“What if he wants you back?”
“Not possible,” she insisted. “I have the sexiest, sweetest, most amazing boyfriend on the planet who’s not afraid to kick his ass if he gets out of line.”
“You can say that again—about the ass-kicking part.”
“We want to move forward as a couple, right?”
“Right,” I agreed.
“Then I need your blessing on this.”
“Why?”
“Brody! Because! I love the way you protect the girls and me with the fierceness of a lion protecting his cubs, but you can’t kick his ass every time he comes to the house to see them.”
I took a deep breath and exhaled like a dragon again. “When were you at the park with him? We never talked about that.”
Her eyes dropped to her lap again. “He wanted to see the girls, but I wasn’t comfortable with introducing them to him, especially since you didn’t know yet, so I told him I would bring them to the park to play and he could watch from a distance. We were only together about fifteen minutes or so.”
“Hm.”
“What does that mean?”
“That’s actually not as bad as I was picturing,” I admitted.
“What were you picturing?”
“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “The two of you having a picnic and pushing them on the swings together.”
“Oh, God,” she scoffed. “Not even close. You’re the one I want to do those things with. Not him.”
“But—”
“Stop but-ing me and stop assuming that just because he’s back, I’m going to run off with him. You’re what I want, Brody. I want you now. I want you in ten years. I want you in fifty years. Now, let’s roll up our sleeves and work on this shit.” She winked at me.
We pulled up to a stoplight and I used the driving break to my advantage, leaning over and kissing my girl. She grinned at me with that crinkly nose that brings me to my knees. I couldn’t imagine spending thirty years with her, and then just giving up. If I was lucky enough to one day persuade her to marry me, I was holding on tight and never letting go.
“Why am I so nervous?” Brody asked, pacing the kitchen like an expectant father.
I laughed. “Because they’re six and Lord knows what’s going to come out of their mouths.”
Today was the day.
Today was THE day.
We were sitting the girls down and telling them about Zach. I was nervous, but excited to get the weight off my shoulders and move on. I had no idea what to expect from them when I told them. They were only six years old, after all.
“So what are you going to say?” He sat down at the kitchen island, nervously tapping his thumb on the counter.
“I’m going to keep it simple. They’re still pretty little, so just the basics.” I sat down across from him and held his hand, steadying it. “As they get older, they’re going to have more questions and we can get into detail then. For now, less is more.”
“Yeah. Okay.” He sighed.
“Are you sure you want to do this tonight?”
It was Halloween and Brody had suggested that it would be a good night for us all to put the past behind us and take the girls trick-or-treating. I called Zach and suggested it. He was overwhelmed with my offer and thanked me profusely.
“Yes. Let’s just rip that Band-Aid off.” He nodded.
“By the way, I’m dying to see these costumes you have for them,” I said excitedly.
A devilish grin slowly rolled across Brody’s lips as he cocked an eyebrow at me.
“Okay. That face makes me even more curious than I already was.”
A couple weeks ago, Brody asked if he could be in charge of the girls’ Halloween costumes. He said he had a plan and the girls were in on it too, but they didn’t want me to know. As a mom, Halloween costume selection was a very big deal, but I threw caution to the wind and let him have this one.
“I’m so surprised that they haven’t told you. I really thought they would.”
“Me too. I was kind of counting on it, actually.” I rolled my eyes.
My heart pounded as the front door swung open. Mom and Fred had gone for a walk and had agreed to pick up the girls from the bus stop on the way back. I heard their giggling in the foyer and looked at Brody. His eyes were practically bulging out of his head.
“That’s them!” he whispered.
“I know. Relax.” I walked to the other side of the island where he was sitting and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. “We got this.”
He reached up and squeezed my hands. “Sleeves up, Jensen.”
Brody and I had been saying that to each other for a couple weeks now, ever since his mom said it to us. It’d become a little thing we said to each other when we were nervous about doing something. I kissed the side of his head and took a deep breath as Lucy and Piper came running around the corner.