She bit her lip and smiled.
“What?”
“How long have you been sitting out here?”
He laughed, “Oh, you mean how many beers did I drink tonight? Six.”
“I thought there was something different about you,” she jokingly said.
“I may swear a bit more, but I want you to know my mind’s clear enough to have this important conversation with you, darlin’.”
“Good.” She righted her shoulders and took a deep breath. It almost seemed like she was preparing for a fight. “I came to realize something today, and I wanted to tell you.”
His throat tightened and his palms got sweaty. Even though she had kissed his cheek and stood between his legs, he wasn’t entirely reassured he’d like what she would tell him.
“With you, Keen, I want to fight for what I want. I’m going to be selfish for once and tell you that even though you’ve got an ex walking around this earth, who you might feel sorry for or even still have feelings for…” she pointed her thumb to her sports tank top, “That I’m still the better choice for you and Tommy.”
“I know,” he said.
“You do?”
“Yes. And I want you to know that I don’t have any feelings left for her, Ry. From the moment you first walked into my life, you’ve breathed air into me. You have awakened me from a deep, frost filled sleep where I clung to the wrong things in life. I held on for too long to an untruthful past, and I let life happen to others as I stood watch from the sideline. You pulled me back into the ring and made me see that the future is brighter than my past.”
“Oh, Keen… those beers are really making you philosophical.”
He huffed a breath. “You can make fun all you want. But isn’t there a saying that only children and drunks tell the absolute truth?”
“Let’s get you upstairs and talk tomorrow.”
As they walked up the stairs he said, “I’ve booked a ticket to New York for next week. And I’m going to make sure we’ll have a clean slate soon.”
She paused halfway up the stairs. “What do you mean?”
“I’m going to ask her to waive her parental rights.”
Ryleigh grabbed a hold of the banister and she croaked, “You are?”
“Yeah. I don’t want her to come back five years from now and start trouble for us.”
She started the stairs again, and he followed her into his bedroom. Or rather; their bedroom as they’d slept there together for weeks now.
He watched her as she sat down on the edge of the bed. She blinked the tears from her eyes, and Keenan knew what was running through her head. She loved Tommy as if he were her own. She wanted more, but didn’t feel she could ask for more. Her focus remained fixed on the picture they’d taken a week ago at the ice cream parlor.
He had it framed and proudly hung it on his bedroom wall. The three of them, smiling and eating ice cream. It was the picture of a family. Of his family.
He’d say the words for her if she wouldn’t. “Tell me. You know you can tell me anything.”
“I know. But it’s too soon.” She cleared her throat.
“We both know what the other is thinking. We’re thinking about you adopting Tommy.”
She swatted his chest after he’d plunked next to her on the bed. “It’s too soon. You can’t be serious!”
“The next few months will be rough on all of us. Even though I want to break all legal ties between them to protect him, I don’t want his mother to live the life she’s been living these past years. I hope we can help her escape that life.”
“Who’s we?”
“I’m going with Donovan and he’s going to talk to Ro about Derek, and maybe we can take Ro with us.”