14. Date Prep

“Ten, nine, eight, seven–”

I grin behind my hands that are covering my eyes as the children giggle and run away into their hiding spots.

We spent most of the morning learning simple addition and subtraction, then we switched to lessons on my violin that somehow ended with Emile declaring that she has mastered “Twinkle, twinkle, little star”. Now we're taking a well deserved break from all the lessons.

After last night, I'm just happy for whatever distraction I can get.

“-three, two, one, ready or not, here I come!” I shout to alert the children but who am I kidding, they are probably well out of hearing distance already.

With my hands on my hip, I take a slow turn in place, wondering where I should start from.

The kids have an obvious unfair advantage. First, the house is so large they could hide an elephant and I wouldn't notice. Second, I haven't been anywhere else in the house apart from my room, the children's room, the home office, the living room, the kitchen and the dining room.

And in a normal house those are all the rooms to check, I sigh.

“What could the other rooms even be?” I mutter, relieved that the outside of the house is out of bounds for hiding.

Still, I have to start somewhere.

I go into the kitchen where Mrs Jenkins is preparing the pie Ethan requested.

“Smells wonderful, Mrs J,” I say, grinning.

“I'm not going to help you find them if that's what you're hoping for, young lady,” she says with a smile.

“Darn." No cursing around the kids. I turn and walk into the dining room next.

Room by room, I check for any signs of them. Minutes pass by and I might have gotten bored if I wasn't so fascinated by each new discovery ranging from a home theater to a fitness center and even a large library.

The next room I check is the home office. A brief survey of the obsessively tidy room lets me know no child is hiding here, but the papers on the desk draw my attention and I know hide and seek can wait.

This time I quietly shut the door behind me and turn the lock so I won't be snuck up on like last time, then I go through the papers. Most of it is just boring business jargon but there is one paper that stands out to me. It has a man's face and name on it and large question marks.

Not knowing what else to do, I pull out my phone from my pocket and take as many pictures of the papers as I can.

The calm is broken when the door handle rattles as someone tries to enter.

“Shit.” I gather the heap of papers and arrange them as similar to how I found them as I can remember and hide my phone. As I approach the door, I can only hope that my face doesn't betray the pounding in my chest.

I really am not the best spy candidate.

I unlock the door and it swings open, bringing me face to face with Grant.

The surprise on his face mirrors mine as we stare at each other.

“Nova,” he says easily, but his eyes narrow slightly. “What are you doing in here?”

“Oh…um–Hide and seek! We're playing hide and seek, the twins and I,” I say hurriedly.

His brow lifts. “You locked the door during hide and seek?”

“I'm very bad at hide and seek,” I blurt out and even I hear how weird that sounds.

He nods and throws me a charming smile but there's still a glint of doubt in his eyes. “Well, I'm here for you anyways.”

“Me?”

“I want to let you know I'll be here to pick you up at 8:30, dress casually.”

My eyes widen as I remember the date I agreed to. I said yes to it in the moment to piss off Theodore but I would actually love to go. Now that he's holding Xander hostage though…

“I’m sorry, I don't think I will be able to–”

“Because of Theo?”

“Uhh, no…?”

He smiles and says, “Really? That's a shame considering I dropped by his office and he said you could go out with me tonight.”

I blink rapidly in confusion. “Theodore said that?”

“I can call his office to confirm if you'd like that…” he says, pulling out his phone.

“There's no need for that." I refuse to entertain the thought of having to speak to him after last night. “So…8:30?”

“Be ready,” he says and takes my hand, bowing to place a gentle kiss on it. Then a wink and he strolls away.

I barely have a second to ponder on what could have changed Theodore’s mind when my daze is interrupted by Emile's shrill voice coming from somewhere in the house.

“Miss Nova!”

“Shit, I forgot about hide and seek,” I murmur. Then in a loud voice, “I'm coming!”

The rest of the day drifts by with more games and learning and pie. Soon, it's Emile and Ethan's bedtime. The activities of the day knocks them out cold and I am finally ready to prepare for my date.

In my room, I wash up, exfoliate and style my hair in an updo while humming to my favorite playlist.

When last did I do all this prep for a date?

Never, is the answer, because I've never been on a date.

At 8:20, I am groomed and ready. The hardest part was choosing what to wear but I took comfort in Grant saying to dress simple. I chose a soft, ivory sundress that I ‘borrowed’ from Xander. It cinches at my waist then flows around my knees.

At 8:30, Grant's car pulls up into the driveway. He walks out with a bouquet of flowers in hand like a true gentleman and soon we're on our way.

“I can't say I'm pleased with you,” I tease once we're in the car. “You told me to dress casually and yet you show up in a freaking suit. We look like we're going to two different places.”

He laughs, it sounds nice. “Ahh that's because we're not ready yet. There's one stop.”

After a few minutes of driving, we pull into another mansion except this one is grander, the type of house that looks like it has secret hallways and knights stationed inside.

“Welcome,” Grant says dramatically, “To the official Thompson residence, where I grew up.”

I laugh, “This is your childhood home? It's a fucking mini country.”

We walk in and I marvel at the old money elegance of the house.

“Make yourself comfortable while I check on a few things.”

As he walks away, I make sure to appreciate the sexy behind on this man and I'm sure I would have whistled if only I knew how. The man has confidence and great tailoring.

When he disappears into a passageway, I walk around the living room. On the mantelpiece above the fireplace are pictures of the family.

I quickly recognize a younger Theodore. The pictures range from him as a baby to a picture that can't be more than a year or two old.

He's never smiling in all the pictures, in fact, none of the family is. The absence of joy is eerie. It's a stark contrast to the man that spent the summer with me all those years ago.

What happened to him?

“Ahem.”

I spin around like I have been caught with my hand in a cookie jar. Grant is standing behind me.

“You were cute,” I say to him, flustered.

“Past tense?” he says with a teasing smile and I smile awkwardly in return because I honestly didn't even glance at his pictures. Not when Theodore's were there. I hate to admit it, but he calls my attention to him.

I clear my throat to dispel the silence that settled. “So? What now?”

“Now you follow me,” he says and leads me through multiple rooms and a few flights of stairs.

“I apologize,” he says over his shoulder. “My mother absolutely refuses to install an elevator. The stairs build character apparently, but here we are.”

He opens the large doors to a room and we step in.

I'm drawn to what is on the bed and my eyes widen.

“Oh my goodness!”