I could just barely smell the simmering garlic through my congestion. Olive oil bubbled around the cloves and other vegetables I was sautéing. The heat rolling over the top of the pan felt nice on my hands. I let my fingertips linger there, enjoying the warmth. My body ached. It had been a long day.

I had less endurance than normal as of late. More often, I was coming home completely wiped out, but even if I wasn’t sick, today’s conversation with Katherine was exhausting. After nine years, the questions were old and irritating, not to mention emotionally draining. Between whatever virus I had and that conversation, all I wanted was a nap.

As usual, though, there was too much to do.

Thankfully, the kids had gotten their homework done earlier and decided to play video games upstairs. It didn’t change the amount of things I had to get done, but it meant I could do them in peace and quiet, and didn’t have to expend a whole lot of energy.

The vegetables were almost done cooking, and the steak should have been done marinating. I sighed and rubbed my forehead. I loathed cooking meat, red meat in particular. No matter what I did, I never seemed to make it right.

A hand touched the small of my back and I nearly jumped out of my skin. I spun around and raised my fist, prepared to swing.

“Whoa, whoa, relax, killer!” Niall said, taking a few steps back and holding his hand up. His other hand was hiding behind his back.

I lowered my fist and exhaled. “Shit. Sorry, Niall!”

“No worries,” Niall said slowly, his eyebrows furrowed. His hand was still behind his back. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” I sighed and closed my eyes, feeling my pulse slowly returning to its usual speed, albeit not quite feeling completely normal. “Anyway,” I opened my eyes again. “What do you have behind your back?”

“Well, since you’re definitely not fine,” he began. “It’s something that might make you feel a little better.”

He moved his arm forward, and with it came a bouquet of flowers. They were beautiful—all of my seasonal favorites. Even with my stuffed nose, I could smell hints of each fragrance.

I laughed—that might explain some things.

Niall looked at me quizzically, head tilted, bouquet still offered in his outstretched hand. “What?”

“When did you get these?” I asked, taking them from his hand. I stroked the tops with my fingers. The petals were so soft.

“Today—during your lunch break,” Niall replied slowly.

I nodded, turning off the burner on the stovetop. “That makes so much sense now.”

Niall chuckled and leaned back against the table, looking at me with a puzzled expression.“What does?”

“Today, Katherine gave me a third degree about whether or not we were dating,” I told him, inhaling deeply, trying to smell as much of flowers’ scent as possible, with some success.

Niall grinned and raised a brow. “And? Did you tell her about how madly in love we are?” he asked, winking.

“No, that would ruin the secrecy of our passionate affair,” I joked, searching under the cabinets for a vase. I found a simple glass one with waved edges and put the flowers in it, spreading them out with my fingers.

“Oh, but it could really spice things up for us,” Niall pretended to protest.

“Not with the kids around,” I replied with a smile. I hugged him. “Thank you for the flowers.”

“You’re welcome,” he said, casually resting his head on top of mine. “Those are the ones you like, right?”

“My favorite flowers this time of year,” I confirmed and pulled away. I set the vase on the middle of the table, fluffing the flowers just a little bit more.

“You gonna sneak any before dinner?” Niall asked.

“Well, I don’t want to ruin my appetite,” I responded, though it was tempting. Their sweet scent lingered in my nose, and the tip of my tongue tingled.

Niall rolled his eyes. “It’s a flower, Dee—not a burger.”

I sighed and looked at the flowers, the cooked vegetables, and then Niall. “You’re right. What the hell,” I said and took a daffodil from the bouquet. I inhaled briefly before picking off a petal and munching on it.

An effect of fruit bat DNA the I didn’t mind: flowers were delicious.

Niall smiled, glad to see me eat his gift. I plucked the remaining petals, savoring the soft, sweet bites of each. The texture was a little strange, admittedly, but not in a bad way—kind of like bubble tea. Not the same texture, but coming with the same uncertain intrigue before a person decides that they like it. I picked the last petal—the “cup” in the middle, which held the sweetest part. It tickled the tip of my tongue and lingered with a perfume-like aftertaste. The flavor was a little duller than usual because of the congestion, but I could still taste it.

“So what did you actually say to Katherine?” Niall asked when I was finished.

I thought about how to answer and chuckled. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” I finally said.

Niall flung his hands up on either side. “What kind of answer is that?”

I just stayed silent and smiled at him.

“Seriously? What did you say?” he asked, smiling and tilting his head so that a stray chunk of hair flopped across his forehead.

“I told her the truth,” I replied after a minute, feeling a bit uneasy and trying not to show it.

Niall’s smile faded. “Oh, that’s no fun!” he said. “You could have at least made up a more intriguing story.”

“Oh? And what would you suggest?” I asked, deciding it was time to try and get somewhat back on track and grabbing the tray with the steak out of the refrigerator.

“Well, first, I would suggest letting me cook the meat,” he said, not waiting for me to respond before taking the steak from my hands. Part of me wanted to protest, but most of me was thankful I didn’t have to try and fail to cook it. “Second, you could have told her that we were criminals—all Bonnie and Clyde-like—and we met years ago in a heist.” He waved a hand slowly across the air, as if envisioning a scene. “And we were each trying to con the other out of some valuable jewel or artifact—you know, something sexy—”

I snorted. I did not think of artifacts as sexy—musty and old, maybe, but not sexy. Niall ignored me.

“But then, we realized we were each criminals and didn’t have the valuables we each thought the other had. However,” he paused dramatically. “We realized that each other was the true treasure.” He gripped his fist passionately and looked off into the distance. The distance was our ceiling, but I wasn’t going to stop him.

“And what did we do next?” I asked.

“Well, next, we ran off and galavanted all over the world, stealing priceless artifacts as a team. And no one could ever catch us, because we had the power of love on our side—”

I choked and laughed. That sounded corny and ridiculous.

Niall narrowed his eyes at me. “And,” he added. “Even though you are a hopeless, critical cynic, I would still love you.”

I managed to catch my breath. “Well, that’s kind of you.”

“It is. I am the nicer criminal of the pair,” he affirmed.

“Okay, Clyde, so where do the kids come in?” I asked.

The kids: they were the crux of this conversation. I would never say that Parker or Sybil were an obstacle in any sense of the word. I love them in the way I imagine a mother must. But truth be told, I have no intentions of pursuing a relationship with Niall for one main reason: the danger it might pose to the kids.

The four of us are all each other have. At the end of the day, no one can know as as deeply as we know one another—it’s too much of a hazard. Because of that, I can’t bring myself to take a chance on deepening a relationship in a way that could make it difficult for us to be a family. What if Niall and I decided we didn’t want to be together? What if things ended badly?

I’ve never been in a relationship before, but I had seen enough in the world around me to know that just continuing on as if everything was normal would not be easy, and maybe wouldn’t be possible. I would never threaten breaking up our family. It would affect Parker and Sybil the most, but I hated to imagine a life without Niall or the kids—or imagine Niall alone without us. There are just too many variables and too much risk.

So, did I want to date Niall? Yes. Would that ever happen? No.

“Oh, well—we just, you know, stole them or something,” Niall replied, with his quick, half-thought solution.

“Ah. So, instead of me telling Katherine that we are not dating, I should have told her that not only are we dating, but we are actually thieves, and stole a couple of kids?” I outlined, counting each part of the tale with my fingers.

“Precisely.”

“And you see no issue with that explanation?”

Niall paused and pretended to think. Then he shook his head.

“Nope.”

“Well, in that case, you can tell Katherine that next time you’re in the shop,” I said.

“Oh. So I have permission?” Niall wiggled his eyebrows with a mischievous grin.

Maybe that wasn’t such a good idea.