Wren liked children.
That didn't mean he was itching to have them… it was genuinely costly to deliver a baby, never mind take care of one, and who even had the time for kids these days?
Life was already hard enough without bringing another person into it but he supposed that line of thinking didn't seem to apply to Ryan who apparently had his life all together.
"That's not how you hold a baby." Ryan said, cradling his own arm to demonstrate. "You're holding her like she's a robot. Put a hand under her and bring her close to your body."
He raised an eyebrow. "Is this genuinely your first time holding one?"
"Yes." Wren said, repositioning his arms.
Olivia was now pressed closer to his chest and immediately reached up to pinch his cheek. Her fingers found nothing to grab… apparently his cheekbones were too toned for her to get any real grip on.
She tried twice and moved on.
"It's not my first time seeing a baby up close." He added. "It's just my first time holding one."
It wasn't like strangers on the street handed their children to random men and even if they had he wouldn't have particularly wanted to but Olivia was Ryan's daughter and for some reason, he felt something like the need to hold her properly and not drop her.
"Well, there's a first time for everything." Ryan held his hands out and she leaned back toward him immediately, both arms extended and impatient.
"Dada~"
He took her and laughed.
"Cheeky girl too, just like how you were when you were a little kid." He said, looking at Wren warmly and Wren's eye twitched.
He genuinely hated being reminded of his childhood.
Not because of his mother… he had made his peace with that eventually but because of the sheer gap between who he had been and who he had turned into.
The child version of him had real plans. By this point he was supposed to be a trillionaire flying his whole family on international trips. Instead reality had settled quickly and reminded him that life was not any kind of game at all.
If life was a game then it would be unfai—
[Host.]
'Yes Nyx.' He thought. Was she about to offer something useful for once? He genuinely doubted it.
[Get your head in the game. First impressions matter if you want to start an affair.]
He didn't get a chance to respond because Cara came through from the kitchen with a large tray in her hand and a proud smile on her face.
"Honey, I'm done." She set the tray on the table and the smell that came off it hit the whole room… she had brought chicken curry that was deep and golden with a side of fried plantains caramelized at the edges.
She had brought three bowls.
One in front of Wren, one for herself and the largest naturally placed at Ryan's seat. Wren's stomach offered its opinion immediately and the other adults in the room chuckled.
"Thank you." Wren said.
She gave him a warm smile that was a complete contrast to the way she'd looked at him from the doorway when he first arrived.
Ryan set Olivia on his lap and looked at the food.
"You forgot the drink, serve for both of us." He said.
Wren looked at them… It was common knowledge to appreciate when food was cooked for you regardless of whatever status the person had but then again, he watched them.
[Correct. By watching you can identify the fault lines in a relationship and find a way to work through those cracks. Observation is the foundation of everything… There is no perfect relationship, Host. Not a single one.]
If there was one thing Wren was genuinely good at it was observing and Nyx wasn't wrong… absolutely zero perfect relationships existed outside of fiction. Books, films, anime could construct something ideal but that wasn't how reality worked.
Everything had a fracture somewhere you just had to look long enough to find it.
Joel and Leah for instance.
Their whole relationship ran on the fact that she had liked him first and loudly and never really stopped… She was the one who approached him, she was the one who kept the whole thing alive through the rough patches so essentially she was the glue.
If someone removed that single variable and the whole relationship collapsed well over a year ago.
"Okay." Cara said and walked back into the kitchen while Ryan turned to him.
"That woman is so forgetful, I have that drink every single evening and she forgets to bring it every single time." Ryan said.
She returned still smiling though Wren could tell clearly that the smile was a bit fake.
She set two clean cups on the table and in her other hand was a jug.
When she opened it something that smelled aggressively of ginger crossed the table and Wren shifted back slightly in his seat.
"What is that?" He asked.
Ryan laughed and patted him on the back. "Cold ginger and citrus… You'll like it, trust me."
'I most certainly will not.' Wren thought but said nothing as she poured into both cups and went back to put the jug away.
"Has Olivia had dinner?" Wren asked.
The baby was working at the buttons on Ryan's shirt and surprisingly the man was still in his mechanic clothes at the dinner table, sure it was cleaner than this morning but damn, at the dinner table?
"Yes yes, we made sure to feed her until she was all full." Ryan said as Cara came back to the dining room and took her seat.
Immediately the conversation shifted.
"Cara, how was the shop today?" Ryan asked.
There was a way that he said it, it sounded like he was really giddy about knowing and that was a good sign.
"Well babe, it was good, same as yesterday." She took a bite of her food, swallowed. "I—"
His phone rang.
Ryan picked up immediately and while they couldn't hear what came through on the other end, whatever it was made him push his chair back with a sharp scrape before the call was even finished.
"I'll be there right away." He hung up and was already on his feet, handing Olivia across to Cara in one motion. "Russell called… his engine seized up completely on the highway and the car won't turn over at all. He's stranded out there so I'll be back later."
"I'll keep the food warm for you." Cara said.
She sounded a bit tired which probably meant that he had done this many times before.
Ryan nodded, moving to the door, buttoning his work coat back up the same buttons he'd undone when he got home hours ago.
He grabbed his cap from the hook by the door and pulled it on.
"Alright Wren, I'll leave things with you." He said and with that he was gone with the door shut and the truck engine starting outside after a few seconds.
Headlights swept across the window as he reversed out and the sound of the truck faded down the road.
The house went quiet.
'Wow.' Wren thought, sitting with it for a moment.
He hadn't seen enough of this relationship to draw firm conclusions but the texture of it was something he could feel already, right from the drink she kept forgetting to the way she'd said I'll keep the food warm like someone reading from a script they'd memorized.
He kept eating and said nothing about any of it.
The two of them stayed at the table with Olivia making sounds between them and Wren genuinely didn't know what to open with.
What was a good conversation starter for a woman that had been ignored by her Husband?
[Host, say something. You cannot let this opportunity sit... She is a perfect candidate and the longer you stay quiet the more ground she loses interest.]
'What exactly do you think I should say then?'
There was a pause.
[<
He almost slammed his spoon down on the table. She wanted him to start a conversation and couldn't even tell him what to say.
"I…" He started without thinking much of it, Cara looked up from her food and he registered properly for the first time just how genuinely beautiful she was up close. "I know how you feel."
Silence.
He was destroying himself on the inside though nothing showed on his face.
'Who the hell starts a conversation like that.' He thought.
Cara started laughing then her hand pressing against her mouth so it wouldn't get too loud.
"Who the hell starts a conversation like that?" She asked.
He almost laughed at himself. He really had no experience in this at all.
[First day here and you already sold the bag.]
"But did you actually mean it?" She asked, the laughter calming down as she looked him in the eyes. The woman set Olivia down and let the toddler walk herself over to the toy corner.
"Yes." Wren said. "It used to happen with my dad. I'd want to tell him something important and he'd leave every single time under the name of work."
He didn't have a close relationship with his father.
The man had barely existed during his childhood in any real sense, he was some big-shot somewhere who paid school fees, showed up for small errands and wanted little beyond that. He was only ever needed for things here and there.
"I see." Cara looked at her curry. "It's really not a nice feeling."
She took another scoop. "But let's not stay on that right now. You came from Bostara right?"
"Yes." His eyes lit up a bit. "How did you know?"
"Well…" She glanced at Olivia in the corner, hitting two toys against each other. "Aside from the fact that it was all my husband has been talking about, you really have the Bostara accent."
Now she was a knowledgeable person… especially for someone living in Harlow.
"You're not wrong." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I just graduated and came back since I haven't been here in a long time."
"I went to Bostara for school too." She said. "Graduated about seven years ago but it feels longer honestly."
Cara shook her head. "I went to Whitmore University."
Wren put his spoon down. "No way… Me too."
They both smiled at the same moment.
"Nice place." Wren said. "But some of the teachers are—"
"Cuckoo." She finished it with a small laugh. "Like Professor Howard… the man would walk into every single lecture, spend the first ten minutes explaining the importance of preparation, and then realize mid-sentence that he'd brought the wrong semester's notes entirely, he does it every class without fail and his tests were so hard purposely."
"He very much is still there." Wren said, his expression going dark immediately. "The man gave our entire group a zero on a group assignment because one person's name was formatted differently on the cover page then sent a voice note about academic integrity at midnight expecting replies by morning."
He sighed. "He's an old bastard."
"Eight years and he still hasn't changed one bit." Cara shook her head. "I completely agree."
She looked at the ginger cup sitting untouched beside his bowl.
"Aren't you going to drink that?"
"Absolutely not." He said. "I took it so I wouldn't be rude but I genuinely don't understand what's supposed to be appetizing about ginger and orange juice in the same container."
He really didn't mean to be rude but he drew the line at certain things and this was one of them.
"It is a bit much honestly." She said. "But he likes it. The Doctor said it's not particularly good for him and he won't listen."
Wren looked at her, so that was why she kept forgetting to bring it out. She was looking out for him in the only way available to her.
After that the conversation found its own speed and kept it.
One story rolled into the next without needing to be pulled… Whitmore memories gave way to things about Harlow, Cara told him how the town had changed in the years since she first arrived, what it had looked like before the road got paved, before the church expanded, before the branch college existed.
Wren told her things about Bostara life that made her cover her mouth laughing, the graduation dinner, the rooftop grill, Joel and Brett destroying their batch of meat and refusing to admit it though he left out the parts about Charlotte and the phone call. Those were for nobody.
She gave him seconds without asking and thirds without commenting on it and an hour and thirty minutes disappeared without either of them checking the time once.
Olivia fell asleep in her toy corner at some point with one cheek pressed against a stuffed animal, completely unbothered by the conversation going on above her head.
"Stopppp." Cara raised a hand to her lips. "Tell me that isn't true."
One of the things Wren had always been genuinely good at was keeping a comfortable conversation moving… knowing when to be funny, when to let something breathe, and when to push as he did with Leah.
He had enough material stored from years in Bostara to keep a table going for hours and Cara was an easy person to talk to, she actually listened and responded to what you said rather than waiting for their own turn to speak.
It was really nice.
"But it is though." Wren said and then his eyes went to the clock and went wide. "Ah. I've spent way too long here. I need to head back."
Cara let out a small sigh but nodded.
"Of course." She said. "You've already made this one of the most wonderful evenings I've had."
"Why don't we lengthen it?" Wren asked. "Let's go out for a drink next time."
Cara raised an eyebrow and laughed again.
"You're really full of spunk, huh? Asking a married woman out like that."
"It's just talking." He said then looked over at Olivia still occupied in her corner. "Though you have to look after Olivia so forget I aske…"
"No need." She cut him off immediately. "My parents are coming over tomorrow so they can watch her. I can come."
How bored did this woman have to be to agree before he even finished the sentence? Well. It wasn't his kid though.
"Sure then. It's a date." Wren stood. "When and where?"
"Uh…" She tilted her head left and right, he'd already known that as her thinking motion from their hour and a half together. "How about in front of the house by eight? Hubby said he'll be doing an all-nighter at the workshop tomorrow and I'll let him know about it anyway, it's perfect since he actually wanted us to bond."
"Eight it is." He walked over and patted Olivia's head once. She looked like a little angel. "Goodnight. See you tomorrow."
She waved slowly with a wide smile.
"Goodnight Wren." Cara said from behind him. "Stay safe."
He was outside within a few minutes, walking down the quiet street with a small skip in his step.
'That's the first time I've asked a girl on a date.' He thought.
So what if she was married? A date was a date in his book and she'd even said yes before he even finished the question. He was goated.
[Very smooth, Host~ You left a real impression on her. She's been added to the candidate list and I'll be generating missions accordingly.]
'You have no right to say anything… you bailed out at the most important moment.' Wren thought.
[[Tch, if I gave you even a bit of rizz advice, you'd be sleeping with her right now. I just decided to make it slow and besides, what fun would it be if I was helping you out at every turn? You would become heavily reliant on me just to talk with women.]
'I suppose you're right.'
[I know I am. And Host… That was an impressive recovery from that opener. Genuinely. You're a natural. It's time to start doing what this system was built for, baby! Let's get busy with married women!]
'Please don't phrase it like that.' Wren thought with a sigh, walking down the quiet road like he actually knew which direction home was.
The town at this hour was almost completely still.
There were a few lit windows, someone's television audible through a closed door as he passed and the distant smell of salt coming off the water somewhere behind the houses.
Main Street was dark and packed up with the stalls gone and the road becoming empty both ways.
In Bostara this hour would be the beginning of the night with bars filling up and the city still moving, still making a lot of damn noise.
In Harlow it was apparently deep into the evening and everyone had gone home.
'I think I like the silence.'
…
"You… you shouldn't be staying out late." Diana said.
They were in the living room and she had a very worried expression on her face while her hands were clasped together in front of her.
"What if something happened to you? What if you were kidnapped or—"
'It's barely eight or nine pm, she genuinely cannot be serious.' He thought.
"I'm an adult." He said. "And I can defend myself so I won't get hurt. You don't need to worry about me."
"O… Oh." She looked down at the floor and her ears went slightly pink and he had to admit, this woman was genuinely unreasonably cute for someone her age. "T-then, will you come eat dinner? You haven't eaten since you left. Zoe said you were drinking but you shouldn't drink without eating so will you join us for dinner?"
He had just finished three full servings of chicken curry and fried plantains not an hour ago. He was not remotely hungry and his stomach was completely settled.
He opened his mouth but he couldn't bring himself to tell her.
"Alright." He said instead. "Let's go for dinner."
Her face lit up almost making his heart skip a beat.
Who gave this older woman permission to be this cute?
"Really?" She took hold of his hand and pulled him toward the dining room. "I cooked a lot of food so you'll tell me what ones you like and your favorite so I'll know."