Page 74 of All That Has Flown Beyond
“Stop talking. We just ate and now I want cookies,” Kaiyo groaned. Ahmik laughed.
“At least they calmed Thea down.”
“They put her in a coma.”
Ahmik nodded, grinning as they finished cleaning. He looked lost in the memory, his smile slowly dimming.
“That’s what I want to give Isla,” he said softly. “Those kinds of memories.”
“Then do it. She’s ten. You have plenty of time.”
Ahmik looked at Kaiyo steadily before nodding resolutely. “Yeah,” he said quietly. Kaiyo smiled back.
They walked into the living room when they finished, Isla impatient to put in the movie they had chosen.
“He’s still fussing,” Thea said, looking down at Edu, who had grown significantly in the past week, his limbs more active, his face expressive.
“I can take him if you want. It’s not you. I think I might have bonded with him a little during my ritual. My scent.…He remembers it.”
“That’s okay. I’m glad it’s you,” Thea said, looking at Kaiyo steadily. Kaiyo tried not to drown in the look.
He took off his necklace.
“What’s wrong?” Isla said. Kaiyo turned but realized she’d been speaking to Ahmik, whose eyes were at half-moon shift. They flickered back to normal at the attention.
“Sorry,” he said gruffly, sitting on one of the couches.
Kaiyo reminded himself that his heart could be heard now as he picked Edu up. He ignored Thea’s knowing look.
With no other seat free, he sat down beside Ahmik, who was a stiff board next to him.
“Okay, shush everyone!” Isla said as she put in the movie.
“Cariño, don’t sit so close to the screen,” Emil told her. Isla huffed but sat with her parents, Lars and Amaya taking the other seats.
Kaiyo split his attention between the movie and Edu, who had settled but looked up at him alertly. Kaiyo poked at his nose playfully, causing the baby to make a bubbling noise. A movement caught Kaiyo’s eye, and he turned to look at Ahmik, who had been staring at them.
“What?” Kaiyo whispered. Ahmik immediately turned away, blushing.
“Nothing,” he said, staring at the screen.
Even as Kaiyo’s heartbeat picked up, he couldn’t help but smirk.
By the end of the movie, they were all sleepy, Edu having conked out midway. Kaiyo blinked out of a doze to find himself leaning on Ahmik.
“Sorry,” he said, straightening up.
“It’s okay,” Ahmik said, and the look in his eyes was as soft as his voice. For a moment, Kaiyo couldn’t look away.
How did that saying go, Kaiyo wondered, about doing the same thing and expecting different results?
**********
“Hey.”
Kaiyo turned around just as he was about to reach his car to see Thea approaching him, bundled up against the autumn cold.
“Hey. Everything okay?” Kaiyo asked.
