Page 25 of Broken King

She looks at me oddly for a moment before noticing I’m staring at the food. “Oh, no. That’s not mine. It’s Ronan’s.”

Eager to have the chance to see him again, I ask, “Would you like me to take it up to him? It would be no bother, and it would give you a chance to sit down and rest for a bit.”

I watch her shake her head before she sets my glass of iced tea down in front of me. Taking a seat beside me, she leans toward me slightly and whispers, “We’re not taking his food up to him anymore. Ava told me yesterday that from now on we aren’t to go to his room at all, unless he asks us to. So he had to come down for breakfast this morning, and I’m assuming he’ll come down for lunch at any time now. I have to say I’m having a hard time not running it right up to him, though. Old habits die hard.”

Assuming Ava is trying to help Ronan by forcing him to come down to the kitchen for meals, I nod at what Eleanor says, even as I try to temper my disappointment at not having the opportunity to see him alone. Hopefully, he’ll come down for his lunch while I’m here and I can try to talk to him then.

Ava walks in just as the housekeeper finishes talking and sits down across from me looking exhausted. “I have no idea how Matthias’s mother did this. She had two kids close together and then had another one and then a couple years later had two more close together. I’ve only got two, but I swear Theo and Matty aremore than I can handle. Thank God for Eleanor here and now Sabrina.”

“How about a nice cold soda full of caffeine for you?” Eleanor says with a chuckle. “It’s just what you need to keep yourself awake.”

Relieved, Ava smiles. “Better make it a double, bartender.”

Eleanor hurries away to the refrigerator to get the soda, and I say, “I met your new helper outside as I was arriving. I’m glad you have someone to assist you. My mother says having two kids back to back was the hardest thing she’d ever done. There’s only a year between my sister and me, so she had it like you do now.”

Taking the can of soda from the housekeeper, Ava chugs a few gulps and then lets out a huge burp. Embarrassed, she blushes and shakes her head. “Sorry. I’ve gotten so used to kids being able to belch that I’ve forgotten my manners.”

I laugh, not bothered at all that she’s so down-to-earth. “It’s not worth mentioning. You’re in your own house, so you can do as you like.”

That seems to make her feel better, and she sinks back against the chair like this is the first break she’s had all day. “Matthias says that all the time, but nobody cares when men walk around burping and acting like pigs. When a woman does it, she gets looks and people wonder what’s wrong with her.”

I wave away her worries. “I say do as you like in your own home. If anyone has an issue with it, they can leave, right?”

“Right!” she says, raising her can of soda. “But if I’m being honest, I’d love it if I was the kind of mother who always looks so put together and never burps or makes any weird noises. I don’t know why I’m not like those Instagram moms. I guess I just don’t have the perfect girl genes.”

“Forget Instagram,” Eleanor chimes in from across the room at the sink. “All of that’s fake anyway. Instagram, Facebook, TikTok. All phony. None of those mothers are actually like that.And anyway, what kind of person uses their babies as props like they do?”

Ava and I look at each other, and I smile at Eleanor’s on-point criticism of social media. “She’s right, you know. I say you’re doing great. Forget those Instagram moms.”

“Thanks. That’s what Matthias said when I mentioned it the other day. He’s never on there, so he has no idea what I’m talking about, but as far as he’s concerned, we’re doing fine with the boys. We could use a little more sleep, but other than that, they’re healthy and happy little boys.”

Curious if my guess about where Sabrina attended high school was correct, I ask, “Sabrina reminded me of girls from where we all went to school. Did she go there too?”

Ava shakes her head and takes another gulp of soda. “I don’t think so. I don’t remember seeing the name on her application. I think she went to a different school further upstate. She’s not from around here. I think she’s from near Albany. Then again, my memory doesn’t seem to be as good as it used to be, so I could be wrong. Mommy brain fog.”

“That’s the lack of sleep. It’ll do it to you every time.”

Footsteps coming down the hall make my heart skip a beat, and a few seconds later, Ronan appears in the kitchen. Dressed in black shorts and a white t-shirt, he looks like he just showered before coming down to get his food. He still has that horribly bushy beard that desperately needs a trim, but he looks much better than he did when I saw him the other day.

But I also notice he’s hiding his right arm behind his back.

He glances at me before turning his attention to Ava. “I didn’t know you two were friends.”

An edge under his words make me worry he’s angry I’m here, but Ava quickly puts me at ease when she says, “We weren’t until recently. Would you like to join us? We’re just sitting around talking and burping.”

She throws her head back and laughs, and Eleanor and I chuckle along with her, but Ronan doesn’t even smile. Maybe if he knew what she was referring to he would, so I attempt to clear it up for him.

“The soda made Ava belch really loudly. That’s what she means by us talking and burping.”

My explanation falls flat, and he doesn’t even seem to listen as I speak. Turning his attention to the plate and soda at the other end of the table, he asks, “Is that mine?”

Eleanor can’t stop herself from those old habits, so she picks up the plate and soda can and walks it over to where he’s standing. “It is. I made you a turkey sandwich and put some of those corn chips you like on the side. I didn’t put any mayonnaise on because I didn’t want to make the bread soggy since I know you don’t like that. I can put it on now since you’re going to eat it soon. Would you like me to?”

He listens to her kind words that show she’s trying so hard to be considerate and thoughtful and then turns on his heel to leave with his lunch. “No. It’s fine.”

And that’s it for our time with Ronan. Not exactly a positive step in any good direction, unfortunately.

The three of us don’t say a word for nearly a minute before Eleanor finally breaks the silence. “It practically tears my heart out to see him hurting like this. I miss the happy person he always was.”

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