“Food… good,” was all Adam could make out of the boy’s garbled sentence. The sheer joy on the boy’s face made something brighten inside of Adam.
They ate in silence for the most part. Adam’s assumption that Janae’s cooking was magical was on point, removing any need for small talk.
James finished his second helping, then jumped up, put away his dishes, and leaned down to give Janae a kiss.
“Ma, I’m meeting the dance kids at the high school track. We’re gonna do some drills. Dad’s picking me up at around four this afternoon.”
Janae nodded and he zipped away to pick up a duffel bag. He was halfway out the door when Janae called out to him.
“Make sure you text me when you get to the track and when Dad picks you up.”
“Yes, ma’am,” James answered immediately before disappearing down the hall and out of the front door.
“That child can eat,” Adam commented. “Where does he put it all?”
“It’s like his stomach has a gaping hole in it. He’ll be hungry again in two hours.”
“Your grocery bill must be ridiculous.”
She stood up, reaching for their plates, shaking her head to decline his help to put the dirty dishes in the washer. “You have no idea. It’s like having a second mortgage.”
Once the dishwasher was loaded, she pulled out a container of orange juice and champagne.
“I make a mean mimosa. You want one?”
He nodded, getting up and sliding the champagne bottle out of her hand, happily popping the cork.
“What are we celebrating?” This drew an amused chuckle out of her.
“One, my kid is learning the sports ball stuff and I didn’t have to get involved. Two, we earned twenty-five percent of the money we need for the arts program from the car wash.”
She poured a generous amount of the champagne into the chaser and handed his glass carefully to him before picking up her own. “Here’s to working together, Adam. Apparently, we make a very good team.”
“We always did,” he replied easily as they clinked glasses and he took his first sip. “Don’t you remember how we got Michael together so he could pass calc? We were a really good tag team as tutors.”
They had done well in getting their friend to understand the complicated concepts in calculus. What Adam remembered most, though, was, for the first time ever, she had been close enough to Adam that he could smell her lightly scented perfume. WhileMichael earned the benefit of a passing grade, the only thing Adam walked away with was a heightened fixation on the girl he knew he’d never have.
Having too much of a good time, he shook his head to free himself from the melancholy trying to infiltrate his thoughts. Thinking about how restrictive his father had been and how devastating it had been on every aspect of Adam’s life, including his personal relationships, would only rob him of the joy of being in Janae’s presence.
That was completely unacceptable.
They sat back down at the breakfast nook, enjoying their reminiscing.
“Spending time with you, Janae, has made me realize something.”
She sat next to him, leaning into his space, bidding him to continue. The scent of something sweet and inviting wafted up from her skin, making his desire to bury his nose into that magical space where her shoulder and neck met.
“Although I came back to town to help my parents with my dad’s injury, I couldn’t help the swell of hope in the middle of my chest. I knew something good was waiting for me. I’m beginning to think it might just be you.”
Suddenly, she couldn’t focus on anything but the stem of her champagne glass as she tapped her elegant fingers lightly against it.
“How can you tell?” The expectation filling her voice was like a flame carefully caressing his skin.
“Because every time I think about you or am near you, I ask myself, ‘What could we have, if you opened up just the tiniest bit of space for me in your life?’”
She slowly lifted her eyes to his face, leaning forward and placing her hand softly atop his.
“You know what, Adam?” Her voice was deep and sultry, andfilled with so much need. The sound amped up his growing arousal. “More often than not, I find myself wondering the same thing. ‘What would it be like if I let him in just a little?’”
