It was a nice dinner. Claire ignored Jill's curious looks—Jill would chase her around with questions for the next five or six weeks anyway, so why bother now.
Samuel and Felicity were already best friends ever. The boy enjoyed the attention, and waved his hands around as he told the little girl about different things, while Felicity wowed at his every word. She also tugged at Alex every couple of minutes, to demand her to listed to the boy as well. Claire and Kat had the mandatory conversation about the weather versus the Anniversary events over the weekend. Tom asked them about it, and along with the answer, he earned a thorough interrogation about such a distant and exotic location as Newhalem, forty-five miles away. He replied while supervising his son, trying to get the boy drop the talking and get to eating before his food grew its own ecosystem.
Alex split her attention between the children and the grown-ups, but all of her attention was actually on Tom. And Claire could tell he was focused on her too, and how much he enjoyed watching her interact with his son in such a natural, friendly way.
When they walked out of Jill's, Alex handed the Hilux keys to Claire, for the girl to take Kat and Felicity home. The little girl clung to her neck, pouting and refusing to let go of her. But Alex poked her tummy and made her laugh, securing her in the Hilux backseat before the child could argue.
Tom unlocked the Yukon and let his son in to the backseat. He circled the car to open the passenger door and looked up at Alex. She waved goodbye at the other three and went toward him.
"Not so wild and outdoorsy anymore," she said, glancing at the Yukon.
"I'm with Samuel and..." he met her eyes and scoffed. "Right, you're kidding."
She got into the Hilux still chuckling. Samuel leaned forward to her.
"Sometimes Dad's a little slow with jokes," he whispered, as if excusing Tom.
Alex turned in her seat to face the little boy. "He is, right? And what d'you think about it?"
"I like it when he makes jokes."
Tom got in behind the wheel and faced them very serious. "Whatever you two are up to, don't even think about it."
"Swear we're up to no good," Alex replied, making Samuel giggle.
"I know!"
Claire called when Alex was pointing her house to Tom.
"Ollie's on duty, so I'm staying to keep him some company."
"You rotten bastard," Alex grunted.
"Love you too! Night-night!"
"Everything okay?" asked Tom, turning to access the driveway.
"Yeah," Alex muttered.
While Tom took his duffel to Claire's room, Alex and Samuel searched one of the bookcases together. She picked a book and gave it to the boy.
"The... Hobbit...?" he read, inspecting the cover.
"Warrior dwarves, shape shifters, dragons, elves."
"Cool!"
Samuel ran down the hall with the book. Alex followed in no hurry and stayed at the door. She was grateful that Claire had changed her hideous pink comforter with huge daisies for a sober dark green one, which didn't pose any threat of spontaneous combustion to unaware retinas. Samuel kicked his sneakers off and jumped onto the bed, showing the book to Tom, who was grabbing some things from their bag.
"Look, Dad!"
"That's a good one. Wanna read it now?"
"Yeah! And I'm reading it by myself."
"Great. But first you gotta brush your teeth and put your PJ on."
Samuel dropped the book on the bed and sprinted out for the bathroom across the hall.
Tom turned to Alex. "Thanks for taking us in with such a short notice."
"Come again?"
He needed a moment to get she meant the 'thanks part. He nodded, smiling, as Samuel sprinted back in.
"Done!"
"I'll let you guys to your things," Alex said. "I'll be in the kitchen if you need me."