“Then what are you really afraid of?”
I didn’t have an answer. I wasn’t sure what truly made me fearful of the girls spending time with their mom. Minus the fact that she was across the country, I didn’t have any concrete reason to keep them from her.
“I think I’m just scared. Scared of her manipulating them. Scared of them wanting a life with her and then her rejecting them. Scared of her worming her toxic ways back into my life. There is still a mountain of lies she wove around her time with me that I’m still working my way through. I don’t want that for them.” Slouching over, I rested my elbows on my knees, my head hanging.
“You’re a good dad, Nate,” she said as her hand rubbed circles between my shoulder blades.
“I just want to protect them.”
“I know.”
Twisting my head, I gazed in her direction. “But you think I should entertain the idea of them spending some time with their mom?”
“It doesn’t matter what I think or what anyone else wants. It’s what you think will be best for them.”
I wanted to tell her how sexy she was when she was being all maternal. It was the biggest fucking turn-on to listen to her caring about my kids and their well-being.
Before I could tell her that, she laughed and turned up the volume on the television.
“I’d forgotten about these episodes.”
On the screen, a bunch of kids raced down waterslides holding ice cream cones. I remembered when they aired and wishing I could have been a part of those shows. It was the childhood I wished I had.
We settled back against the couch, the heavy conversation from earlier easily placed on the back burner.
We laughed through a couple of episodes, commenting back and forth about how we would have totally nailed that obstacle course.
After a while, I got up and poured us a glass of wine left over from the other night. The crisp White Zinfandel was refreshing.
I thought Alex was going to bounce off the couch when an episode of Double Dare came on the screen. She smacked my thigh in excitement so many times I was definitely going to have a bruise for the next few days.
We watched a few more installments until I felt Alex’s full weight against my body. Grabbing the remote from her hand, I turned down the volume, her soft mewling snores filled the room.
This wasn’t anywhere close to what I intended to happen tonight. But the more I thought about it, the more I knew it was even better.
Chapter Seventeen – Alex
Sometime around two in the morning, Nate and I both woke up in fright. We’d fallen asleep on the couch, and the remote must’ve wedged itself between the cushions. The volume flared as an infomercial for a pressure cooker aired on the late-night network.
Once we threw all the cushions on the floor, we fumbled with the remote to turn down the volume and turn off the TV. After a moment passed, we both fell over in laughter. It seemed all our attempts to be alone were always interrupted. Even the innocent ones.
Instead of joining him, I headed to my room, despite his pleas. I didn’t want to press our luck again. I watched from my doorway as he checked on each girl, making sure neither had woken from the sound. Both thumbs jutted in the air, so I took that to mean the girls stayed asleep.
I woke up the next morning cuddling the extra pillow. In my dream, it had been Nate beside me. One night with him in his bed ruined me.
The house was empty as I made my way downstairs. Nate planned to take the girls over to my mom’s house so he could test his robot on my parents’ land. I was still unsure of leasing the property, but I was coming around. My mom sat me aside and explained it was simply a way to make a little money for the farm. It was a business-to-business transaction, not Nate personally encroaching on the land.
The cleaning service was coming by the bed-and-breakfast around lunchtime, so I needed to find something to do. An idea popped into my mind, and I headed over to my mom’s house. I might not have been able to use the B&B kitchen for the day, but I could surely use hers.
Surrounded by bowls of flour and sugar, I explained to my mom for the second time that I was testing recipes for the Summer Festival. I called the town council this morning and purchased a booth on a whim. If I planned to get my business going, then getting my name out there was the first step. I’d see if Rory or Aspen could help me come up with some business cards and maybe a website. Aspen was great at that stuff. She was a little tech whiz.
“I want to make small samples, like the ones I’ll serve in the shop, for a one-bite eat.”
“But you need six cakes?”
“Yes, Mom. Pay attention.” Laughing, I told her she could just sit and watch with the girls. Molly and Eloise were fascinated as I ran my three mixers and two of my mom’s. I wasn’t sure what she was complaining about. She taught me everything I knew.
“Are you going to dance this time, too?” Eloise asked innocently from her perch on the counter. She was too young to feel the tension grow in the room.
