Rumor Has It

Part 49

The house was dark and it seemed like nobody was home, it was quieter than Bradley had seen it in weeks. Stefani's luggage was all over the place and he was reminded of the tour preparations that he was trying not to interfere with. They had locations to scout and he'd be having a few busy weeks as well, but he was more concerned about having barely heard anything from them. Finally today, he hadn't gotten a reply to any message at all, which was unusual at best.

Lea had come home in a mood because the teacher had assigned the seat next to her to a new kid, which meant that Emily still wasn't back at school either. Which was strange, knowing that Stefani had been adamant about her socializing more with other kids her age instead of being around adults all day. It had helped her a little, building a few careful connections and talking more like her age.

"Stef?"

Bradley considered that he shouldn't have let himself in, even though Stefani had given him permission to come over without announcing himself a while ago. The door to the house fell shut behind him and it was still quiet. No dogs came bustling his way, yapping at him and picking up his own pets' smells from his home.

"You're early for dinner."

He whipped around and spotted a very quiet Emily that had snuck up behind him.

"Hi. Is everything okay?" He asked, getting on his knee to be more on eye level with her.

"I'm ok. Ash is getting our princess pasta! But it's too high up so she had to get a ladder."

"Ah, she's cooking?"

"WE are cooking. I'm making the pasta." She corrected him and grabbed the hem of his shirt. "You want to try some?"

"Yeah, sure, later. Actually, can you tell me where your mom is?"

He got up and followed the girl to the kitchen where Ashley was trying to locate the right pasta on one of the higher shelves, precariously balancing on a small step stool.

"Mom's asleep. Or working. I don't know, I'm not supposed to go in there when the doors are closed."

"I'll just say Hello to her, too."

"But you HAVE to try my pasta."

"I'm going to."

He greeted Ashley who looked at him with a confused expression. "Sorry, I don't mean to be rude, but aren't you supposed to be on location scouting? I thought you were out for the week."

"I will be, I just meant to drop by because it's been..." he fumbled for the words and didn't want to say them. "...quiet. Is everything okay? The house is so quiet."

The young woman sighed and let her gaze wander out the window, towards the yard. "Stef had a flare up and the entourage has left. This is the calm before the tour storm, and I bet Emily is going to get her toys all over the luggage again." She whispered to him and stuffed the pack of princess-shaped pasta in his hands. "Could you..thanks." She said when he handed the package over to Emily who was bouncing up and down next to him already.

"Where is she?"

"In the guest house." She explained and Bradley frowned because he could swear she'd want to be around before leaving. "It's where she goes when she has work to do or wants to be alone. I'm staying out of it unless she calls me. She's a big girl, even if some people don't treat her as such."

"Can I go over?"

"You can try." Ashley shrugged at him. "Are you staying for dinner?"

"Yeah, I guess so. I've been invited already." He agreed and nodded towards Emily pouring the dry pasta into cold water.