Page 24 of Temptation

“Joel refused to raise a child that wasn't biologically his.” She picked up her phone when the doorbell sounded and pressed a button. “It's open.”

“I heard back from my department head, and he's thrilled with the idea of a joint venture between the Museum and Visual Art Library, gave us the go-ahead, and is going to look into moving some funding around,” Tenn said to change the subject as he heard Quill open the door, grumbling about her leaving the front door unlocked.

“Tenn, that's amazing!” Quinn hugged him. “So, no pressure now, huh?”

“Well, the real pressure came down when he said if it's well attended and received, he wants us to do it yearly.”

“Oh yeah. There's the pressure.” Quinn laughed as Quill came into the kitchen.

“Sorry, I'm late. Chrissy had a bit of an emergency.” He apologised as he tossed his keys, wallet and phone onto the counter next to the pantry.

“Is she okay?” Quinn looked up quickly, looking concerned.

“Yeah, she struck something on the way to her daughter's dance class and popped a tire. Her ex wouldn't answer his phone; she doesn't have AMA or anything, so I brought her my car so she could get Kaia to the class, put the spare on, and came here.” He shrugged, and Quinn smiled and winked at Tenn.

“If you're not careful, you'll end up with a premade family.” She teased. “What size tires does the car take?

“It's the same as your old car.” Quill furrowed his brow as he thought. “The Kia Rio hatchback thing.”

“It's your lucky day, Porcupine. I still have the summer tires from mine in the garage. They should get her through until the winter; they were only used one summer.”

“Really?” Quill perked up. “I was gonna take hers to see if it could be patched; she wouldn't let me pay for new ones. You don't mind?”

“Not at all; I have no use for them anymore. I meant to post them to the “Too Good to Dump” page on Social media, but I never got around to it. They're on the rims too. You should be able to just swap them out.” She walked over to her purse and threw him her car keys. “Switch the cars around in the garage and use the compressor.”

“Give me a hand, Tenn?” Quill caught the keys, grabbed his again and started to leave the kitchen.

“Yeah, sure.” Tenn nodded and stood up to follow him.

“Dinner will be ready when you come back,” Quinn promised. “And the bed should be delivered soon too.”

Quill stopped and Tenn almost ran into him. “Let's dismantle the old one first and get it out the way then, the tires can wait until after.”

Quill led the way down the hall to the bedroom. “So why did she suddenly want a new bed anyway?” He asked as he opened the door to the master bedroom. Tenn chuckled and launched into what happened the night before as they moved the mattress and box spring into the garage, then showed him the video of Viki and Joel falling out the window. Quill roared with laughter as his brother-in-law somersaulted out the window. “Fuck that's amazing. Send that to me.” After, they switched the cars around and changed out the tires, and Quill told Tenn about Chrissy.

“I'm busy; she's busy. The kid's dad or grandmother takes her every weekend, and we spend Friday or Saturday night together. Sometimes we get the whole weekend, but it's rare.”

“How long have you been doing this?”

“Little over a year, I think. It works for us. Sort of.” Quill sighed and seemed a little sad about it.

“Sort of?” Tenn raised his eyebrow.

“I'd like to be able to help her out a little more. She's a struggling single mom and very determined not to take handouts. I think her ex gave in to pressure from his mom to give her a grandchild but wasn't ready for the commitment or to be a dad. He takes her and does all the fun things with her but lets his mom do all the actual parenting when Kaia is with him. Basically, he wants to be the fun uncle. He moved back in with his mom and took a part-time job to reduce the amount of child support he had to pay, and his mom finances the rest of his life. The grandmother pays to put Kaia in all these after-school activities and classes but doesn't help with anything else, leaving Chrissy to do all the transport and attend everything. Personally, I think it's to keep her so busy she can't date because she wants Chrissy and her son to get back together.”

Quinn appeared in the doorway and announced dinner was ready. They barely sat down when the bed arrived, and they got it inside, went back to eat, and then went back into the bedroom. Quinn dug out some boxes and totes and began dumping Joel's things in them. When she filled the box, Quill or Tenn would take it next door and stack it against the wall in the spare room. They finished that quickly, and Quill put a new lock on the master bedroom door.

After they finished, Quinn spooned up bowls of the cheesecake, and they sat out on the back patio to eat it, enjoying the cooler spring night air after all the physical activity.

“Oh, my god. This is incredible. I can see why you said her famous no-bake cheesecake.” Quinn enthused. “Will she give me the recipe?”

“No.” Tenn laughed as Quinn frowned. “She's pretty possessive over it.”

“Don't pout; you won't give anyone your carrot cake recipe.” Quill laughed at Quinn's expression.

“I'm willing to offer a trade.” Quinn decided. “I'll make the carrot cake and send it back with you, and when she wants the recipe, offer her the trade.”

“Oh no.” Tenn shook his head with a grin. “Don't involve me in your negotiations.”

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