After three rings, Erin heard the call connect, and it was a struggle to keep from bursting into tears from the first sound of his indrawn breath. "Rossi here."
"David, please don't hang up on me."
"Erin?"
"Yes."
Her voice broke on that one simple word, and she pressed her lips together to keep the sob in as the brief silence seemed to grow between them. "Are you all right?"
"No, that's why I called. Would, would you mind coming over and talking to me? Friend to friend? I know, we didn't leave on the friendliest of terms, but I still consider you my friend. The children will be home from school soon, and I could add an extra plate to the table. I just, I need to talk to an adult outside the situation who can give me some sound advice."
"I'll do you one better, Erin. I'll be at your house in thirty, and will make supper for everyone, and we can head out for drinks afterwards. It's been a while since I caught up with Alan, after all." She chuckled a little as she nodded. "You still like eggplant parmesan?"
"If you're making it from scratch? Yes."
"Excellent. I'll see you soon."
Before she could say another word, he had hung up, and she let out a deep sigh as she added his number to her contacts before draining the water and climbing out of the tub. After wrapping a towel around her body, she padded out into the bedroom and began to dig through her closet for something that would be appropriate for their meal, and drinks out afterwards. Jeans sounded like the last thing she wanted to wear, so she settled on a soft knit skirt and a billowy blouse before getting fresh undergarments out. Erin had just finished dressing and fixing her hair and makeup when the doorbell rang, and she knew that David was already there. Squaring her shoulders, she took one last look at her reflection, smiled a little, and then made her way downstairs to the front door. "That was less than half an hour."
"You might want to check your watch again, Erin. It's actually been closer to forty-five minutes. You really aren't feeling well, are you?"
She shrugged as she welcomed him inside, seeing that his hands were holding a good number of bags. "I've been better, yes. Here, let me take a few of those." Before he could protest, Erin had grabbed a few bags and began to make her way to the kitchen, expecting him to follow after her. Together, they set out all the ingredients that he had brought over, and they set about making the meal together, neither saying a word, as if he knew that she couldn't talk in that moment. Still, the companionable silence helped her to feel a little better about her current situation.
"Mom! I didn't know that we were going to have visitors tonight!"
Her head shot up as she heard her children tumble into the house, and she glanced at David, giving him a small smile before calling out, "I have an old work colleague over. He offered to make us supper before taking me out for drinks so that we can catch up on what he's been doing. And I will have to try and refrain from boring him with too many stories of my beloved children."
Bruce rolled his eyes a little as he dropped his lunch bag on the counter before kissing her cheek. "She does get mushy, so be certain to reel her in. I'm going to work on my homework before supper."
"Sounds good, Brucie," she replied as Karen set her bag next to Bruce's, hugging her quickly before taking a seat at the kitchen table. "Are you staying in here, Karen?"
"Yeah, it's nice and warm in here, and I'll stay more focused with people around me. You don't mind, do you?"
Erin shook her head before shooting a quick look at David, seeing that he was grinning. "That will be fine, honey. How about you, Tabitha? Are you staying down here with us, or heading up to your room to do your homework?"
"I'll stay down here with you all. I don't have much to do, anyway. Just some boring math worksheets. I'd rather be reading my faerie book." Erin tried to swallow the giggle the tickled her lips at just how much her youngest child sounded like her in that moment, and it didn't help that David was also trying to swallow his laughter.
"All right, darling. Get to it, and if you get stuck, we can help you." Tabitha nodded as she added her lunch bag to the pile on the counter before hugging Erin tightly. "You can't hold on to me and do your work. Besides, we have to finish the meal."
"Fine, Mama." Tabitha held her a little more tightly for just a moment before letting go and taking a seat next to her sister and pulling out a workbook from her backpack and getting down to work. Giving them another gentle smile, she turned back to what she was doing at the counter, finding herself so comfortable with David at her side. That was a thought that she didn't want to dwell on, since it made little sense. She loved Alan, she shouldn't feel so right in this situation. But a part of her mind screamed that she needed to hold on to this fleeting feeling of peace, because as soon as David knew about her secret, it was very likely that he would think the worst of her.
"You've gone wool gathering again, Erin. Just a few more hours, and you can unload your heart on me," David whispered in her ear as he took the eggplant from her hands to add it to the glass dish. "All right, I'll pop this in the oven to start baking, and then get to work on dessert, if you want to start on the garlic bread," he said a little louder, and Erin nodded, grateful that he had gotten her out of her thoughts.
"I can do that, yes. I do hope that you brought a good amount of garlic, because my garlic bread always comes with more than most people consider necessary."
"I remembered that about you, Erin, so yes, I brought a few extra bulbs of garlic for you to use." She laughed as she took them from his hand and began to throw together the garlic butter she would use to baste the bread with. It didn't take long to get that together, and then Erin was applying it to the thick slices of bread before forming them back into a loaf and wrapping it in foil so that she could add it to the oven shortly before they were ready to eat. "All right, do you want to start dishes while I finish up the dessert?"
"Keeping me focused?" she asked, relieved to see him nod. "Good, I need that right now."
"That's what I figured." He gave her a quick wink, and she rolled her eyes as she began to fill the sink with water, soaking the pans first as she rinsed off the utensils. They were just about finished when she heard Alan's car in the garage, and Erin allowed a false smile to spread across her lips as she thought about greeting her husband and trying to make it so that everything appeared normal, when that was the farthest thing from the truth.
