He looked back at Evan. “I’m her boyfriend, and she’s my girlfriend. Right?”
Evan nodded vigorously, then his little hand went flying across the paper.
Yep. So, what am I?
Kale stilled, contemplating, before he said, “You’re my favorite.”
Evan beamed. His entire being lit with a profound joy.
You’re my favorite, too.
Every inch of me warmed.
Kale glanced at me as he turned back, a small, adoring smile gracing his striking face. “All right, then. I think that’s settled.”
He started his car, backed out, and hit the road.
He held my hand as he drove back through our small, quaint city.
A quiet peace filtered through like a murky haze as twilight gathered fast, the moon climbing to the sky from behind the mountain in the distance.
Kale made the last turn onto our street.
We parked at the curb and everyone climbed out.
Rounding the front of his car, Kale swept my son from his feet. “Come here, little man, you look tired.”
Evan nodded.
Lines of worry pulled across Kale’s brow, and he ran a hand over Evan’s forehead. “Are you feeling okay, buddy?”
I watched the two of them, my chest so full as Evan signed.
“He says he’s just tired because he had so much fun today.”
“Oh, yeah? What did you think about Frankie Leigh?”
A giggle slipped from between my lips when I saw my son’s response, my expression so soft when I turned my attention on the man who’d changed everything.
“He said he’s gonna marry her.”
A grin split Kale’s face. “Is that so? You like her that much, huh?”
Evan gave a flourishing nod.
“She’s awfully pretty. Seems it’s always the ones who are a handful that snag our hearts, isn’t it?”
Somehow, I knew he was no longer talking to my son, that smirk washing me over like a slow promise, raking my flesh, making me blush.
Complicated.
Never would I regret letting this man complicate me even more.
I headed up the walk, carrying the empty plastic cupcake container, continually peeking over my shoulder at Kale who trailed close behind, holding my son in the security of his arms.
I balanced the container on my hip, worked the key into the lock, and pushed open the door. I looked back at my son when I did. “We’d better get you a bath and into bed.”
Evan pursed his little lips in a pout, and Kale chuckled, ruffled his hair. “Get your bath, little man, and then we can read that Spiderman story you’ve been telling me about.”
Promise? Evan mouthed.
“Promise,” Kale returned, setting him on his feet. Evan took off for the bathroom.
Kale took the container from my hands. “Let me take care of that while you give him his bath.”
“You better be careful, Cowboy, or I could get used to this,” I teased, though the words were fluttery, my heart and my spirit tied to his.
No longer afraid to hope.
Wanting him a permanent part of our world.
I started to follow Evan when Kale snatched me by the wrist.
Heat sped up my arm, and shock rasped from my lungs when he pressed me against the wall. And the man kissed me.
Softly.
Tenderly.
Stealing my breath.
That energy rose up at our feet, climbing higher.
On a rumbly groan, he dropped his forehead to mine. “I’m such a goner, Shortcake. Don’t think you understand the way you’ve gotten to me.”
My eyes dropped closed, the words screaming from the depths of me.
Love. Love. Love.
I didn’t say it. I just relished it. Let it surge and dance and swell.
Penetrate those places where it’d last forever.
I heard the faucet turning on in the bathroom. “I better go check on him.”
Kale nodded and pressed a tender kiss to my forehead. “I’ll be right here.”
26
Kale
From where I stood at the sink washing the container, I could hear Hope through the walls. Her words indistinguishable and ambiguous.
But that didn’t matter. I could hear what was important, anyway.
Joy.
There was so much of it. Because that was what these two were.
Joy.
My chest tightened when I realized the magnitude of what that actually meant.
That somehow they had become my joy.
My home when I hadn’t realized I’d been looking for one.
It should scare me. Terrify me that I had gone into territory I’d sworn I’d never go.
But standing there in the comfort of Hope’s kitchen, being all sorts of domestic like Rex had pointed out?
Nothing had ever felt so right.
I’d denied myself even the idea of this.
Family.
Thinking I couldn’t have it.
Didn’t deserve it.
Old fear trembled in my bones.
I went rigid against it.
Rejecting it.
Because I refused to fail these two. The past was the past and I was leaving it there. Hope and Evan were my here and now.
My future.
After finishing washing the container, I rinsed it and placed it on a dishtowel, drying my hands at the same time.
In my periphery, my sight caught on the stack of mail that rested at the far end of the counter. My head jerked violently in a double take.