Oh my God, Lawrence, you made this?” Lawrence, mouth full, shakes his head then tips his chin in my direction. “This is incredible. I’ve never tasted ice cream this good.”

“I wish I could take credit for some elaborate secret recipe, but it’s nothing special. Cream, eggs, sugar, vanilla and ripe peaches...That’s it”

“Simple…That’s why it tastes so good. Why aren’t you having any?”

“I make it but I rarely eat it. That stuff will add five pounds to your hips in no time, and I have to make sure I can fit into my dance costumes come September.”

Ethan’s obviously gotten a second wind, taking off after Moe who is now barking up at a cluster of fireflies. Seizing on the opportunity to fling the two of us together, Lawrence makes like a leaf and leaves a moment later. Reaching down to get Ethan’s discarded bowl and stacking it with his own, he says, “I’m gonna head in and do a few things on the computer.”

“You’re still dancing? That’s great.”

“I’m not majoring in it or anything, it’s just a club activity. We put on a few performances a year, no big deal.”

“Do you enjoy it?”

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