Ordinarily, David wasn't up in the middle of the night. With school back in session, actually sleeping was more of a necessity than a preference, and once David went to sleep he was out until daybreak.
Ordinarily.
For the third night in a row, though, he was awake past midnight, startled up by dreams of board games and marshmallows which shouldn't have been nearly as terrifying as they felt. And, for the third night in a row, David ended up curled up on the sofa in his office with a murder mystery and a cup of tea, not really paying attention to either until the soft sound of pacing footsteps finally dragged him to the door.
"All right," he said softly, opening the door and cocking his head at Arla as she passed him on yet another cycle. "It's too late at night for you to be pacing outside my door. I can only keep OCD under control for so long and then I start counting footsteps ... you're on two hundred and seventy six right now. Do me a favor, Arla: come in, sit down, have a cup of tea?"
He hadn't turned a page in over ten minutes. The company might be good for both of them.