David politely extended his hand with a friendly air. “Nice to meet you.” Since Maria was the only one clueless about cooking among the four adults in the house, she got “politely kicked out” of the kitchen and went back to hang out with the kids. Before long, the food was ready. During dinner, Isabella brought up the topic of the kids starting preschool again. She nudged Maria, “You seriously need to stop putting it off. If you keep delaying, they’ll end up completely out of sync with other kids.” David chimed in, recalling some info he’d dug up, “I actually checked out two solid preschools recently. One’s just about a kilometer from your place, super convenient. The other one’s a bit farther—it’s a private bilingual one. A little pricey, yeah, but it’s supposed to be really go

