Who: Greg and Phee When: noonish, Tuesday, June 26 Where: Greg's place
Phee had slept poorly, so it was fairly late in the morning by the time she got up. She’d had bad dreams about tattooed men breaking into their house only to be welcomed by her mother. Then others about trying to tell her father what had happened but suddenly her tongue was gone, and other various jumbled things. She tried to think about anything else while she took a shower and got ready for the day, putting her hair into a couple of braids after she’d brushed her teeth. It didn’t work very well, her brain just kept coming back to it all. She didn’t want to stay in the house today. Phee didn’t even know if Brianna was home, maybe she was going to make herself scarce, but even so, Phee wanted to be elsewhere.
Back in her room, she pulled out her backpack to start tucking some overnight things into it. If her mom could fuck another man in their house, then she could stay the night with Greg without hearing any bullshit about it, she decided. It was only fair. In fact, she might just start doing it whenever the hell she felt like it, since nobody else followed rules around here. Phee picked up her phone to send him a text, hoping he wasn’t out somewhere else at the moment. Morning ... are u home? I’m coming over.
Getting a text from Phee this early drove Greg's brief bout of laziness away swiftly and he sent her back an enthusiastic hell yeah! before darting around his place to make it a little more presentable. It wasn't a total mess or he'd have had to ask her to wait a bit on account of how close they lived to each other, but it was just nicer to remove old snack bowls and dirty work clothes before his girlfriend visited. He was just happy it was technically his weekend since he'd worked the weekend before, spending the day with Phee was so much nicer than hauling furniture and driving all day.
He'd gotten most everything settled by the time she knocked and rushed out to open up for her, his happy grin fading a bit when he laid eyes on her. She didn't look as happy as he was, she just looked tired and maybe a little sad. "Babe," he drawled, hugging her once she stepped inside. "What's up what's up?"
Falling into Greg’s arms always made her feel at least marginally better, and Phee was relieved that this was no exception. Couldn’t she just move in here, with him? His mom was really nice, and gave them all the privacy they wanted, it would be like having their own little apartment ... “I missed you,” Phee told him first, nuzzling her face into his neck to breathe him in. She sighed as she hugged him back. “I’m staying tonight, is that okay?” She knew it would be, even if Greg had work in the morning, but Phee hoped he didn’t so they could spend the next day together too. Sleeping in with him was one of her favorite things.
Greg knew there was something more to this than just her missing him but she'd talk when she was ready and if she didn't want to then that was okay too. He'd cheer her up with some snacks, some games, some sex, some cuddles - whatever it took. "Of course that's okay," he tittered and kissed the side of her head, breathing in that unique Phee smell mingled with the shampoo she always used and he fucking loved. "If I had my way you'd sleep here every night, you don't even have to ask." He was fine with just hugging her for a while, she fit so nicely against him, all soft and tall, her breasts pressed against his chest in such a nice way.
She knew that, they’d established that a long time ago, but Phee always felt like she had to ask anyway, like the politeness was embedded in her brain. But if she could move in, then it would be her house too so she wouldn’t have to ask anymore, right? It made perfect sense in her head. Phee didn’t let go of him yet, similarly enjoying the way his chest felt against hers and those sweet kisses of his. She let out a soft little hum and rubbed her hands down Greg’s back to rest on his butt for a second. She knew she would have to tell him the whole stupid story, but she suddenly didn’t want to talk about it yet. So Phee just pulled back enough to kiss him properly for a minute instead.
Greg teasingly wiggled his butt against her hands, always a sucker for physical intimacy and Phee was just so willing to give it. To think he once thought she had to be a prude! He'd been oh so wrong about that. He hummed contently into the kiss, letting his hands roam over her back, ending up on her ass and pulling her in closer. "I was gonna go get some lunch," he murmured against her lips. "Are you hungry? I can cook up some eggs or hell, we can order something and have a super lazy day." After he'd started working, lunch had become a way bigger deal than dinner and he was kind of liking that - even if his mom got pouty about him not eating as much when she invited him upstairs to eat. "Anything you want, baby."
She was hungry, and telling bad stories was always better over food, so Phee guessed those were good reasons to stop kissing Greg and eat instead. Especially if he was going to cook something, because that was pretty hot. “Yeah, I can eat,” she answered, giving him a little smile. “Eggs sound good, I like, don’t want to wait for delivery.” Maybe they could order something for dinner, when they were stoned and snuggled and feeling more mellow. “I can tell you all about the bullshit while you cook.” Phee smooched Greg’s chin once more while she squeezed his ass, then let him go and stepped back to let her pack slide off of her shoulders to the floor.
"Oh no, there's bullshit?" Greg said with a sympathetic frown before turning to lead the way to the little kitchen nook. He didn't often cook in there, too accustomed to going upstairs for dinner or getting take-out, but every now and then the mood hit him and he either made something simple or tried something new. He wanted to cook for Phee more often, but he wasn't quite there yet. Eggs were easy though, the perfect powerhouse for a guy like him. It didn't really surprise him that there was some kind of bullshit going on, there was always something, it seemed, he just couldn't gauge how serious it was this time around. At least she wasn't crying or scared so it had to be something manageable. He hoped.
“Isn’t there always bullshit?” Phee asked with a sigh, echoing his thoughts. She pulled one of the more portable chairs over to the kitchenette so she could sit and talk to him while he moved around. She tucked one ankle up under her knee and heaved another sigh. “Okay, so ... I pretty much walked in on my mother having an affair yesterday,” she said. She was less emotional about it today, but still highly conflicted about what she should do, who she should tell, if anyone. Phee was hoping that Greg could give her some objective advice, because Bash hadn’t been a lot of help in that department. “I got home and was going to my room when this dude walked out of my parents’ bedroom, like, in the middle of putting a shirt back on. This big tattooed guy. And mom was right behind him. At first I was like ‘ohmygod she got raped and we’re being kidnapped’ -- ‘cause that’s the kind of guy this dude looked like, you know? But she was fine. She wanted him there, it was all on purpose.”
"Oh shiii-" Greg whispered as soon as she mentioned the affair and then he stared at her with wide eyes and rapt attention for the rest of it. If he was going to be very honest, it didn't particularly surprise him if the McCarthys were both having affairs, they really seemed like the type, but the description was so outlandish... Or was it? Maybe not, but he wasn't going to say as much. Bringing some guy home sounded insane though, Bash and Phee came and went and the neighbors were nosy in this neighborhood. "Are you okay, baby?" he asked and shuffled over to her to give her a little hug. He might easily believe Brianna McCarthy was fucking some tattooed dude, but she wasn't his mom. The idea of his mom doing something like that was crazy so he could only guess how Phee was feeling.
“No,” Phee answered with a little laugh as she hugged him back. “We got into this big fight about it. She kept just saying it was complicated, and she was sorry I found out that way -- like I was going to find out some other way? No way in hell she was ever going to just tell me. And she said she like, never does anything for herself or something, and she was trying to figure her life out now ... But like, is fucking some rando dude actually accomplishing that?” Her tone was incredulous, like Greg would completely be on board with her side of things. “She’s been weird since she got back, but I didn’t think she was doing that. But she said Dad doesn’t know and they’re not getting divorced, so I don’t know what the hell to do.” She huffed her annoyance, but her brow was furrowed in a pained expression. Phee still couldn’t shake the feeling that Brianna didn’t want to be a mother anymore, and as the youngest child, she was going to get shafted.
Dating James McCarthy's daughter had been scary enough, Greg couldn't imagine someone fucking his wife and he blew air through his lips with a little 'phh' sound. "Wouldn't wanna be that guy if your dad finds out," he said even if he had no idea what her dad would really do about it. Ruin the man somehow, he would imagine, don't mess with a witch. "I get that she went through some crazy trauma and stuff but that doesn't sound like an awesome way to work through it. And like, yeah, you wanna treat yourself, go to a spa or something?" He was not going to tell Phee this was normal or some shit, hell no way, he wanted to be on her side on this, even if he kind of got it. He'd be traumatized and pissed if he ran into some tattooed rapist-looking motherfucker with his mom. "I gotta say, I'm glad he wasn't some creepo burglar though, if someone hurt you I'd have to kill them."
Phee made an animated gesture at Greg when he mentioned a spa, because exactly!That was treating yourself, at least in Phee’s mind. Not doing something that could totally blow up your family. The dark possibility that maybe that had been the point crossed Phee’s mind again and she tried to push it away. Even though she’d apologized about the method of discovery, had Brianna wanted to get caught on some level? To give her an excuse to escape them? She was a smart woman, she had to know that bringing her lover home in the middle of the day was a huge risk. But Phee didn’t want to consider that too deeply because it would probably make her cry again. “Aw babe,” she said instead, giving Greg a little smile. “That’s sweet. But I mean, I’m glad too, I just ... hate what he really is. And now I’m stuck in this position -- do I tell my dad? Do I try to make her tell my dad? Or just like ... leave her alone to do whatever she wants? She didn’t even try to come talk to me later, I think she just got drunk and went to bed. She’s so ... different now.”
Everyone felt different now and Greg couldn't help but think of Jules and how insane she'd been acting. She hadn't gone to the other side but she'd caused it and that had obviously taken a toll on her. "Is she like... seeing anyone? A therapist or something?" he asked though he suspected the answer was no. This was all so out of his depth, he didn't know the first thing about how people handled trauma like that. All he knew was that what little taste he'd had of it had shaken him to the core. He couldn't imagine spending months in some scary place that wasn't home, away from everyone he loved. At this point the whole family probably needed therapy and he cringed a little inwardly at the idea of Phee telling her dad what had happened, like it would all end up really badly. James had always intimidated him and he honestly couldn't say for sure that he didn't think he would ever do anything to hurt his family.
“Not that I know of,” Phee answered with a defeated little shrug. “But she doesn’t really tell me anything, so who the hell knows.” She knew that would probably be the best thing for Brianna, but what kind of therapist would even believe anything about her experience? “It’s not like she could be honest anyway, they’d lock her up for being like, totally batshit crazy if she told them what happened.” Phee paused, her gaze dropping for a moment. “She won’t even tell us what it was like, really. I still barely know what happened to her. Didn’t ... didn’t Jules’s boyfriend go too?” she asked, her pale brows drawing together as she looked at Greg. “Have you and her talked about it at all? Like do you know what it was like over there?”
"I don't know much about any of it," Greg admitted. "But what little I do know, it's like... It's fucking amazing most of them came back? You saw that fog. You saw what was in it." He wasn't sure how to tell Phee he and Jules weren't exactly the best of buddies lately and that he'd been avoiding her. Thankfully there hadn't been any more little parties since Theo's boat party so it hadn't been obvious to anyone. He still didn't want to tell Phee about the punch and just how worried he was about everything Jules had been doing lately. At the same time he felt guilty for it because Phee deserved to know some of it at least. "I can't imagine that place was any better than the shit we've seen, you know? She probably wants to protect you but like, not talking about it is probably totally heavy. She has friends though, right? Someone she can talk to? I mean, I wouldn't wanna talk to my kids about this stuff."
That was a good point, Phee had to reluctantly admit to herself. Brianna probably thought it was all too inappropriate to discuss with her and Bash. She wondered if she’d told James all the details, and both of them were just keeping it all quiet. Phee both understood and didn’t like that, didn’t like feeling left in the dark. “I don’t know, maybe she’s talking to this guy while they’re fucking,” she muttered sourly. She immediately felt bad for it, Phee knew that wasn’t really fair. Maybe they did talk about it, maybe that guy had been over there with her, maybe he was helping her cope in between orgasms or whatever. Maybe he was actually decent. Should she fuck that up for her mom? “No, I mean ... she has friends, but I think most of them are just like ... society friends. People she knows, people she’s sold houses to. I couldn’t even say who her best friend is. So I don’t know. I’m sure it was horrible. I just wish ... I dunno, I just ... all of it feels bad.”
"I know, baby," Greg said with a little pout and hugged her again before remembering he was supposed to be cooking her some brunch. He kissed her temple and moved back to the stove to get it going. "Like I'm kinda amazed my mom isn't having an affair, now that I think about it," he said. "Dad's never home and when he is home he's just so boring. He didn't used to be so boring, I don't know what happened to him. Or maybe he was always this way and I was just too young to realize? It's kinda weird, like mom and I talk about stuff and she's actually just this... person. Like she's more than just a mom. Growing up is fucking weird. You want your eggs over easy?" He was rambling, trying to relate to this situation that was so un-relatable to him, not really loving the fact that he could actually understand Brianna when he wanted to be 150% on his girlfriend's side. He'd fake it if he had to, he didn't owe Mrs. McCarthy any allegiance here.
“Scrambled, please,” Phee murmured absently. She could hear what Greg was saying between the lines, even if he wasn’t meaning to, and it made her feel guilty. She could see other people’s parents as full human beings, with their own wants and dreams and all that, so why was it so hard to do with her own parents? Like what if her mom was actually in love with this guy or something? It made her feel so weird to even think about. Phee realized that she didn’t want her mom to be a full person, at least not yet. She wanted Brianna to still be Her Mom, at least for another few years. It felt scary to think that she wasn’t central in her mother’s life anymore, like some connection had been cut that had kept her safe and grounded. Now she was unmoored. She felt like crying again and she didn’t want to bother Greg with it, so Phee stood up a bit stiffly and headed away from the kitchenette. “I’m gonna use the bathroom,” she muttered.
Greg didn't know if she really needed to pee or if she just needed a moment to herself but either way he felt kind of useless at the moment. All he could do was make her some really good scrambled eggs and be there for her. He didn't know how to fix any of this and it kind of sucked to admit that he probably couldn't. He couldn't magically make it not have happened and he couldn't magically make Phee feel better about it so he let her leave even if he had the urge to follow her. Maybe his rambling had made things worse, it sure as hell wouldn't be the first time. He often upset girls when he thought he was being charming or funny so he had to admit defeat when it came to understanding the inner workings of girls.
Phee flicked the bathroom fan on and turned the water in the sink on before she perched on the closed toilet lid for a moment. She covered her face with one of Greg’s towels, breathing in the smell of his soap to try and get some comfort from it, but that somehow just made the tears come faster. She was so stupidly in love with him now, but would they end up like her parents? Would he turn super boring and start working out of town all the time, and would she find some other lover to keep her occupied? Phee didn’t want that. She didn’t want to be her mother. She let the little storm pass through her, glad that it didn’t take too long. Phee stood up and flushed the toilet just in case Greg was listening, then went to splash her face in the sink. When she came back out, she went to hug him from behind where he was standing at the stove, nuzzling into the dip between his shoulder blades. “It smells good,” she said.
"I hope it tastes good too," Greg said, relieved that she was back and not stuck in the bathroom mega-crying or anything. He never really worried about the future like she did, he couldn't imagine getting bored with her - let alone becoming boring. His mom was still a lot of fun, they could chat for hours sometimes and she had her own friends who were hilarious. That's how he kind of imagined Phee being as a grownup, only she wouldn't have a boring husband who was away all the time if he had something to say about it. Was it crazy to think that far ahead? Maybe, but it made for a nice long term plan and great daydreaming fodder when life wasn't ideal in the here and now. "Will you pour us some soda, babe?" he asked after briefly giving her arm a little squeeze. "Food's almost ready."
“Soda with eggs? Greg,” Phee said with some teasing disapproval. She kissed his shoulder, then released him to go to the fridge and poke around. She pulled out the soda for him and some Gatorade she found for herself. Once the drinks were ready, Phee pulled out some utensils from the drawer. “Do you have any bread stashed? I can make some toast real quick ...” she offered, glancing around. If there wasn’t any downstairs, she knew that Greg’s mom would have some upstairs. It felt incomplete to just eat eggs, she was craving some comfort carbs too, and bread made everything more amazing.
"Oh I've got some!" Greg said urgently. "And some cheese, it's super yum all melted with the eggs." He grabbed the bag of bread from the cabinet and handed it to her to take care of while he finished frying up their eggs. "And it's always time for soda, I don't know what you're on about." Maybe he drank too much of it, his dentist didn't approve but he couldn't really say much since Greg took good care of his teeth otherwise. "You know I spend like a lot of energy on a daily basis and soda's an awesome boost. And yeah, I know, I know, quick boost isn't as good as steady energy levels over the day, blah blah, coach is right. But it's so good." He was rambling, maybe to try to distract her, maybe just because he knew she wasn't feeling good and he had no idea how to tackle it.
Phee had to grin a bit over Greg still referencing his coach like he was still on the football team. Coach was right, but she was the last person who was going to sincerely lecture anyone about their eating habits. Phee got enough of that herself from her mom. Which would be upsetting to think about in too much depth, so she didn’t. Phee stuck as much bread into the toaster as it would hold, then went to Greg’s fridge to find the cheese and to see if he had any jam. “If anybody can work it off in a day, it’s you, babe,” she said lightly to Greg. “I’m just giving you shit.” Especially with all the physical labor he was doing with his job now. He’d always been strong, but Phee could already feel a difference in the definition in his arms. Her boyfriend was just getting hotter.
Greg grinned at that and playfully flexed at her. "Not really worried about that part, coach just kept saying like, you know... Eat to keep your energy levels even over the day." He made the voice for coach and everything - though it didn't sound anything like the man himself and more like some cartoon character if he was honest with himself. "Spiking your energy levels just means they go down just as fast, rawr rawr rawr. I honestly don't feel it, like not in a way that bothers me. Totally worth it anyway, I do love me some sugar." He couldn't help but reach over and pat Phee's butt when he said 'sugar' because she was really his favorite sweetness in life.
They were both still very young, Phee got the impression that a lot of the things adults warned them about wouldn’t kick in until later in their lives. She was good with that, she was not looking forward to all of the aches and pains and body stuff that grown ups complained about all the time. Phee gave a soft giggle at the butt pats, and she moved in close to kiss Greg’s cheek before the toast popped and she started slathering them with butter and jam. Soon enough they were on the couch with their plates of food, and Phee had to admit she felt quite a bit better. Food was comforting, and Greg’s company was even better, and once again she yearned to just live there with him. “So how’s your job going?” she asked, glancing over at him while she ate. “Have you like, found anything weird in people’s houses yet?”
Greg tittered and shook his head. "Nah, it's all been packed up so far by the time we get there but I've seen some art and furniture that's like... Yikes." He was fine with rambling about that for a little bit if she wanted the distraction so he told her about the incredibly ugly chihuahua portrait that was so big they'd had to carry it between themselves and the creepy trunk they'd joked about earlier that morning, the one they'd been almost sure had a dead body in it - but not really. "The only stuff people leave behind is that kind of stuff that's like... shit, why do I own this? Do I need it? Will I ever need it? I've been thinking a lot about all the crap I own, you know I've never moved so I've never had to throw anything away. The storage is just full of... Wow, I don't even wanna know. Maybe mom throws stuff away but if not then, shiiiit, you know?"
Phee was happy to listen to him tell her stories while she ate the sweet little brunch they’d made together. The dog painting made her laugh and while she kind of thought the chances of a trunk having a corpse in it was higher in Point Pleasant than most other places, that was kind of funny too. She nodded her understanding about Greg having tons of stuff -- they’d never moved either and she still had tons of junk from growing up too. Brianna did fairly regular purges of things, but they’d still kept a lot. “Yeah totally, our attic is so full,” she agreed before taking a sip of her drink. Then Phee grinned. “Ohmygod I meant to tell you -- I was looking through some old photo albums the other day and there were so many of you and Bash. Is it weird that I like, still think you were good looking as a nine year old? You were like, my mortal enemy back then, another big brother, but looking back now ...” She smirked.
"I don't think it's weird," Greg said with a grin. "I was a really cool nine year old." He tittered and shook his head, ready to give her a more serious answer. "It's not weird when you like... knew a person back then. Like I think you were super cute at seven but through like this lens that I was also just a kid. Like I almost see you then as I do now, you know? Back when you were tiny, I was tiny too and grown-ups were just another species or something. Today's nine-year-olds are like literal babies but when I was nine I was a whole-ass person." He had no idea if he was getting his point across but it all boiled down to the fact that no, it wasn't creepy to think childhood pictures of your boyfriend were cute!
It made a certain amount of sense, and Phee smiled at him, glad she could tell him stuff like that without it being weird. It wasn’t like she wanted to go back in time and molest nine year old Greg or anything, she could just see the beginnings of the man he would grow into in those pictures. Whom she happened to be madly in love with. So maybe it wasn’t gross or creepy. “Funny how that perspective changes,” Phee said with a soft laugh. “I remember being a whole-ass person at nine too, and now it’s just like ... no way, I didn’t know anything.” She took a swallow from her glass and then leaned over to kiss Greg’s shoulder. “Well you grew up nice and hot, so good job babe. Maybe when I’m like sixty I’ll look back at pictures of us now and feel like a creepy old lady for ogling eighteen year old you.”
"Don't feel creepy ogling pictures of me sixty years from now," Greg told her. "I am meant to be enjoyed." He nudged her playfully and wiggled a little against her. It was difficult to imagine her old, or anyone really. He couldn't imagine growing old himself. "I wonder if we'll look back and be like, 'I felt like a whole-ass person at eighteen but no way, I didn't know anything' or if we'll be like 'damn I was smart'." He laughed and while he did feel like a complete person who knew everything, he was sure the former was more likely. It was just really hard to imagine a sixty year old Greg judging him from the future, he was pretty sure he'd be chill with his older self.
Phee liked how natural it was to assume they would still be together in sixty years, or at least still looking at pictures of each other. She didn’t really know what the future was going to hold for them, but Phee knew Greg would always be her first love. At this point in her life she felt like she’d be happy to have him as her only love too. “I dunno, I don’t think I’ve ever heard an adult say they were super smart as a teenager,” Phee said with a laugh of her own. Then she smiled wider and leaned over to kiss his cheek. “I’ll know I was smart for being with you, though.” At least she hoped she would still think it was smart way off in the future. Phee didn’t want any of this to end, especially not in some bad, traumatizing way.
The idea of sixty years was so outlandish to people their age, when the next weekend felt years away and time was still so sluggish moving onward. Greg found it hard to imagine his future in general and he didn't like to even try to predict big changes or worry about things that might go wrong. He was currently happy with Phee so that colored his view of the future where all his plans seemed to include her. On some level he knew things might change when Phee went to college, because she would go to college, but that was still a year away and a year was like a decade to him. "I might look back and think I was stupid," he conceded. "But I know I'll always look back and think you were hella smart."
“Mm, because I am and always will be,” Phee answered with a smug little grin. She was only half-serious because her self esteem wasn’t the best, but she did know that she was pretty damn smart for her age. Maybe in general. She still lacked experience in a lot of areas, but she felt like she was growing all the time. Phee was tempted to go on and say they would get married and be happy and have beautiful babies, but she was still slightly nervous sometimes talking about their future in such definite terms. Phee just wanted to enjoy this part, where they had almost no obligations and could spend a lot of time together. She finished up her food and set the plate aside, then snuggled up closer to Greg. “You’re not stupid though, so older-you is a dickhead, if he thinks that.”
"I'll be sure to tell him that," Greg replied. "I hope he's not, though. I hope I'm not a dickhead and if he's one then something shitty happens to make me one so..." He was overthinking a joke and he stopped himself, reaching out to put his plate away as well so he could properly cuddle with Phee. "You wanna play Mario Kart or something?" he asked idly. "Or I can put on some music - or a movie." Distraction seemed like a good course of action and as soon as he'd spoken he made an excited 'ooh' sound. "We could go to the carnival later."
Part of Phee wanted to ask him if he thought they would get married and stay together until they were sixty. If he thought they would stay happy, or turn out like her parents and want to get away from each other. The future was so foggy and distant, but that left a lot of room for bad possibilities too, didn’t it? Phee never used to think about those very much, but now she wasn’t sure how to stop. She didn’t want to be a bummer and ask those unanswerable questions though, Greg’s instinct toward distraction was probably for the best. “Ooh, yeah ... Mario Kart until we feel like going out there?” she suggested. Phee wanted to chill for a bit, but the carnival did look fun. Even if it wasn’t, Greg made everything fun.
Greg was delighted to hear Phee felt like going too. He had been itching to go to the carnival to the point where he kind of wanted to skip out of work early some days but it was kind of impossible when he was out of town without his own car. The urge was only really strong when he was at home anyway and he felt very adult and responsible not listening to it. He was good with not going out yet though, it was still early and he wasn't even sure when that place opened so he grabbed the controllers and handed one to Phee before pulling her in for a kiss. "I love you so much I'm letting you pick a character first. Even if it's my favorite," he told her, playfully making it sound like a big sacrifice.
The kiss made her smile briefly against his lips before she returned it properly, then Phee laughed a bit. “Aww, now that’s love,” she cooed, wrinkling her nose at him. “I love you so much I won’t pick your favorite.” They’d played this game together enough times that she knew which avatars Greg preferred, and she avoided them as she used the controller to select one of the girly characters. Maybe that was cliche, but Phee liked to kick ass in a dress, even on a screen. Shifting around to drape her legs over Greg’s lap, she settled into focusing on the pleasant distraction, ready to let all of this normal, loving, domestic stuff soothe her into actually having some fun today.