4

Aurora half expected to hear from Arden the next day. She kept herself busy with her work. She had not noticed the time until Eli came busting through the front door. He had just got off the bus that thankfully dropped him off right in front of their house. Aurora would not have allowed him to ride the bus otherwise. 

"How was school, E?" Aurora asked as she closed her laptop that sat on her desk. She had renovated the small basement to use as a home office. Eli came over to her chair and held out a piece of paper to her. 

"We are going on a field trip!" He exclaimed as Aurora took the paper from him. She glanced over its contents and saw that their class was going to the pumpkin patch. Aurora was reminded that Halloween was just right around the corner. Eli had already decided on a ninja for this year. Aurora had just got it in the mail the other day. 

"Wow. A pumpkin patch, how fun." Aurora said to her son. She stood up from her chair and made her way upstairs with Eli in tow. Eli put his backpack on the small table and sat where Faith sat the previous night. 

"Can I have a snack?" He asked his mother. Aurora smiled at him. In honor of the month of October, Aurora had been slicing apples and letting Eli eat a small amount of caramel with them. 

"The usual?" She asked him already heading towards the fridge. Eli nodded enthusiastically with a large smile on his face. 

As Aurora was cutting up the apple on the wooden cutting board she could feel her phone buzzing in her pocket. She finished fixing Eli his snack and then sat in the other chair next to him. 

"So sorry I have not been able to text you sooner. Today was busy at the bar." It was a text from Arden. Aurora responded quickly.

"No problem. I understand." 

"Are you available for dinner again tomorrow night?" Aurora quickly texted her mother to see if she could watch Eli. Faith said of course and Aurora let Arden know that she was free. 

"Great see you tomorrow!" Aurora put her phone down and watched Eli as he did the happy dance in his seat as he ate his apples dipped in caramel.

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"Where are you going momma?" Eli asked as he sat on her bed. He had a coloring book laid out in front f him and was currently working on a picture of one of his favorite super heroes. Aurora could not remember the name, but she knew without a debt that Eli knew the name. 

"I am just going to have dinner with a friend." Aurora answered. She was not ready to mention that her friend was a man to her five-year-old son. There had only been one occasion that Eli ad asked Aurora why he did not have a daddy like the rest of the kids in his class. 

Aurora had lightly tiptoed around the topic and just told him that not all families were built the same. That they were lucky to have each other. The answer had seemed to satisfy Eli, at least for the time being. Aurora knew it was only a matter of time before he would want the full story of why his father was not in his life. 

"You look very pretty." Eli said as he continued to color. Aurora smiled and walked over to Eli. She sat next to him on the bed and pushed a piece of his hair from his eyes. 

"Thank you, E." Eli smiled up at her and held his arms out. Aurora leaned in and gave her some a hug. Just then the doorbell rang. 

"Grandma!" Eli explained as he bounded off the bed and flew to the front door. Before he would open it though Aurora came around the corner.

"Eli, how do we answer a door?" Aurora had been working with Eli on trying to be more conscious of his own safety. Opening the door without finding out who was on the other side was one of those things. 

"Who is it?" Eli yelled through the closed door. He quickly plastered his ear to the wood and waited for a response. 

"Your freezing grandmother, now let me in." He her Faith call from the other side of the door. Eli gave his mother a "see" look before unlocking it and letting Faith into the small house. 

"You look lovely, dear." Faith commented after she hung up her coat behind the front door on the hooks that were attached to the wall. 

"Thank you. I have made you a pot pie in the kitchen for dinner. Eli had requested that you show him how to play monopoly." Aurora laughed at Faith's expression. She knew that her mother detested monopoly because of the amount of time it took to win. 

"No cheating." Aurora said to her mother in joking warning. She would not put it past her mother to make up her own rules to win the game and be done with it. Faith only chuckled in response and nodded as she walked into the kitchen. 

Aurora had made a homemade pot pie for her mother and Eli to share for dinner. It was her grandmother's recipe and knew that it was also one of her mother's favorites. 

"Thank you. Don’t stay out too late." Faith said as she began to pull down plates from the cabinets. Eli had already sat himself down at the table ready for dinner. Aurora walked over and gave him a hug and kiss on the cheek, before walking to her mother and giving her a hug a well. 

"See you soon." Eli and Faith waved as Aurora headed back out into living and rather her jacket and purse. She got into her car and made her way back down to the bar that she seemed to be frequenting more often. 

As she parked her car, she noticed that Arden was outside throwing away a bag of garbage. As she looked closer, she could have sworn that his eyes shone brightly in the darkness. How was that possible? Just as quickly as it was there, it was gone. She quickly shook her head. It must have been a passing car or something. 

Aurora stepped out from her car and walked over to the door that she had just seen him go through and knocked lightly.