“I’ve actually got an idea. It’s silly, but we’ll have fun.”
* * *
“I can’t believe that’s all you want,” Jenson says as we step inside my house. “Hang out with you at Bernie’s coffee house? That’s too easy.”
I bump him with my hip. “We never hang out with Sheldon and Cara. Not in ages, anyway.”
As Kyle and Connor run across my living room and over to the sliding glass door, I whisper into Jenson’s ear, “I thought by going to Bernie’s, we could start easing our relatives into the idea of…us. It could be like our first public date. Except only we’ll know.”
Jenson’s eyes search mine like he’s looking to make sure I’m serious. He must be okay with what he finds because he gives me a thumbs up. “Bernie’s it is. And I found out this morning that Dylan and Brayden will be in town tomorrow.”
“Gosh,” I say wistfully. “I haven’t seen those guys in so long. Except for the television screen on Sundays,” I add with a laugh.
“I know. I wish you’d been at the Super Bowl with us.”
“The Super Bowl!” Kyle rushes back over to us and jumps up and down. “Livia, did you watch the Super Bowl?”
“I did, honey,” I say. What I don’t say is that I spent the aftermath of the win meticulously scanning the crowd for Jenson as the cameras panned the box where Dylan and Colton’s family and friends were gathered. “I thought maybe I’d see my two favorite boys on TV!”
Connor’s eyes get big. “Did you see us, Livia? On the TV?”
I glance over at Jenson, who winks. “Unfortunately, I didn’t,” I say, and Connor frowns. “But it was so hard to see everyone. I could have missed you.”
“I bet maybe you did!” Kyle says. “We could have been on TV, right Daddy?”
Jenson holds out the football he brought in from his truck. “Maybe. But remember, that’s not why Uncle Colt and Dylan play football. They do it because they love it. That’s what matters.”
Kyle takes the football out of Jenson’s hands. “I love football too. Can we play before dinner?”
“Not right now. I’m going to help Olivia cook.”
But I shake my head. “I’m totally fine to do it. I’m just making grilled cheese.”
“Grilled cheese is my favorite!” Connor says.
“I know.” I pick him up and set him on my kitchen counter. “That’s why you’re going to help me make it.”
“Cool.”
Jenson heads into my backyard with Kyle to try and burn off some of the excess energy he swears Kyle was born with. I watch them through the bay window, feeling a sense of home I haven’t felt in my house before. It’s nice. It’s better than nice—it’s something I want all the time.
* * *
I change out of my work suit and into a tank top and cut-offs before the four of us sit down and eat grilled cheese and hash browns.
After dinner, we walk over to Cindy and Dee’s, and I read Kyle and Connor a bedtime story while Jenson changes out of his suit and into jeans and a fitted green t-shirt that matches his eyes. Both boys fall asleep in the middle of the book, and Jenson and I kiss them goodnight before tiptoeing out the door. Cindy and Dee are in the living room watching a movie, and they urge us to go out and have some fun.
When Jenson and I arrive at Bernie’s, Sheldon and Cara are already there, and Hayley and Max walk in right behind us. Jenson takes a seat next to me on the couch and puts his arm up on the back of it. Nobody thinks anything of it. We’re family, after all.
I introduce Hayley and Max to Jenson.
“So nice to meet you, Jenson. Olivia’s told me a lot about you,” Hayley says to him. “A lot, a lot.”
I give her a hard stare, and she bats her long dark lashes at me innocently before she starts to ramble about her long day at work. “I mean, I’m a proofreader. That doesn’t sound stressful, right?”
Jenson opens his mouth to answer her, but Hayley’s always been a talker, and she keeps right on going.
“But it is. I get paid to make things right. Remember that if you ever need help with a problem.” Another look from me, and her blue eyes sparkle mischievously. “But it’s stressful because of the deadlines. And the clients don’t give a shit. They just want their crap. Well, except they don’t want it to be crap; they want it to be perfect.”
