Page 178 of The Bonus

“Just go out and see what they’re doing.” I roll my eyes as I pour the brownie mix into the cake pan.

“Will you come?” Dominic asks hopefully.

Ugh…

“Sure.” I open the back door and Dominic comes to stand beside me.

“Hi there, you two.” Gabriel smiles up at us as he and Lucia carry something down to the water’s edge.

“Hello.” I smile through gritted teeth.

Fucker.

Dom holds my hand and bites his bottom lip as if to hide his smile.

He’s so cute, I can’t stand it.

“What have you got there?” I call out to them.

“I bought us a new card table and chairs and a firepit.”

Us.

I narrow my eyes. “Why?”

“Because I thought we’d play cards out here tonight.”

I clench my teeth.

You thought wrong, I’m drowning you in the lake and burying your body in the woods tonight.

“Oh,” I reply flatly. “Great.”

I go back inside. I really don’t have the capacity to deal with him today, this is a nightmare.

Gabriel begins to set up the card table and fold out the chairs and Dominic wanders down to the water’s edge to watch them.

“Can you sort the kindling for the fire, Dom?” Gabriel asks him. “I need a man around here to get this firepit under control. Do you think you can do that?”

“Okay,” Dom replies enthusiastically, he runs inside to collect the things. He begins collecting the kindling and throwing it into the basket.

Ugh… I roll my eyes. He’s now using Dom’s pyromaniac tendencies to bond.

Well played.

I peer into the oven at my brownies as I imagine Gabriel choking on them.

“Mom, we’re making a fire out the back,” Dominic calls. “And we’re playing Uno.”

Oh…

He’s excited.

“That sounds so fun, baby,” I call back. “Maybe we could take some blankets out there too,” I suggest.

Dom’s eyes light up. “The checked ones in the linen press?”

“Uh-huh.”

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