Her heart trembled a little, made her feel young and just a little foolish. "Yes, this mattered. This was important. There isn't anyone else. "
"Serious business," he said, and drew her hand to his lips. "I'm going to start wanting you again, real soon. "
She squeezed his hand. "We'll have to see what we can do about that. "
Chapter Twelve
ROZ FOLLOWED THEscent of coffee, and the noise, into the kitchen. The dreary gray rain had canceled her morning run, so she'd channeled the energy into three miles on her treadmill. It was an alternative that usually bored her senseless, but today she'd found herself singing along with commercial jingles during theToday show breaks.
In the kitchen the baby was banging away on her high chair tray with the enthusiasm of a heavy metal drummer, and Stella's boys were whining over their cereal.
"Yes," Stella announced with the snap of motherly frustration in her voice, "you both have to wear your raincoats, because I'm mean and bossy and I want you to be miserable. "
"Wehate the raincoats," Gavin informed her.
"Really? That's not what you said when you begged me to buy them. "
"That was before. "
Perhaps in sympathy, perhaps for the fun of it, Lily stopped banging her teething rattle and threw it - along with her mangled Zwieback. The eagle-eyed Parker fielded the Zwieback before it hit the floor, and the rattle landed with a solidplop in Luke's bowl of Cap'n Crunch.
Milk fumed up and over the rim of the bowl, causing Lily to scream in delight. In a chain reaction, Parker let out a spate of ear-piercing barks and did canine flips while Gavin doubled over in hysterics.
Stella was quick, but for once Luke was quicker and had the rattle out of the bowl and tossed, dripping, into his brother's lap.
"Oh, for God's sake. " Stella grabbed a napkin with one hand and held up the other to block Gavin's retaliation. "Don't even think about it. "
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. " Hayley scooped up the bowl, more napkins as the boys shoved at each other.
A calm in the storm, David walked over with a damp rag. "We'll mop it up. Troublemaker," he said to Lily, who answered him with a huge, crumby grin.
Roz studied the chaos, and just beamed.
"Morning," she said and strolled in.
Heads turned.
"Roz?" Stella stared at her. "What are you doing here?"
"Since I live here, I thought I'd come in and get myself a cup of coffee. " She bent down to brush a kiss over the top of Lily's head. "Hello, boys. That baby's got pretty good aim, doesn't she? Two-pointed it right in the goal. "
The idea was so intriguing the boys stopped fighting. "Do it again, Lily!" Luke tugged on his mother's sleeve. "Give it back to her, Mom, so she can do it again. "
"Not right now. You've got to finish up or you'll be late for school. " She checked her watch and saw it was indeed just after eight, and a full hour after Roz was usually on her way out the door.
"My cereal's got baby spit in it now," Luke complained.
"You can have a muffin instead. "
"Then I want a muffin. " Gavin shoved his cereal aside. "If he can have a muffin, I can have a muffin, too. "
"Fine, fine. "
"I'll get them. " Hayley gestured Stella back. "Least I can do. "
"Mmm, don't they smell great?" Roz sniffed at the bowl filled with fresh apple muffins. She plucked one out for herself, then leaned back against the counter, her coffee in one hand, her muffin in the other. "Can't be a better way to start the day. And look at that rain. Nothing like a good all-day soaker. "
After Hayley passed out muffins, she bent close to Stella's ear. "Somebody got her batteries charged. "