Callie and Cameron nodded silently, their jaws hanging open as they stared at Brett with curious little faces.
“Good, now…” He stood up handed each of them a plate. “Your turn.”
They sat there frozen for several seconds. Finally, Callie dropped her plate on the floor, letting out a peel of innocent laughter. Cameron quickly followed suit. The three of them dropped dish after dish, until only one glass was left.
“Mommy, your turn,” Callie told me, sliding the glass my way with a wide smile. Her enthusiasm was contagious. Unable to deny her when she was just so damn happy, I picked up the glass and tossed it down where all the shards of broken dishes lay, letting out my own laugh as the glass broke.
It might not have seemed like much to Brett, but what he’d just done for my children was everything. A few broken dishes had given them a confidence I’d never seen in them before. He’d done that. And in doing so, Brett had given me a gift that meant more than anything money could ever buy. He’d given me and my children safety and security. I’d never be able to repay him for that.
After we finished our little Greek wedding celebration, I took the kids to give them their baths and get them ready for bed while Brett swept up the mess we’d made.
“Mommy, Brett’s the coolest guy ever!” Cameron said, his voice chock full of excitement as he styled his hair into a shampoo mohawk.
“Yeah! Can we stay here forever?”
I dipped a cup into the water and dumped it over Cam’s head to rinse the soap out.
“I don’t know, babies. But we’re here now, so let’s just enjoy it.”
After finishing their baths, I got them in their jammies, read Goodnight Moon, and was getting ready to tuck them in.
“Mommy,” Cameron asked as I leaned in to kiss his forehead. “Can Brett make me a burrito tonight?”
My chest warmed as a smile tipped the corner of my lips. “Sure, bubs.”
He’d looked at me with such adorable confusion when I told him what the twins requested, but after explaining how to wrap them in tightly like a burrito, Brett went into their room and proceeded to tuck the covers around their tiny bodies.
“Night night kiss,” Callie told him when he stood to walk away.
Brett stood there for a moment, seeming surprised by her request before leaning down and placing a sweet kiss on her forehead. He walked over to Cameron and did the same.
“Love you, Brett,” Callie whispered as her eyes grew heavy.
“Yeah, Brett. Love you.”
He paused briefly, and what I saw on his face made my heart beat frantically in my chest. He looked down at my angels, his face full of more pride and love than I ever thought possible. “I love y’all, too,” he said, his voice gravelly with emotion. That was the last hit the walls around my heart could take. They were done, crumbled down to dust.
The problem with that realization was that I now had to tell Brett about my past. Every sordid, ugly little detail. And I could only hope he’d still look at me the same way he did just then by the time I was done.
As I rounded the corner into the kitchen, Brett stood from pulling two beers out of the fridge. Popping the cap off both, he handed me one before taking a pull from his.
He pointed at my bottle with his own, “Figured you might need that.”
Putting the chilled glass to my lips, I sucked down half of my beer in just a few gulps. “You figured right,” I told him. “Just a heads up, I might need a few more before this conversation’s over.”
A smirk tipped up one corner of his lips, “That’s what tequila’s for, beauty.”
“Ah, yes. Because hugging the toilet and sleeping on the bathroom floor would be the perfect capper for this night.” I tried for light and joking but knew I’d fallen short.
“Why don’t we go outside? It’s a beautiful night.”
I blindly followed after him as he stepped through the back door onto his deck. I pulled my sweater tightly around me as I took a seat on one of the patio chairs, telling myself that the chill running through me was caused by the nip in the night air, not because of my trepidation of telling Brett the truth. But I wasn’t fooling anyone, least of all myself.
Brett sat on the chair next to mine, resting his elbows on his knees as he studied me. “You know, you can tell me as much or as little as you want, Kenzie. I’m not here to push you. I just need to know what I’m up against here.”
My brow furrowed in confusion as I asked, “What do you mean?”
Leaning back with a sigh, he reached around and rubbed at the back of his neck. “I’m gonna be honest here, so just hear me out. I know I said I was fine with just being your friend, but that’s not working for me anymore. I know you’ve felt this insane connection we have. It’s been there since we met, and now I’ve gotten to know you better, know your kids better…well, it’s changed things. You need to know that, from here on out, I’m pulling out all the stops.”