“Dumb-assery?” she giggled. “What kind of word is that?”
“It is the kind that perfectly describes how badly my ideas go wrong sometimes.”
“I have another phrase that describes you sometimes.”
“You do?” I asked, moving my hand behind her neck. “What’s that?”
“Sweet fuckery,” she said seductively.
“Addison Bryant!” I said as I feigned offense. “Are you making a comment about my sweet skills in the bedroom?”
She grinned as I leaned closer to her. “Maybe. We’ll have to do some research a little later so I can see how sweet those skills really are.”
I looked into her eyes, so bright and, what was the word I used when I first met her? Oh, yeah—joyful—and I fell in love with her all over again. Now that I had told her, there’s wasn’t gonna be a day that went by without me making sure she knew, knew how I felt. I’d make sure of it.
“I love you, Addison.”
“I love you, too, Jason,” she said, cupping my cheek with her hand. “Now shut up and kiss me.”
So I did.
Sara and Mick left a little while later after Elaine coordinated a car to take Sara to the airport and drop Mick off at home. The two of them got along ridiculously well. So much so that Mick invited her to bring Elaine down for New Year’s Eve. Apparently, Mick’s entire street loaded up on fireworks every December and they shot them off until the surrounding neighbors finally called the cops on them. It was a sight I was looking forward to seeing.
After they left, I excused myself to the spare bedroom so I could call my mom and Lindsay. As I suspected, I got a nice-sized ass chewing from my mom and was called quite a few choice words by Lindsay. I was looking forward to hearing how Emma used those same words the next day at school, since Lindsay always seemed to forget her child’s ears were more powerful than a freaking sonar.
The biggest relief, however, was Jaxon. He came out of his room with Mick and Sara looking a little hesitant about what to expect. But when he saw his mom laughing at something dumb I’d just said, his eyes got bright and he gave me a big thumbs up. Then he asked me to make hot dogs on the grill for dinner. How could I say no to that?
I helped Jaxon with his homework while Addison cleaned up after dinner. I wouldn’t call second grade math hard. But they definitely don’t teach it the way they did when I was a kid. I had no idea what all these number lines and block graphs were for. He probably helped me more than I helped him. The entire evening felt very . . . domestic. And I loved every second of it.
I spent the night for the first time that night. It had been such an emotional day that I didn’t want to leave Addison, even for the night. She seemed to agree with that, so I stayed. Despite our earlier banter, when I slid under the covers and wrapped my arms around her, there were no thoughts of sex. Just sleeping next to the woman I loved. It was kind of a revelation. For the first time in my life, I was starting to understand what true intimacy was all about.
“‘Carter, what do you want to grow up to be?’” The next morning, Jaxon was reading out loud while I got in some pushups. “Carter thought for a moment, while he chewed his peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Then his face brightened and he said, ‘I know what I want to be—I want to be a kangaroo!”
“Good morning,” I heard Addison say as she padded into the room with a yawn. And then she stopped. “Ummmm . . . what are you doing?”
“Reading ‘Carter Kangaroo,’” Jaxon said. “Jason said I needed to get a jump on my reading log for school ‘cause Christmas is coming and we want Santa to know I’m studying really hard.”
“Okaaaay,” she said slowly. “Jason, what are you doing?”
“Push-ups,” I grunted as I kept count in my head.
“I can see that,” she said. “Why are you doing push-ups while Jax is sitting on your back, reading?”
“Forty-nine, fifty.” I slowly lowered myself to the floor. “Ok, bud, you can get off now.” Jaxon rolled off me and sat next to me. “I canceled my workout with Deuce so I could take you guys to work and school this morning. So I thought Jaxon could help me get a few reps in before practice.”
“Isn’t it hard to do push-ups that way, though?” she asked, still looking confused. “Isn’t he heavy?”
“Not really. I’ve had bigger people sit on me while I push-up,” I said, waggling my eyebrows at her.
“Ohmygod,” she said with a laugh. “You are such a dork.”
I smiled at her as she headed toward the coffeemaker. “That’s a fresh pot in there.”