We laugh, then after a beat passes, she clears her throat and glances over at the triplets, who are now all at the bottom of the slide.
“Do you want to meet them?”
I keep my gaze on them as I nod, and Lara brushes the tips of her fingertips over my elbow, gesturing for me to follow her.
“Kiddos,” she says, smiling and coming to a stop. Chrys turns to her immediately, but Daffy and Aster take a second longer to turn and look, their eyes skipping inquisitively from their mother to me. “This is my friend, Jake. I wanted you to meet him.”
“Hi, Jake,” Chrys says, her little hands clasped behind her as she looks up at me, and I see that she has the exact same blue eyes as Lara. In fact, if I got a good look at baby pictures of Lara, I guess they’d look a lot like Chrys right now. “We’re playing on the slide.”
“It looks like a lot of fun,” I say, nodding over at it.
“I went down backward!” Aster says, jumping up and waving his hand at me like I might not notice him if he doesn’t. I resist the urge to reach out and ruffle his hair, not sure if I should touch the kids.
“That’s so cool,” I start, but Daffy shakes her head, clears her throat, and puts her hands around her mouth to tell me a secret.
Lowering my ear to her, I listen as she whispers, “I did aspin.”
Her breath is hot against my ear, and she smells like sunscreen and hose water. I pull away from her and make big eyes, hoping that shows how impressed I am.
“Daffy, are you telling secrets?” Lara asks, raising an eyebrow at her, which makes Daffy let out an evil cackle and sprint away, her feet splashing in the grass as she runs.
I’m still talking to the triplets when Lara’s mom appears, introduces herself, and announces to everyone that it’s time to eat. I sit at a table with Lara and the kids, watching how she juggles them and how the food on her plate is cold before she ever gets to it.
“Mommy!” Daffy says, slapping a flattened juice box on the table. “Can I have more drink, please?”
Lara starts to rise, but I raise a hand, shaking my head at her. “I got it.”
It’s a short trip to the cooler, and when I get back with the juice box, Daffy smiles and claps her hands, and the other two ask for one as well.
My second time through, Gideon laughs and raises his beer, asking for a refill himself. I end up fetching wine for Lara’s mom, Kellie, and making the rounds with juice boxes for the other kids.
By the time I make it back to the table with Lara and the triplets, she’s managed to get through half of her plate.
“You’re a great waiter,” Chrys says.
Daffy says, “Our mom is a nurse. Are you a waiter?”
I can tell some of the other adults are listening in on this conversation. Maybe trying to figure out where they know me from. If Abbie were here, she might tell me to network, that it might help with my image.
But I don’t want to talk to anyone outside our little table.
Meeting Lara’s eyes, I smile and say, “Yeah, something like that.”
CHAPTER 25
LARA
Aweek after the Independence Day party, on my next day off, Jake asks if we can take the kids to the lake. The night before, they’re all rowdy, even Chrys.
“When is Jake coming again?” Daffy asks, as I’m tucking her into bed, and I bite my tongue to keep from telling her thatImiss Jake, too.
“Soon,” I promise before pulling out their story and insisting it’s time for them to go to sleep.
When I get to my bedroom, I text Jake, feeling like I did when I was a teenager, sneaking away to talk to him where nobody could see.
Lara:They can’t wait to see you.
I put the phone down and force myself to go into the bathroom and get ready for bed. As I wash my face, I think about him climbing over me. While I brush my teeth, I think about his scent, still lingering on my sheets.
