The Hook-up

Chapter 212

"Bruno?" Lauren asked early in the morning moving herself around to get to the babies.

"Yeah?" he asked sitting down next to Lauren to help her with the babies taking a spoon.

"You're doing Ellen today, right?" she asked.

"That's the plan." he smiled not looking at her, instead paying attention to Everlee as she opened her mouth for him. "There. It's so yummy..." he said watching her at the same time he tasted the food. "Eww. No, no it's not."

"I tried all of them while you were gone." she told him with a defeated smile.

"I tried them a long time ago...maybe when Jaimo was born." Bruno said turning to her to smile.

"Which was your favorite?" she asked.

"I think it was the carrots..for some reason." he answered with a shrug.

They continued to talk about the baby food acting as though there was nothing wrong with their relationship. They got the babies dressed and Lauren went to change for work coming out wearing tan flats, a pair of straight brown flats and a brightly printed orange shirt with a set of red bracelets and bright pink earrings that accented her long single braid. "You look beautiful." he told her kissing her on the cheek.

"Help me with the babies?" she asked taking a set of bags to toward the front of the house.

"Okay, mama." he said following her directions. Somehow she gets me to do so much. I mean, this isn't anything, but she always gets me to do things...

**

The two finished their days by themselves. Lauren had a normal day at work, writing and sending e-mails. Bruno completed this interview and went to get the babies to take care of them after he finished filming. He made sure Lauren knew and expected her to get a bit frustrated by his decision.

You should have told me before you went.

I'm sorry

Sorry for what?

Everything.

Well, we can't change it. I'll be home by like 5:30

When Lauren got home she opened the door smelling spices and a faint scent of spam and pepper. "Are you serious, Bruno?" she asked walking into the kitchen seeing the babies asleep in the pack and play near him, the dogs on each side of the babies.

"Why not?" he asked with a smile taking a bite of what he was cooking.

"You're never supossed to trust a skinny cook..." Lauren smiled at him sitting down at the table watching him.

"I didn't lose my inner fat boy, Laur." he said cracking a bit of a smile.

"Hey..hey..." she held up her hands defensively. "I didn't say it!"

"I know." he said turning to serve her a plate of food.

They ate and had a pleasant conversation with nothing too meaningful discussed. He told her about the people he saw and how excited and nervous he was about the next few months. "But at least you're here for the holidays..." she said reaching for his hand while holding onto a baby that had woken up.

"Yeah. I don't think that I could be away from you for that long..." he said letting her hold onto his hand glancing at his blinking phone.

"Who is that?" she asked seeing the concern on his face.

"Don't know." he said flipping it over to stop the blinking light.

They ignored the text that she knew was from Damaris, playing with the babies for about an hour before putting the babies down for bed without any type of drama. "What did you want to talk about yesterday?" Lauren asked. "You said you were sorry for everything. I don't know what you were talking about. I'm over whatever happened."