It had been a really hectic few days for Paul but he had managed to schedule a couple of house viewings for after work on Wednesday, he was going to be leaving work earlier than normal but he would finish his work when he eventually got back to the hotel.
After baking a couple of different kinds of cookies on Sunday Stephanie had been grateful when all they wanted to do was sit down and watch a movie, she was still struggling after her trip to Brazil and then emotionally being drained by her conversation with Paul she was just plain exhausted.
It was almost like the girls could tell that she was struggling with everything because for the past few days they had been on their best behaviour. Unfortunately all of the good behaviour in the world was not going to get her out of this lunch with her Mom; she was regretting agreeing to it now that she had had time to begin processing her conversation with Paul. Forcing a smile as her Mom returned from the restroom, "I have decided what I want so when you are ready we can order."
Linda was no idiot, she knew that her daughter didn't want to be here now and she feared that it was because she didn't want to talk at all and the last thing she wanted to happen was for her daughter to bottle everything up inside. "It shouldn't take me long; I kind of have an idea of what I want already."
A few minutes later and their orders had been placed and it was just the two of them again, "How are the girls?"
"Good, too good actually. They are all behaving really well and it is just making me suspicious."
"I remember those days." Laughing at the memories she shook her head, "Believe me when I say that it never gets easier, you will always remain suspicious of your children when they are acting outside of the norm for them."
"I love the girls to death but I am expecting them to ask to go to Disney any day now, that or for Paul to move back in."
Now she had brought his name up there was no harm in her mentioning him, "So how are things with Paul?"
That was a really good question actually, she hadn't actually spoken to him since he had left on Sunday, he was giving her space and not pushing her and it almost made her more confused. "Nothing has changed, he is still looking for somewhere to rent this week and making me wonder if he wants to save this marriage or not. I know that I told him that I wouldn't want him to move back in straight away but he is almost too eager not to come home."
"So you want him to fight you over that? Maybe he thinks arguing with you over it would backfire on him."
Sitting back in the chair she crossed her arms over her chest, "Well maybe I need to see passion and to know that he actually cares enough to fight for this."
And now she knew what the problem was, her daughter felt like her husband was going along with things too easily and she wanted him to fighting for them more, she could understand this but Paul was not a psychic and she doubted that her daughter had said anything of the kind to him. "So apart from him not fighting enough for the marriage how was the talk between you two?"
"Painful. Hearing so many of the details of the affair was really hard but I did learn a lot. I also saw glimpses of the man that I knew, the man that loved me and would do anything for his family and would rather die than hurt any of us so that was weird. I really don't know what to do though, no matter how much I think about it I just can't seem able to decide if I actually can forget what he did."
"It is still early days Steph; you only had a proper conversation with him a couple of days ago so it will probably take you longer than this to process it all and make a decision."
She felt like she needed to make a quick decision though, this wasn't just her life that she was messing with. "I don't have time to wait forever Mom, the girls need stability and they need it now."
Linda reached across the table and grabbed hold of her daughter's hands, "They have stability, they have both you and Paul. Even though you aren't living in the same house you are proving that you are a unit and that you are both there for them."
She didn't want to talk about this any more, she was sick of thinking about it and not making a single decision about her future, "Enough about that, can we talk about something else please?"
It was just before five when Paul pulled up outside the first house and immediately he knew that this house was not for him, there was something about it that he didn't like, he didn't know what it was but he was going to listen to his gut if after seeing the house it still told him that it wasn't right.
As he suspected after viewing the house he knew that it wasn't right so when he got back into the car he screwed the details in to a ball and tossed them to the back seat, now to move on to the next house.
When he pulled up to the next house he didn't have any negative feelings towards it so he was looking forward to looking around. As he got out of the car he noticed that from the outside it didn't look like a bad house, maybe a little neglected but that could all be fixed with a mow of the lawn, a dig of the borders and maybe a lick of paint to the outside of the house. "What is the area like?"
"It is a nice area, the neighbours are friendly and all look out for each other. It is a little older around here but only because the houses haven't been sold and changed hands in a long time so they have all lived here for more years than I think they would care for you to know."
The knowledge that the realtor had for this house and area was certainly superior to the last house which made him feel more comfortable here. As he looked around the house he noticed a picture almost hidden at the back of one of the tops in the lounge, "Is this meant to be here?"
Taking the picture from his hand she quickly stuffed it into her pocket, "No it isn't. I am so sorry that I missed that when I was tidying the house up for it to go up, it was just a bit of a rush when it was all done."
"You tidied the house? Since when is that even an option?"
"Since it is my best friend of twenty years' parent's house." There was no point hiding the truth so she may as well be honest with him in the hopes that he would rent it. "As I said this is my best friend's parent's house. It has been a rush to get this up on the market because about eight months ago her Mom died and then just about two months ago her Dad had a nasty fall and broke his hip and the Doctor said that he would no longer be able to live independently so they needed money fast to fund the cost of the home. That is why the house is a little messy and not in the best condition outside but I will be fixing that up on my weekends."
If he didn't like the house before he definitely liked it now, it was a real family home. "How soon could I move in if I took the house? Also what is the shortest contract that they would accept?"
"Honestly you could move in tomorrow if you wanted. There is not a whole lot of interest in the house and as long as you pay the bond and first month's rent the family would be happy for you to move in as soon as possible. To be honest I think that they would be happy with as long as you needed it, as long as you paid rent and gave a month's notice so we could look for another tenant then that is all they ask."
This house was just perfect; the short term nature of it fitted his needs perfectly. "That is all good to know, thanks. Let's go and see the other two houses we have and then I have somebody to discuss this with before I can make a decision but I will most certainly not leave you hanging around as I need somewhere fast.
After seeing all of the houses he was down to two possibilities and now he needed to show them to the girls but there was no way he was just going to drop by the house so he could only text his wife.
I have narrowed down the houses to two, I would like to show the girls the details & maybe the houses if that would be okay with you?
Once he had sent the text he didn't know what to do with himself, he needed to get some dinner but he wanted something different to eat for a change so really he needed to find a restaurant that took his fancy.
Stephanie was just about to leave work when her phone beeped, fearing that it was the Nanny saying that the girls were being really bad she reluctantly looked at it. It was worse than knowing the girls were misbehaving; it was her husband saying that he had found some houses that he liked, "Well he didn't waste any time." There were many options as to when he could discuss the houses, part of her wanted to force him to wait to discuss it but a bigger part of her thought that that would be cruel and unfair and she shouldn't do that to him.
If he had found the houses quick speed then maybe she should just get it all over with.
I am just on my way home so I guess you could meet me there so that you can discuss it with the girls if you want?
She sent the text and then left the office, she didn't want to know what his answer was, she just wanted to go home and get a hug from the girls, today had been too rough for her.
As she walked through the garage door she half expected to see Paul sat at the table, despite not seeing his car she wasn't sure if she had just blocked it from her memory as she wanted to block him from her memory right now. The girls not moving from their seats as she walked through the door meant one thing, homework. "Are you having fun with your homework?"
"No Mommy."
She had to laugh at her youngest daughter's response, "I don't think it is meant to be fun baby girl. Do you need any help?"
When her daughter nodded she went over and joined them at the table not even caring about her phone or if Paul had replied.
The doorbell rang as she was in the middle of going over Aurora's homework with her, "Rae, would you mind please?"
"Of course not Mrs . . . Stephanie." Instinct always had her attempt to call her 'Mrs Levesque' first, it had been like it since the day she had started and even after ten years she still struggled to get out of the habit. Brushing her hands on her apron she opened the door surprised to see her other boss, "I don't even know what I am meant to say to you. No offense is meant but I don't know how I am meant to react to this so just do whatever."
"It's okay Rae, don't worry. Where is Steph?"
"The kitchen, she is just going over Aurora's homework with her."
"Thank you, Steph is, or should be, expecting me." As he made his way through the house he got the feeling that she wasn't entirely expecting him. Poking his head around the kitchen door he smiled seeing Stephanie surrounded by all three girls going through the work for all of them to see. "Hi, I hope you don't mind me dropping in."
The squeals of excitement almost deafened Stephanie as they were almost right in her ears before they ran over to hug him. "Can we please finish this before you take their attention?"
He winced at the coldness in her tone, "Of course. Girls go and finish your homework please and then we can hug."
All but stomping and huffing their way back to the table none of them were happy to have to finish their homework when their Dad was here and he was never here so they just wanted to spend time with him.
She went through the rest of the homework as fast as possible as there was only so much sulking she could handle and not get angry at them over. Once the last piece of homework was done she placed the paper on the table, "There you go, you can hug your Dad as much as you want now." Yes she was upset that they seemed to care more about him being here than her being here but she tried to hide it as she got to her feet, "I will leave you to it and go and shower or something."
"Stay." It wasn't even that she was upset that he was asking her to stay, he genuinely wanted her opinion on the house too because he didn't want to get this terrible wrong. "I would like your opinion on this also please."
"Oh, okay." She sat back down at the table and waited patiently for him to tell her what he wanted. Whilst she waited she tidied up the table wanting to keep her eyes on anything but the sight of him and their daughters together.
Once he had hugged all of the girls and allowed them to tell him a little about their day he then ushered them over to the table, "Sit by your Mom please."
With a little help from Paul chairs were moved closer to Stephanie and they were soon sat together allowing him the chance to remove the listings from his pocket, "I went looking for a house tonight and I have narrowed it down to two so I would like your opinion on them please."
He placed the listings side by side on the table, "These are the two houses that I like the best and I would like your opinion on them please."
She knew that she shouldn't judge by appearances but seeing the outside of the one house made her nervous about it. Pointing at the listing she shook her head, "I don't like the way that this one looks."
He should have guessed that she wouldn't like it because of how it looked because if you didn't actually see the house you would assume that it was in bad shape too. "The house is fine Steph, it is just the garden and outside that has been neglected. The realtor said that she will personally be tidying up the garden on the weekends as it is her best friend's parent's place and it has been rushed on to the rental market due to the Father having a nasty fall. "
She wasn't sure though so she was glad that she didn't really have a say.
Whilst the adults had been discussing the finer points of the visual appeal of the house the older two girls had been discussing amongst themselves which house they preferred.
"Girls?"
"Which house is nearer?"
"Which one has bigger bedrooms?"
If she wasn't surrounded by her daughters she would get up and leave but as it as she couldn't get away from this conversation. It appeared that she wasn't the only one who wasn't interested in the conversation because Vaughn began to tug on her arm, "Mommy, I wants a hug."
Carefully pulling her daughter across from her chair in to her lap she kissed the top of her head, "Better?"
Nodding her head she laid her head on her Mom's shoulder and held her tightly, "Love you Mommy."
"I love you too Princess."
Paul's attention got taken from his daughter's questions instead he watched his wife and their youngest, that was one of the most precious sights when they wanted to be held like that and it always made his heart swell when he watched his wife with any of their daughters.
"Daaad."
"Okay okay." He could always rely on Murphy to start whining when she wasn't getting the attention she wanted or the answers she wanted when she wanted them. "Maybe I will have to talk to your Mom about actually showing you the houses, I don't think that I will have all of the answers for you."
"I don't want to see the houses."
Putting the two house listings together he picked them up and put them back in his pocket before he walked around the table and kissed his youngest on the temple, "That's okay, you can have fun with your Mom and I will take your sisters if your Mom agrees."
She couldn't exactly say no when he was essentially putting her on the spot in front of the girls, "Sure, they can't miss school or their bedtime but you can work around that."
"Thank you Mommy!"
She forced a smile at her daughters, she still hated that he was getting a house and she still felt like he was giving up on them but if the girls were happy she couldn't exactly complain as this was her doing.
Paul sensed that now was probably a good time to get out of there so he gave the other two girls a kiss, "I should get going as I have paperwork that I need to get done. Be good for your Mom, I love you."
"Love you too Daddy."
She watched him leave the room without glancing back; he had barely looked at her the entire time that he was here so maybe the decision about their marriage had been made for her. Although she wanted to wallow in her own self pity she didn't have the opportunity as she was being pulled towards the door by the girls, she didn't know where they were going as she had spaced out so she just went along with it.