It had been just over a week since Ronit had appeared in the school playground and back into our lives. She had been in between living with Daniel and I and slowly moving into her temporary accommodation that her office had arranged for her, which she hated.
'It's mouldy, it stinks, the hot water doesn't work.' I overheard her on the phone one evening in the kitchen talking to the maintenance company. She hadn't spent a night there yet, or even a full day; every night she was in my bed, sharing my pillows and covers, holding and kissing me until I fell asleep. I still wasn't entirely over the shock of having her here, and not just having her here but knowing she was here as mine, as my Ronit.
The flat was too small; we had been managing well enough but we both knew the three of us couldn't live there forever. And seeing her there felt oddly wrong, like she didn't belong. She was so beautiful, ethereal, so naturally charismatic and wonderful that in my dark, poky flat she looked like a goddess visiting a slum; lighting every corner with her aura.
I still went to work every morning, though it was painful leaving her; I would take Daniel to nursery and leave Ronit to sleep in. Every minute at school dragged for an eternity until I saw her again. She hadn't started her new job yet; she started at the beginning of October, something to do with waiting on a contract, for a certain quarter, something she brushed off as unimportant and which I accepted. She met me after work several times, coming from her temporary flat, she even rode the bus back with me, when I told her she had to stop paying for taxis.
'You do this every day?' She'd asked me with a frown one day, her body pressed against mine in the crowded, musty centre of the bus.
On Saturday, the second Saturday since Ronit's arrival, she woke me up with a breakfast of tea and toast.
'I arranged a flat viewing for today.' She said, sipping at the teal mug with a chip in it. 'Would you come with me to see it?'
'Of course.' I just finished a mouthful of Marmite toast when she started stroking my leg. I pushed away the sadness I felt that she'd soon be living apart from me again, no doubt somewhere beautiful, somewhere she would fit. She'll still be closer than New York, I told myself, and she'll still be yours. 'Dovid is... visiting this evening.' I said, taking another bite.
Ronit smiled. 'Ah, a family reunion.'
'I haven't told him you're back, or that you're... that we're...'
She yawned and rested her cup on her chest as she leaned against the headboard. 'That's okay. We can tell him together.'
'Really?' I felt the relief rush through me, as though a noose had loosened around my neck.
'Definitely. I wouldn't miss an opportunity to see his face when he finds out.'
'Do you think he'll take it badly?'
'I don't care how he takes it to be perfectly honest.' Ronit said, her fingers stroking slightly harder as she spoke. 'Will Shayna come with him?'
'I doubt it; she must be so close to her due date now.'
'Do they know what they're having? Boy, girl? Dovid Jr, Shayna Jr?'
'I don't think so. They never really tell me anything about it, which suits me.'
Ronit nodded slowly, I could tell she was thinking about something, but I couldn't tell what.
'What time is your viewing?' I stretched out and nibbled another piece of toast.
'Eleven.' She checked her phone. 'Plenty of time.'
'Do you think it's weird how quickly we've settled?' I asked, out of nowhere. I suppose I must have been thinking about how normal we were, how easy our interactions had been since she returned. Like we'd always been this way, when I knew that wasn't true.
