The Wright Mistake(94)

Sutton waved him off. “Be my guest. I don’t want to eat it, and he’ll be bouncing off the walls with all of that.”

She disappeared into one of the bedrooms and appeared a few minutes later with Jason decked out in a bright yellow Minion costume.

“Oh, he’s adorable,” I gushed.

Jason’s eyes lit up when he saw Austin and me. He toddled over to Austin and held his hands up. “Up!”

Austin laughed and pulled Jason into his arms. Seeing them like that made my heart swell. But one look at Sutton’s face, and I saw all the happy what-ifs flash before her eyes.

“Why don’t we get going?” I suggested.

“Your outfit is cute, Julia,” Sutton said. “I look like a mom. No time to do my hair or anything.”

“We can watch him if you want some time to get ready before we go,” I suggested.

“Who do I have to impress?” She turned away from us and took a steadying deep breath. “Okay, let’s go.”

She got out Jason’s stroller filled with goodies for him and a bag for the candy, and then we were off. Jason made it through three whole houses before being too tuckered out to walk. Austin threw him up onto his shoulders from there, and Jason squealed in delight at the attention. This was how it was supposed to be. This was how an uncle was supposed to act with his nephew.

By the time we made it to the last house on the street, Jason was fast asleep in the stroller with a bagful of candy that he’d never eat.

“He’s going to sleep so well tonight,” Sutton said.

“And then he’ll have a sugar high all day tomorrow,” I said.

“Oh, yeah, I’m so looking forward to that.”

Sutton got Jason into bed before coming back out to the living room.

“I just…I’m glad someone else was here for that. I didn’t know if I could do another thing alone.”

“Well,” Austin said, “if you ever need anything, even just a night off, then give me a call. You deserve it.”

“Really, we’d love to do it,” I said.

“I appreciate it. Most days, it’s okay. But holidays are the worst. So, it was good to have you here. I think I’m going to try to crash some while he’s actually asleep.” She sighed. “Pretty lame, huh?”

“Nah,” I said. “You sound like a good mom.”

Sutton beamed at that. At this point, it was all she really had. “I’m going to take y’all up on babysitting. I could use a day off for real.”

We laughed and nodded before leaving Sutton’s house. Both of us sagged as soon as the door closed.

“That was…hard,” I admitted.

“I feel so bad for Sutton. I wish we could do more.”

“Time. That’s what she needs right now.”

“Yeah. And for us to be there for her.”

I nodded my head. “Agreed.”

“Also, that barely took any time at all,” Austin said as we walked to his car.

“Why don’t we…go back to my place?” I suggested hesitantly.

“We can do that,” he said. “If you want.”

“Yeah. Let’s do it.”

I tried not to second-guess inviting him into my personal space. I wanted him there. I wanted us to work. It was almost a little scary, how easy it was to be with him again. Almost as if his absence had made me fall for him even harder. Not to mention, there was the box of letters I had in my apartment. Those had brought us together more than anything else ever had. And I loved exploring the man those letters had helped me find.

We made it to my apartment fifteen minutes later. I quickly turned off the security system and then reactivated it once we were inside. Austin was quiet as he surveyed my new place.

“What?” I asked self-consciously.

“Oh, nothing. I like it. My head was just elsewhere.”

“Want to talk about it?”

“It’s not serious or anything.” He turned to face me.

I felt a sudden rush of emotions. Austin was here. In my apartment. We were together. Sober. Three months ago, I never would have thought that was possible.

“You know, you can still talk to me.”

“I was just thinking about Jason,” Austin said.

He took a seat on the couch, and I followed him, sitting next to him. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and held me close.

“What about Jason?”

“If I hadn’t gone to rehab, I never would have gotten tonight with him. I would have had some other stupid plans that involved getting drunk. I wouldn’t have remembered the night either. And…I wonder how many other things I missed because of alcohol.”

It was a sobering thought. He’d been a high-functioning alcoholic for so long that he definitely missed a lot of those kinds of moments.