Chapter 15

He walked to the door, and felt that delicious aroma. As he entered, he noticed how quiet the house was.

The smell of cookies made James's mouth turn to water quickly.

He left the car keys in a small carved wooden box on the table and took off his coat. He needed to be comfortable.

He climbed the stairs as he took off his tie. There were no noises or signs of anyone in the house. So, maybe they were shopping or had gone out.

He had lost his distrust weeks ago. He knew he could trust Luna, she would take good care of Portia and had proven that to him perfectly. Therefore, the rules had been watered down a bit.

He went into his room and left his shirt on the bed. He went straight to the bathroom and turned on the shower. He wanted to take a bath, relax, get downstairs, be with Portia and eat whatever that aroma was wafting.

He stepped into the shower after he had undressed completely. He started to think about it. It was time to do it.

What was going on? He could make excuses, but he couldn't stop arguing with himself about how much he liked that tension with Luna.

He knew who she was. He remembered her. Not clearly but of course he knew where they knew each other from. It took him a couple of days to realize where he remembered her face, but he had and it seemed strange that he hadn't remembered it before.

But it didn't matter, the only important thing was how much Portia had improved.

Since Luna had arrived, Portia was better, she played, she was happy. She laughed every day and even Rose had been livelier. And though he didn't want to admit it, things had improved for him too. He could get used to the funny dinners and the sarcastic comments Luna sometimes made to him, risking threatening looks. Lately it didn't matter, though.

He stepped out of the shower. She wrapped a towel around her hips and stepped out of the bathroom. It felt good to take off her suit once in a while. After getting dressed and leaving her hair slightly tousled, she went downstairs. She heard some laughter at the back of the house. They were in the kitchen.

James walked in, Luna and Portia were laughing animatedly. When they saw him, they both quickly fell silent.

-Hello- he greeted.

-Hi - Luna replied.

-Hi, Dad.

-What's wrong? Why did the laughter stop? - he asked as he looked at the colorful cookies resting on the counter.

-No - Portia replied.

-Okay - he replied suspiciously - Did they go anywhere today? They weren't there when I got there.

- Oh, yes. We went with Rose to get some chocolate and some things to decorate the cookies.

-Oh, good. And can Dad try one?

Portia nodded excitedly. She took the plate with Luna's help and handed it to James, who stared at the plate. There were about 15 cookies, some of them had hearts, some had stars, there was one with the face of some strange cartoon, and the rest had flowers and suns. Then, on another plate, there were four cookies with their names written on them.

-Is something wrong? - Luna asked.

-No, of course not. - he took one. I bet they're delicious.

-They are. Luna helped me prepare them, then helped me color them.

-Great, Portia. I'm glad you had a good time.

Portia spent the rest of the day with James. Luna had fallen asleep on the couch and honestly no one had wanted to wake her. Rose, meanwhile, had gone out for personal reasons.

-I know you're here. - James announced, entering the room.

I hear Portia giggle.

-Mmm, although I'm not sure where. Maybe around ... here?

He opened the closet. He knew where she was, he had spotted her head among the stuffed animals as soon as he entered the room.

- I don't know where you are, you're very good at hide-and-seek. -He said, feigning frustration. He approached the stuffed animals. - I feel a very strange stuffed animal here, I've heard stuffed animals are ticklish.

Portia gave a small laugh.

-Let's give it a try. - James exclaimed with a laugh. Delicately he began to tickle the little girl while she just laughed madly. She got out of the stuffed animals and went straight to the door. From there, she ran downstairs. James smiled. He would catch her.

-I'm going to catch you!- he shouted laughing as he ran after his daughter. She just laughed.

Luna began to stir on the couch, had she fallen asleep? She felt rested, better.

She heard noises coming from the second floor. She leaned back gently on the couch, when she felt a small weight fall on her quickly followed by a small scream.

It was Portia.

James appeared behind the girl trying to grab her. He tried to tickle her as she clung tighter and tighter to Luna. She laughed, James had tickled her by mistake.

-Oh, I'm sorry, did I touch you? - she stopped dead in her tracks.

-Yes, it's okay, no problem. - she replied, smiling.

Portia rolled off Luna and sat down on the couch next to her. She sighed.

-What do you want to eat today? - James asked.

- Popcorn? - Portia replied.

-Popcorn? - asked James. The girl nodded.