She looped her arm through his and laid a hand over her belly. “We’d love that.”
~*~
Something bright and buoyant filled Corinne’s chest as she headed toward home. High on the successful rehearsal and study session, she felt lucky and grateful and—dare she admit it?—hopeful for the first time in…maybe ever. This improbable, surprising thing between her and Tucker might just be the start of a legitimate something. Maybe. That was both wonderful and terrifying. But every time the fear started to creep through her buzz, she thought about all those tiny moments over the past three weeks.
I’ve got you.
She believed him. And she’d learned never to believe in men. Maybe she could believe him because, for some reason, he believed in her. That was something she could quickly get addicted to. If there was a part of her counseling caution, for tonight she wanted to silence that voice and bask.
Her good mood carried her through the back door and up the stairs, where she pinned Kurt with a tickle attack post bath and gloried in his freshly-scrubbed little boy smell, before curling up on his narrow bed to read the latest chapter in Captain Underpants. Because she’d missed him, she made it two chapters before finally getting him settled in for the night.
Feeling a few aches from practice and deciding she’d earned a good soak, Corinne made her way down the hall to the bathroom. She was humming as she switched on the water, dug out some scented bath salts.
“Somebody’s in a good mood.”
Corinne looked up to see her mother leaning in the doorway, her lips curved into a smile that seemed just a little smug around the edges.
“Had a good day.”
“Yeah? How’s that?”
What did she say to that? It wasn’t as if she’d actually confided in her mother about the problems she’d had since she came home. Not after the first time she’d come home from work, in tears because someone had scrawled an ugly note on the check instead of leaving a tip. Marianne’s response had been, “Well, what did you expect?” As if she hadn’t been the one driving Corinne to climb the social ladder in high school, no matter who she had to step on to do it. The ends justify the means had been one of her favorite sayings.
“It was a good day. Lots of folks talking about the competition. People enjoyed Friday’s performance.” God knew, it was nice to have them talking about something positive that was in the now instead of a history from a lifetime ago. A lifetime she’d rather forget.
“You did good there.”
Surprised by the compliment, Corinne said, “Thanks, Mama. We worked really hard.”
“Don’t suppose that good mood has something to do with the dance partner you were seen locking lips with by the fountain the other night.”
Corinne’s cheeks heated, so she leaned over the tub to stir in the bath salts. It was Wishful. Of course someone had seen them. But she’d hoped she’d get the chance to enjoy the newness of what was between them for a while longer without commentary from the peanut gallery.
“He might have something to do with it,” she admitted. Too late to deny that. “It’s been a long time since I was kissed.”
Marianne came further into the room, hopping up on the vanity. “Tell me everything.”
Where was this buddy-buddy girlfriend thing coming from? They didn’t do this. Had never done this.
“There’s nothing much to tell. We kissed. That’s it.” No reason to mention the r
ooftop garden at The Babylon or all the reasons that thoughts of him had her going soft inside.
“Nonsense. That can’t be everything. One kiss wouldn’t put that look on your face.”
“What look?” Corinne resisted the urge to check her expression in the mirror. Did she have In serious like with a wonderful guy tattooed on her forehead?
“That dreamy-eyed school girl expression. You like him.”
She was not dreamy-eyed. Was she? “Of course, I like him. He’s a nice man. Thoughtful. Funny.”
Marianne nodded in approval. “Good lookin’, too. Sure did fill out nice for being so lanky in high school.”
He did, indeed. But she felt weird discussing it with her mom. “He grew up. Happens to everybody.”
“Not everybody has a backside you can bounce a quarter off of.”
“Mama!”