“I knew you’d find the best one they had.” Summer places a hand on CeCe’s head as I leave them standing near the tree and head to the guy at the front to pay.
Hauling it upstairs shouldn’t be this difficult, but branches are scratching my face and the tree stump is wet and dewy from sitting in water. Summer snorts as she tries to help and we both end up pulling the tree in opposite directions, but I’m stronger than her and end up pulling her body down nearly on top of the tree itself as we walk it down the final stretch in the hallway.
“Looks like you’ve got it,” she breathes out, laughing.
Summer could have gone home hours ago. She could have said no when I asked her to stay and decorate or go shopping for a tree. She didn’t have to make CeCe hot chocolate and help hang a Christmas banner in her bedroom. She wanted to. She wants to be around CeCe just as much as I do and it pulls at something in my chest.
When it comes to dating women, I’m a package deal with CeCe. I’ve never introduced anyone to CeCe, primarily because I haven’t actually dated anyone in years. But the thought of ever bringing a woman around her made me feel so fucking uneasy. Summer and I aren’t dating, in fact, we’re not doing much of anything aside from fulfilling a physical need we both seem to have. Except, something in me wants there to be more. Summer’s always been around, but she fell into our lives last month in a more consistent way and now I don’t know how the hell we’re supposed to just stop seeing her when the season is over and I don’t need the help.
We’ve spent the afternoon getting the tree set up and decorated. Summer said she didn’t want to take away the father and daughter experience from CeCe, so she mostly sat back andtold us where ornaments were needed as CeCe and I decorated the tree. A lot of them are clumped together at the bottom, nothing really matches and she basically just threw the tinsel on the tree in one spot on the side. But it’s perfect.
“Here,” Summer says, handing me a small star to place on the top.
“Come here.” Scooping CeCe in my arms, I lift her toward the tree. “It’s not done yet. You need to place the star on the top.”
She stretches her arm, reaching for the top and I hoist her up a little bit further, guiding her hand to place it where it needs to go.
“Perfect.” Summer stands near the side of the couch, holding a cup of hot chocolate in one hand and a bowl of her overly buttered popcorn in the other. And when I look at her in this moment, I see something I couldn’t have predicted, something I never expected I’d want with Summer.
I want more.
More of this. More of her. More of her with my daughter. More late nights and early mornings. More smart ass remarks and flirtatious comments. More text messages, the dirty and the sweet. More walking into my home after a long day and seeingher.
“Thanks for your help,” I say to Summer as the day winds down.
She rolls up the sleeves of her blue sweater, cuffing them just below her elbows. There’s a peacefulness about this evening. CeCe is laying on the couch watching a show before bed and Summer and I just finished going over the next two weeks when I’ll need her help. With my mom still being in town, Summer won’t be around too often to watch CeCe, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to see her.
“You should hang some Christmas lights outside,” she says, staring through the sliding glass door.
When I don’t answer I hear her mumble under her breath, and I just shake my head knowing Summer can’t stand a silent moment.
“Or, you know what? They have twinkling lights you can hang that I bet CeCe would love.”
She presses her hands together gently. A little tick I’ve noticed she has sometimes.
“Are you all talked out for the day?”
A low chuckle leaves my chest as I lean one hand on the counter and position my body toward hers. She inhales and her eyelashes flutter my way.
“Go on a date with me.”
She pulls her head back. “What?”
“I want to take you on a date. Will you go on a date with me?”
“Just the two of us?”
“Well, that’s generally what a date is, isn’t it? It’s been a while since I’ve been on one, but I don’t think the premise has changed.”
Her cheeks turn red as she looks at me blankly. I imagine the same thoughts are running through her head that ran through mine earlier when I had this idea. We’ve never intentionally hung out just the two of us, there’s always been a reason, an event, an outing, a storm—putting us in the same place at the same time.
“Okay…” she says slowly.
“I’ll make arrangements with my mom for CeCe,” I assure her.
“Okay,” she says with more enthusiasm this time, pulling at the hem of her sweater.
“Eight o’clock tomorrow night, I’ll pick you up.”
