Chapter 281

• For once, we’re sitting at the table eating breakfast together. I’m on toast and fruit salad with fresh orange juice, Jake’s got a mountain of pancakes and bacon, and Sylvana is on some healthy granola stuff piled high in a bowl with yogurt and fruit. The two of them have been amusing to watch.
• They have the same mannerisms as they read the morning paper and then switch pages, shifting in their chairs, rounding their shoulders, and tilting their heads to one side. Both talk with full mouths when they point out something interesting in the paper. The same way they cradle their mugs, not using the handles, and hold their cutlery when eating, propping a fork in the air when engrossed in reading a column or news story. It’s beyond adorable, and they are like mirror images.
• The housekeeper wanders around, picking up used dishes and replenishing the coffee mugs, and I can’t help but feel completely relaxed sitting here this way. Smiling at the two bowed dark heads, noticing from this angle they have the same nose profile and eyebrows, makes me giggle impulsively.