When we sit down on the couch, I raise my eyebrows at him. “Okay, what’s up?”
He gives me a quick kiss. “I love how intuitive you are.”
“I do make life easy, don’t I?” I wink at him and rest a hand on his leg as he faces me.
“You make life the best.” He leans toward me, and we lose a few minutes kissing in the silence of the house. It’s rare. Most of our dates are places other than here, and there’ve been a few stolen moments when the girls are in bed, but we always have to be mindful of what the girls might walk in on. “But,” he says when he pulls away, “I do have something I want to talk to you about.”
I press my lips together to show him I’m silent and ready to listen.
He reaches up to run a finger over them softly. “No, don’t do that. It doesn’t help things.” His gaze lingers on my lips, and they creep up into a smile. His obsession with my lips will never get old. “Okay,” he says, pointedly raising his gaze to my eyes. “I’ve been talking with the girls more about me dating again. Letting them know sometimes when we go out that I’m on a date. Stuff like that.”
I nod. It’s something we’ve discussed. We don’t want to just spring the relationship on the girls one day, so he’s been finding moments when it’s appropriate to chat about how the concept in a way they’ll understand.
“It’s been kind of easy, honestly.” Chad shrugs. “They don’t remember a lot about Shelby being around, about us being a couple. I worked so much, and there was not a lot of ‘us’ in our relationship. It was more like a tag team. I got home and Shelby needed me time. Carlie and Law are what they know about boyfriends and girlfriends, and they’ve done a good job modeling a great relationship for them.”
“I’m glad it’s going well.” I reach over and squeeze his hands. It’s exciting, especially when I know that all of this is leading up to the day when we’re ready to tell them about us. When we’re as sure about the future as we can be.
Chad chuckles. “Scarlett actually suggested that I should ask you on a date sometime.”
I laugh. “What did you tell her?”
He reaches up and cups my cheek in his hand. “That it seemed like a good idea to consider,” he says softly. “Wanna go on a date with me sometime?”
“Mmmm.” I lean into his hand. “I’d love to.”
He kisses me, long and lingering, before pulling away again. “They’re ready,” he says meaningfully. “I’m ready.We’reready to tell them.”
Tears immediately well in my eyes. I have never felt the need to rush into them knowing just so we could kiss and hold hands or whatever. My relationship with Chad is much more than that—and so is my relationship with the girls. I have never wanted to just be their dad’s girlfriend. I want to belong to them too.That’swhat I’ve been waiting for.
“Yeah?” I say in a wobbly voice.
Chad pulls me close, kissing me again. “I love you, Ivy,” he says gently. “I am going to love you forever.”
“I love you too. So much.” I throw my arms around him, laughing with happiness.
His phone dings, and Chad, who normally ignores those now when we’re together, reaches into his pocket. It’s easy to read that the text is from Carlie.
Carlie
Ready, or should we go visit Law for a minute?
I lean against Chad’s shoulder as he types.
Chad
Ready.
We’re not sitting as close when Carlie brings the girls in a couple minutes later. “Ivy!” Zoey cries, running right up to me and jumping in my lap.
“Hey, sweetie,” I say, snuggling her close and kissing her cheek.
“Hi, Ivy,” Scarlett says, hugging me too, and I pull an arm from around Zoey to include her in our embrace.
“I’ll see you guys tomorrow,” Carlie says with a wave, even though her face says she wants to stick around to see how this goes.
“Bye, Carlie.” The girls wave excitedly to her, and she slips out.
“Ready?” Chad mouths. He’s scooted back next to me and has an arm around the back of the couch behind me.
