So did Jess. She’d laid claim to him earlier, to DeShawn. Would he do the same here, now?
“We had a week off together, and we decided to go do the Las Vegas wedding thing.” He reached for her hand. “One of the greatest nights of my life.”
Her heart thudded back to life. “Yeah.”
“Do you have pictures?” Evan asked.
Jess didn’t. She’d scrubbed them all from her phone. But she was shocked when Brent pulled out his device and handed it over.
Evan chuckled, then looked up at her, his eyes warm. “You’re gorgeous.”
“What photo is that?”
Evan looked at Brent, who nodded. “Show her.”
She took the phone. The background on the lock screen was a picture of her in her twenty-dollar white sundress, holding a hand-tied bouquet they bought at the grocery store earlier that day. She was giving Brent a shy, happy smile, her hand on her hip.
“It’s a nice night, I think we can eat out here, yeah?” Evan pointed inside. “I’m going to get the plates and the salad, be right back.”
Leaving them alone together.
She blinked hard, and Brent reached over, squeezing her hand, then he swore under his breath and got up, coming around to stand behind her.
He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and squeezed. “Hey, hey.”
“How long have I been your background picture?”
“Since the day we got married.”
She swiped away the tears. Nope, not gonna cry. “Cool.”
He laughed gently. “I think it is.”
She turned her head to the side and he kissed her softly. “One day, maybe you’ll want to marry me again, and we can do it differently then.”
She couldn’t fathom trying to make that commitment again, not knowing what she knew now about how complicated human relationships could be.
Of course Brent was still her husband. Of course she loved him. But do it all again? She liked living on her own, too. On her own terms, and with all the freedom that allowed.
“Ready to eat?” Evan asked, returning.
He set a tray on the table, and Jess nodded, scrambling to her feet. “Let us help you with that.”
She set the cutlery for them while Brent ferried the plates to Evan at the grill.
“It’s pretty amazing how the doors slide all the way open like this. It makes this deck fully a part of the house, doesn’t it?”
“I love them. They were my one big demand when I had the house built.” Evan leaned over and added in a stage whisper, “Truth be told, they’re dangerously easy to jimmy, but nobody else knows that.”
Jess laughed. “We won’t tell anyone.”
Then they dug in.
It was all fantastic. Evan’s steak, the salads he’d pilfered, and the company. She felt wholly comfortable with both of them, and the two of them together. She liked watching them look at each other, and loved the way they both looked at her.
When they finished eating and cleared the plates, and Evan closed the sliding doors and lit the fireplace in the living room, she was more than ready for whatever would come next.
“I need to use the little boy’s room,” Brent said as he set the plates on the counter. “Which…where…?”
