Page 4 of Drake Eternal

Drake frowned. “Probably just a slowdown. I’ll check my app.”

He took out his cell and checked on his app that monitored airports and plane arrivals and departures.

“There’s an emergency on one of the runways. The planes are backed up. His plane should be leaving in fifteen or so. Nothing to worry about.”

I nodded and went to the kitchen to put the kettle on. We all needed lunch, and I especially wanted a hot cup of tea.

Then, with Drake busy watching the news and Sophie in her room playing by herself, I would have some time to look over my article for the journal I was working for. It was due in a week, and I wanted to make sure all the edits were complete, and I was happy with it before I sent it to my proofreader and then on to the editor.

When it was finally in, Drake and I promised each other that we’d go to the Island and steal a weekend alone together. Sophie would stay with Ethan and Elaine.

It would be a much-needed escape for us both.

CHAPTER 2

That night, after I put Sophie in bed and assured her that Liam would be back before we knew it, sleeping in his bed in the bedroom beside her on weekends, I went back down to the living room where Kate was waiting.

She held an ornate shot glass of Anisovaya in each hand. “I think we both deserve this after the day we’ve had.”

I took the shot glass from her and gave her a warm kiss. “I think we do.”

We both drank back the special vodka and smacked our lips appreciatively. It was one of our favorite drinks and held special memories of our early life together. I introduced Kate to the flavored vodka of Russia and so many other things that were now a part of our lives together, if only pleasant memories.

“Brings back old times,” I said and smiled.

“That it does.” She took my hand and together, we walked out to the patio and stood at the balcony wall, watching the lights of Manhattan across the East River.

She sighed beside me. “It’s so beautiful.”

“It is,” I said and turned her to face me, my arms going around her. “You are.”

We kissed and the kiss was warm and filled with affection. “I hate to see Liam go, even though I know he has every right to travel with Maureen and Chris. And Matthew. I just worry about him getting sick.”

“Maureen will be careful,” Kate said and adjusted my tie, which I’d loosened, unbuttoning the top button. “She has Matthew to worry about, too.”

“Still, it’s a risk.”

“They’ll take all necessary precautions. I trust her. She’s really settled down since she had the baby. So has Chris. He seems so much more stable now.”

“Hopefully,” I said, taking in a deep breath. “So, enough about me. How is work on your article going? Almost finished?”

“Doing the final edits. I’ll send it off to Lori tomorrow. She’ll have it for a week, and then I turn it in to the editor and I’m officially done.”

“Freedom!” I said with a laugh, although I didn’t really mean it. Kate enjoyed her work at the literary and artistic online newspaper, and I was happy that she was happy.

“So,” she said and gave me a coy smile. “What should we do with the rest of our evening? Something special came in the mail today…”

She raised her eyebrows, and I knew exactly what she meant.

I went to the living room and saw that our new Apple TV hub had arrived.

“Dune 2,” I said and grinned. “Finally.”

We’d been holding off seeing the movie because neither of us wanted to get sick or watch the entire movie wearing masks. Instead, we decided to order Apple TV so we could buy it and watch in the comfort of our own home. We had a huge flatscreen and a very comfortable sofa sectional across from it.

“I’ll make popcorn,” Kate said.

“I’ll get this set up.”

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