Like she was accepting that he really was going to be part of my life. For good?
The thought surprised me, but I liked the idea of it. What if Daniel really was part of my family for good? What if we managed to keep this easy relationship going between us? He was good with the kids, and Matt and Leanne seemed to have come around. Daniel didn’t have family of his own, I knew, but I could suddenly picture holidays with all of us plus his friend Austin.
But no, before we got to that point, I had to figure out a way to tell Daniel that I loved him.
Watching him chat with my best friend, though, his hand warm against my thigh, suddenly it didn’t seem so difficult.
Daniel smiled over at me and brought me into the conversation with him and Leanne. Apparently they had both played tennis in high school, and they were talking about going to the court together sometime.
I rolled my eyes. “Just don’t try and beat Leanne,” I cautioned Daniel. “I’ve seen her smash a racket before.”
Daniel gave a surprised laugh and turned back to see Leanne’s reaction. “Not in front of the kids,” she said, but she was laughing as well. She hurried to explain. “It wasn’t because I had lost. But I lost because three of my strings snapped in a single match.”
“Because you were absolutely wailing on the ball,” I reminded her.
“No, because the racket was old and I needed a new one,” Leanne countered.
“Half your serves went sailing over the, what, twelve-foot fence?” I reminded her.
“I remember that match!” Matt chipped in suddenly, looking amused. “I didn’t go to a lot of your guys’ tournaments because, let’s face it...” He trailed off, looking at the kids, and I knew exactly what he was about to say: kids’ sports leagues could be boring. But obviously he wasn’t about to say that in front of Zach and Layla. He hurriedly covered for himself. “Anyway, we couldn’t tell if you were purposefully throwing the match or what.”
“She was only in tennis because her mother thought she had some anger issues to work out,” I told the table, grinning as I remembered how irate Leanne had been at the time. “So she decided to prove her right.”
There was laughter all around. “I don’t understand,” Layla complained.
“Don’t worry,” Daniel told her, giving her a wink. “I bet you’ll hear this story again as you get older. Especially if history repeats itself.”
Leanne rolled her eyes again, but she was still smiling. “Well, just make sure you don’t ever try to play tennis with Abby,” she countered. “I tried to practice with her one time, and that was enough. I think my black eye is still healing.”
“It’s why I don’t play ball games with the kids,” I confessed, sighing. “My hand-eye coordination is terrible.”
We continued chatting as dinner went on, and I still just couldn’t stop thinking about me and Daniel. I was still shocked that we had somehow managed to end up here together. Things had changed s
o much since I had been hired by him. And not just in the sense that now I had a great job.
But I had gone from being a woman who never wanted another relationship, who was dead set against finding love, and yet it had fallen right in my lap. Not only that, but I had always thought that I didn’t want kids, that I was going to have to be okay with being the cool Aunt Abby for the rest of my life. But here I was, considering the possibility of having children with Daniel.
Of course, I wasn’t seriously thinking about that now. We had a long way to go before then. But the thought didn’t bother me the way it had in the past. No, having a family of my own with Daniel by my side sounded pretty great.
It wasn’t just that he was a great guy or that he was starting to get along with the rest of my family. It wasn’t just that he was charming, or that he was good at business. No, it was really just the fact that he completed me somehow. We worked together as a perfect team, whether it was in the conference room or here in my house, cooking dinner together. I could only imagine the life we could build together.
But I was getting ahead of myself. For now, I just wanted to enjoy what we had. To enjoy this incredible happiness.
After dinner, Leanne helped me in the kitchen with the dishes while Matt and Daniel headed into the living room with the two kids. I couldn’t make out what they were chatting about, but I liked the sound of it, the two of them bonding.
Leanne grinned at me. “You are so in love with him,” she proclaimed, looking at my face.
“Shh!” I hissed, glancing toward the living room even though I knew there was no way they could hear her through the walls and over the sounds of their own conversation. “I haven’t told him that yet,” I added.
“I’m sure he knows,” Leanne said. “Your face is a dead giveaway.” She shook her head, still smiling. “I’m really happy for you. He seems like a really great guy. And you guys just work well together.”
“I know,” I said, unable to keep the silly grin off my face as well.
Leanne’s own smile turned sly. “I’m sure you’ve realized, but he’s really good with the kids too,” she pointed out. “I noticed it at the hospital, but especially tonight, he’s just great with them. And they really love spending time with him too.”
I laughed and shook my head. “Oh no,” I said, holding up both hands. “We are so not at that point yet.”
“Yet,” Leanne said pointedly. “Does that mean you’ve thought about it?”