“Clean slate,” he says, pulling me to him and wrapping me in his arms. “Let’s start fresh. Here. Now. Today. No more secrets and no more pretending. Okay? Just you and me, two kids doing the best they can.”
Wide eyed and slack jawed, I ask, “Did you just quote ‘Jack and Diane’ lyrics?”
He thinks on it and laughs. “I guess I did, why?”
“Trev, that was kind of our song. Two kids from a small town running off behind a shady tree to get it on.”
His brows shoot up. “Really?”
I nod, encouraged by his boyish expression.
He runs a finger down my arm, his light touch raising goosebumps and making me want to forget about how late for work I am.
“Running off behind a shady tree, eh?” He winks. “That’s one memory I’d definitely like to recover.”
I pull his hand to my lips and kiss it. “How about we make a new memory there instead?”
“I think I like the sound of that.”
We fall into silence, staring at each other as if we’re both conjuring up what that might be like, when my alarm goes off for the third time, ruining our moment.
He reaches over me and shuts it off. “You’d better go open the shop. Someone around here needs to pay our bills.”
I laugh at his easy sarcasm and realize it’s just one more thing I like about Trevor 2.0.
I kiss his cheek and hop out of bed. “I have one more secret to tell you.”
He looks at me warily.
I put my hand on my stomach. “It’s a girl.”
Instantly, a smile splits his face. A smile that tells me so much more than any words could ever say. It tells me he was being truthful about wanting to try. About wanting me. Her.
He’s in this. He’s ready. Dare I even think he’s…mine?
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Trevor
It’s a girl.
We’re having a daughter.
I’m going to be a dad.
Those three phrases have been swirling around in my head for over an hour as I lay here trying to absorb them.
I feel like the wind has been knocked out of me. But in a good way.
Two days ago—hell, yesterday even—I wasn’t even sure I wanted a wife. A family. Yet now, I’m positive I can’t see a future without them. Could Ava have been onto something when she asked if delivering the baby triggered something inside me? Maybe it did on a subconscious level. It’s hard not to have hope that it did, and that soon, the floodgates of my past will open up.
Even if they don’t, I feel we’ve turned a corner. We’re on a new path, one I’m excited to go down.
After a shower, I go downstairs and make myself a coffee, then steal a croissant from the case. I glance across the room to see Ava chatting with a customer out front. She’s laughing and there’s this glow about her. Has there always been and I’m just now noticing it? Or is this also something new?
She catches me watching and smiles. I smile back, lean against the counter, and continue to stare as she floats effortlessly around the shop, cleaning a table, straightening a picture on the wall, filling a napkin dispenser, sweeping crumbs off the floor. I love that she’s the owner, the manager, yet she happily does menial tasks instead of directing others to do them. I really like this about her. It speaks to how real and down to earth she is. It makes me think I can trust that what I see is what I get.
“Something’s definitely different about her today.” I turn to find Jason behind me, also staring at Ava. Then he turns his attention to me. “Probably because you’re back.” His brows dip low and his stare on me hardens. “Areyou back? Or are you going to run away again? Because I know I’m going out of my lane here, but you really did a number on her when you left. It was almost like you died all over again. But in a way it was worse, because this time youchoseto leave.”
