Ghost City

4

I opened the door to my house and let Aurora run in before me. Timely, Damien exited the living room, and Aurora smiled and ran into his arms. He chuckled while picking her up and twirling her.

"Hi, my little princess," Damien smiled. "How was school today?"

"Good," she smiled. "Ricardo was being mean to Riley, and I told him that that wasn't very nice and that he should go away, and Ms.Patterson gave me a gold star for sticking up for a classmate. I'm only two more stars away from getting a big surprise!"

Damien smiled, "That's my little girl," and gave her a high five.

I smiled at the sigh of the two of them before remembering that I wanted to take Damien shopping today. I instructed, "Rory, put your bag down in your room and then come back here."

"Okay, Mommy," she smiled as Damien put her down, and she skipped to the stairs before carefully climbing them to her room.

"I'm taking you shopping," I informed Damien before walking off to the kitchen so that I could grab some cookies and a banana for Aurora to snack on.

Damien followed behind me while claiming, "You don't have to. I can buy my own clothes."

As I grabbed the snacks and placed them in my purse, I replied, "I never asked if you could. I said I'm taking you shopping." I placed a bottle of water in my bag for Aurora as well before handing Damien one and taking one for myself.

"Mommy, I'm ready," Aurora shouted.

I looked at Damien and raised my eyebrows as I said, "Well? Let's go."

Damien gave me a bad eye for whatever reason, maybe because I refused to let his pride get in the way, but followed behind me, nonetheless.

Four hours later
I placed the bags down on the floor in the guest room that Damien had chosen to sleep in last night, and he did the same when he came into the house. Aurora, who was carrying a small bag came into the room and placed the bag down on the floor beside the rest of the bags and huffed before throwing herself down on Damien's bed. Damien and I both chuckled and Aurora giggled before sitting up.

"Daddy?" she called out, and Damien smiled and nodded, as if telling her to ask whatever it was that she was curious about. "Why do you sleep in here?"

Damien frowned, "What do you mean?"

"Well, Grandma and Grandpa sleep in a room together, Uncle Nico and Auntie Nat Nat sleep in a room together, and the list goes on and on and on....but you and Mommy don't sleep in a room together..." Aurora said while tilting her head to the side and frowning. "Why?"

Aurora's question took both Damien and me by a great surprise, and I didn't know what to say.

"Uh..." Damien got out while scratching the back of his head. "Well...I just got back....so Mommy and me just need some time alone....to figure stuff out before we can share a room."

"Okay," she nodded. "What stuff?"

Damien looked to me, asking for help, but I just shrugged, letting him take one for the team again. In all honesty, I wanted to know what was on Damien's mind as well.

"Grown up stuff," he answered.

Aurora nodded, "Okay. Will you be living with us again?"

Damien once again looked to me, and I answered, "Daddy can stay for however long as he wants."

Aurora then asked, "You wanna stay....right?"

"Of course," Damien smiled. "I'm not leaving you again, my little pumpkin."

Which a cheerful smile, Aurora replied, "Okay!"

"Alright, time to do homework," I said so that she wouldn't further question Damien and me about our unaddressed relationship status.

Damien then said, "I'll start dinner."

Three hours later
I smooched Aurora's forehead while adjusting her blanket. Damien then smooched the spot above where I kissed and tucked a few curls behind Aurora's left ear. I then turned on her night light, which had stars shining on the ceiling, and Damien turned off the room light. Aurora was already fast asleep, but I still liked to keep her night light on as she slept.

We quietly exited the room, and as soon as we began walking down the stairs, Damien brought up, "Are we going to address the awkwardness between us?"

We both headed to the kitchen to clean up. I grabbed the dishes, and he grabbed the pots. We then proceeded to the sink together. "Well, I'm not the one who decided to sleep in a guest room," I shrugged.

"And I'm not the one that didn't seem welcoming in the first place," he shrugged. "You raised a gun to my head when you saw me. You expect me to wanna sleep next to you after that?"

I shrugged, "In my defense, you were trespassing."

"Wow," Damien chuckled in an unamused tone.

"Whatever the reason for the tension between us, we need to put it away. Aurora can sense it, and I don't like that," I said as I washed the dishes and he washed the pots.

Damien nodded, "I agree."

"You can sleep in my room, you know," I brought up. "I don't have a problem with it."

He nodded, "Okay."