Err on the Side of Violence: Terribly Acronymed Detective Club Series (Book 3)

Chapter Seven: Rachel, Saturday

Rachel was thankful Lauren came after all, because Lauren had a car, and Rachel didn't need to book one. It was her little Nissan Versa, but it did have five seat belts, and Rachel was able to sit in the front while Emma sat in the back with her mom on one side and Naomi on the other, looking like the cat who got the cream.

To Rachel's relief, once they were finished getting their manicures and facials, Jenna regretfully asked to be dropped off at the nearest Skytrain station. Rachel didn't even know where she was staying, but Jenna must have gotten Rachel's address from her caseworker. 

It wasn't that Jenna was a bad person; she behaved the entire time and was happy to spend the day with them. What made the day go down the shitter was when Emma hugged her mother tight and tearfully begged her not to go, and Rachel was furious again at Jenna for showing up unannounced. 

To Emma's credit, she cheered up eventually when she realized she still had the rest of the day and night with Naomi, and Rachel improved her mood further when she said, "What do you say we order in pizza tonight?"

"My favourite!" Emma squealed, clapping her hands.

"Mine too!" Naomi said. "What should we get on it?"

"You can each get your own if you can't agree," Rachel said. "I just know I'm getting one with lots of salami."

"You love your salami," Lauren said as she drove them back home. "It sounds good, I'm sorry I'll miss it."

"Don't worry, Joe will give you all the salami you want."

Lauren hooted with laughter, and luckily the kids weren't aware of the double entendre. 

After Lauren dropped them off, the three girls returned to a warm welcome from Samson, and even Logan was out of his room, watching TV on the couch. Al was in the kitchen making something. 

"Oh, honey, I hope you didn't start anything for dinner," she said. "I told the girls we could order pizza."

"Yes!" Logan said.

Al opened his mouth, looked at what he'd prepped, looked up at them, saw Emma's hopeful look, and closed his mouth again. He nodded. "Sounds good. I can always put this away for tomorrow."

"Yay!" Emma and Naomi shouted together.

As the two girls escaped to Emma's room to chat, read magazines and style each other's hair, Rachel wrapped her arms around Al and kissed him on the mouth. "Thank you," she said. "Emma really needed this."

"Emma? Or you after spending the day with her mom?"

"Maybe both."

He nodded. "She has new sheets on her bed."

"You're the best husband in the world, did I tell you that?"

"Not lately."

She leaned in and whispered, "Maybe tonight, when all the children are asleep...?"

"Before you go getting my hopes up, what if the two of them want to sleep with you?"

"I'll subtly encourage them to share Emma's bed. Lauren and I shared her bed whenever I slept over, and that bed's about the same size, so it should be fine."

Al closed his eyes and shuddered. "Results from those sleepovers have been resonating all these years later. They're the age you were when you--"

"Oh, give me a break, nothing's going to happen. Lauren and I are an anomaly, you know that."

"A very, very nice anomaly."

She slapped him playfully on the arm. "You must be thanking your lucky stars every day that the two of us reunited."