And that’s how it should have stayed, really, if everything had gone as it was meant to. It would have been one crazy-hot night together, and then nothing. We would have been well and truly done. He would never have heard from me again, and he would have lived on in my memory as nothing more than the best sex of my?—
“So, will you meet with me? Somewhere for dinner?”
I blink, drawing my mind back from the brink of going down an entirely inappropriate route. Damn, these post-pregnancy hormones can really do a number on you, that’s for sure…
“Uh, yeah,” I reply at last. “I suppose it would be a good idea. For the twins, I mean, if we can figure out how we’re going to deal with this.”
“My thoughts exactly,” he agrees. “There’s an Italian place not too far from where I live, Molton’s—do you know it?”
I shake my head. I haven’t exactly gotten to know the nightlife in this city. Thom always made it so I could never go out without him hanging over my shoulder, and after I left him, it isn’t as though I’ve had the money to throw around to party my butt off.
“Right,” he murmurs, and he reaches for his pad, scribbling down an address and handing it to me.
I glance down at it; the place is on the other side of town, the expensive side. I’d have to get a cab just to be able to make it there in under an hour, not to mention childcare for the twins. I doubt a place that fancy would want a pair of newborns in their restaurant, after all.
“I’ll cover any expenses,” he tells me, as though reading my mind. “Taxi there and back, any childcare you need…”
“I can ask my cousin to keep an eye on them for me,” I reply, running a hand through my hair. Truth be told, I don’t want to feel like I owe him anything. After what happened the last time we were alone together, I can’t help but wonder just where my self-control will go being out with him on something that could, at a glance, pass for a date.
“Sure,” he replies, and he taps the paper again. “I’ve left my number. You need anything, you just call me, alright?”
“Alright,” I reply, and I feel a little fizz at the base of my spine as I slip the card into my pocket. I could try and tell myself that it’s nothing more than relief that he seems to be open to helping with the twins all of a sudden, but I know deep down that it’s something more than that.
“Text me what day works best for you,” he offers. “I’ll get the table booked.”
“Sounds great.”
I’m doing my level best to keep my voice neutral, but I feel like he must be able to see right through me. There’s something about being around him that makes me feel…exposed.
It’s not an entirely unwelcome feeling, but I know, if we’re going to keep this relationship above board, it’s going to have to become one.
I grab the stroller and make for the door. He pushes it open for me, and I have no choice but to brush right past him as I go out. I catch the scent of him once more, the same as it was on the night we met, the woodsmoke and amber wrapped around a core of something dark and masculine. I swallow hard, doing my best to put it out of my mind.
“Thanks for your help,” I chirp over my shoulder, sounding ridiculous even to my own ears as I attempt to put on a show for anyone who happens to overhear us.
I can’t help but smirk a little as I head for the door, feeling like I’m getting away with something. Nobody here knows the truthof what happened between us, or the fact that he’s actually the father of the children in this stroller I’m pushing.
I nod to the receptionist, who smiles back at me without a care in the world, and hurry to the door before I can let myself get too cocky and give away something I’m not meant to.
Outside, I head for the bus, the slow rock back and forth soothing the twins to sleep in their stroller as I stare out the window. It was raining earlier, but the sun has peeked out from behind the clouds, casting shimmering light across the rain-slicked sidewalks, little rainbows bursting in the corners of my vision.
For the first time since I saw him again, I feel like things might actually be coming together. So much of these last few months, this last year, really, has felt like I’m just fighting to keep my head above water.
After everything that happened with Thom, my mind was wrecked, and even getting to sleep at night was more of a problem than it should have been. And then the pregnancy, the morning sickness, the aches and pains, the preparing for the twins’ arrival—all of that on top of the stress and fear that Thom might find me again, might pick up where he had left off. Not to mention the usual stresses of work, money, trying to keep my bills paid…
But now a sense of calm settles over me, a relief that I didn’t know I needed. I’m not foolish enough to think that Martin is going to make everything right, but at least he’s willing to speak to me. More than that—he went out of his way to set up this date, so we could figure things out.
Not that I’m thinking of it as a date. No, that would be crazy, given that he’s practically twice my age…
But he isn’t married. Divorced, that’s what he said. And the thought of him being single draws a smile to my face, even though I know it shouldn’t. I don’t expect anything from him, but at least I know that I didn’t wreck a relationship with everything that has happened between us.
A kind stranger helps me off the bus with the stroller, and I head to my apartment to find that the elevator has been fixed. I was prepared to hump the twins and the stroller up the stairs again, but it looks like today is my lucky day. In more ways than one.
I hum to myself as we head upward, leaning down to check on Matty and Ross. I’ll need to call Sofia, tell her that I require her services to cover for me while I’m heading out for dinner. No doubt she’s going to interrogate me a million times over about who exactly I’m going out with, but hey, if things are taking a turn for the better between Martin and me, maybe I should just go ahead and?—
As I round the corner to my apartment, something stops me in my tracks. It takes me a second to realize what it is that’s thrown me off, but I can tell something is wrong.
My instincts are always pulled tight, after what happened with Thom—living with him, I had to be aware of everything I could do that would piss him off, just to avoid another blowup, and the tension in the air speaks to something like that.
