Single mom Selina Sardi would do anything for her 6-year-old son. Eager to turn their new house into a real home for him, she's devastated when she discovers that the monster under his bed is not a figment of his imagination but the real deal.
Elia...
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Hey buddy! How's it going?" Selina gathered her boy in her arms and swept him up high to trumpet her mouth against his belly.
Lowie giggled, his dangling feet kicking wildly in the air. "Put me do-h-own!"
"He's the best!" Keira waddled into the kitchen, hands on her pregnant belly. "I wish my kids were so well-behaved." She hadn't even finished her sentence when the twins barged from the hall, a football preceding them in a frighteningly high curveball that near-missed a vase of lilies on the kitchen island.
"Out! For God's sake!" Keira shouted, putting one hand to her forehead and the other grabbing a fly swatter to threaten their behinds. "They'll be the death of me, I swear."
"Why don't I take all three of them with me today?" Selina said. "Leave you and Nathalie to go do something nice. Just the two of you."
"I couldn't possibly ask that from you." She rested her forehead against the cupboard while stacking dirty plates next to the sink. She was clearly exhausted. Much like Selina had been before Elias allowed her to sleep.
And she'd been a bitch about it.
Selina was about to object that it was the least she could do after dropping Lowie with them for an entire week, but Nathalie beat her to it. Her head leaned back from the desk chair she wheeled towards the door opening between the kitchen and living room. "She means yes, thanks, that would be swell!"
Selina took the kitchen cloth from Keira's shoulder and got started on the dishes. "Seems like your woman needs some alone time with you."
"I'll even take her on a date. Wine and dine, the whole shebang. Flowers, honey ... I'll bring you flowers," Nathalie yelled from her desk.
Keira giggled. "I'm so tired, love, I might just fall asleep. If anybody should be going on dates, it's Selina."
Selina knitted her eyebrows together. "Are you suggesting I take Nathalie's flowers? I just might, you know, if you don't."
Nathalie sauntered into the kitchen and snagged her wife around the waist, her hands ending up on her round belly. "One date honey, before the next monster pops out. A nice bistro by the sea. We'll order a bit of everything and afterwards I'll put you to bed personally." She nibbled at the tip of her ear, prompting Selina to cast her eyes to the floor, suddenly feeling an intruder to the intimate scene.
"I'm sorry I have to impose on you one more night later, but it's the last one. I promise. Maybe next weekend, all kids can stay at my place."
"Don't worry about it," Nathalie said, "just make sure to return them knackered."
"I will."
She took the kids to the swimming pool, the playground, and a hamburger restaurant. Enough for all of them to be wiped out, but weird as it was, a tingle of adrenaline kept swarming Selina's gut all day.
