Page 22 of Tav
I raise my brow at my brother in question. “Yeah?”
“Proud of you, little brother. Blanche will make a good Ol Lady. If you can keep her,” He smirks at me as he says this and then his face sobers. “But if she hurts you, there won’t be any force in the world that will hold Tuesday back, least of all me.”
Blanche
A knock at the door has me jumping as I had completely zonedout, staring at the pot bubbling on the stove. The pounding of little feet down the hall snaps me into motion.
“Hold up littles! I’m coming!”
I throw the tea towel on the counter as I rush past to answer the door.
“It’s Tav mom! It’s Tav!” Cove yells at the top of her lungs, pointing to the tablet on the hall table that shows who is at the door through our security camera.
I wipe my hands on my jeans, make sure my top doesn’t have any stains, or new ones at least, and run a finger under each eye to catch any melting mascara. I mean, I don’t do too much to my appearance. I’m too damn busy for that shit, but I equally don’t want to look like a bog witch.
I grip the door handle, take a breath, and then berate myself for acting like a lovesick teen. I give myself a pep talk about being a badass bitch, a tiger mom, and all that stuff before swinging the door open.
“Hey Pixie,” Tav’s deep voice washes over me as his dark eyes hold mine, the heat palpable in them before his attention moves to the two dancing around my feet.
“Hey gang!” Tav says as he squats down, resting on his haunches. And what haunches they are.
“Hey Tav! Are you having dinner with us?” Cove asks as she hops in place while Elio just leans against Tav.
“Yup. Your mom asked me and I couldn’t say no. She’s the best cook I’ve ever met!”
Both kids frown up at him before they’re off, telling him about school and all sorts of important kid stuff.
Tav listens patiently as he herds them toward the kitchen. Not before leaning over and dropping a kiss on my cheek, his beard tickling my skin on the way past, causing goosebumps to break out. I know what that beard feels like on my body. I slamthe door shut, take a few deep breaths and then get back to my station at the stove.
“OK Pixie, what do you need me to do?” Tav claps his hands together and looks around at the chaos that is my open-plan kitchen/dining/lounge.
Where I grew up, it was drummed into us girls that we had to keep a tidy house. Raise the children, obey our husbands, cook, clean, nurture, all that crap. I never cared for it then and I didn’t care for it when Tav visited in the past, but now, being Tav’s Ol Lady, someone he claimed and is hoping to see in his life in a long-term capacity, has me feeling a little weird about how sloppy my home looks. Looking around the open plan area, I try to see it through Tav’s eyes. The little shoe half sticking out from under the couch. The sweaters that were taken off after school and thrown on a chair or on the floor. Not even the smallest kids’ clothes. Niko’s big man sized football cleats kicked into the corner are still there from last night, as is Sage’s hair brush lying on the back of the couch.
“Hey, you with me?”
Turning my gaze to Tav, standing so close his chest almost flush with mine, his brows knitted together in concern. His eyes roam over my face before he turns to look around the room.
“Babe, I’ve been here before. There’s nothing here that I don’t love.”
“Tav, dude, this place is a mess,” I give him the “are you kidding me?” mom stare I perfected early in my motherhood.
“You see a mess, I see a home with a family. A home full of love and chaos and noise and - “He waves his hand around, “- stuff. Stuff that makes up the family you built. I’m hoping that over time, if you’ll let me, I’ll be able to leave some of my things lying around too.” His lips curl and I slap him on his hard chest with a snort.
“Well, seeing as you love our chaos so much, why don’t you try to find where the hell the kids put the dishes after the last time they unpacked the dishwasher and set the table, yeah?”
“Aye aye captain!”
With a salute, he starts looking through drawers and cupboards, Cove and Elio being less than helpful, as it seems they can’t remember where they put anything either.
I take everything off the stove, making sure to check the dumplings are cooked to perfection before I dish them and the chicken onto the blue plastic plate, the side plate, the dessert plate and the serving platter that Tav and the kids decided we’d be eating off today. I’d like to say that this is unusual and that I normally seek out the correct dishes, but I don’t. I used to, but once the two little ones joined us it was whatever was going to be easiest. Tav carries our meals to the table, the kids point to the places they like to sit. Which today seems to be so close to Tav they’re almost on top of him.
“What about Sage and Niko?” Tav asks, before putting a dumpling in his mouth, closing his eyes and groaning in appreciation. I appreciate it too, because that noise went straight to my clit.
“No, they’ll dish up themselves when they get in, which should be soo-”
The front door bangs open, hitting the wall with a crash as Sage yells out for me.
“MOM! Mom, Mom, they tried to take Niko!”