I still needed to figure out where everyone was going to sleep tonight. I couldn’t stand the idea of
sleeping apart from Corey, but I’d suffer through a sleepless night if it meant helping him wait to
explain our relationship to Willow. The couch would be a better option than letting them head home.
If they left, so would I.
“Nope. You need to stay right here with them. As soon as you showed up at my place this
morning, I altered my plans for the night. There’s more than enough for everyone, and I pulled some
homemade soup out of the freezer for Willow.” Of course, she had. If there was one thing I’d learned
today, there was no way to prevent Willow from working her way into your heart if she decided you
were her people.
“Fine. We’ll be down later.” I expected Vivvie to head out, not make herself comfortable in my
recliner. “Can I help you with something?”
“Yeah, you could manage to not screw this up,” she said, nodding toward Willow and Corey. “I
know you’re still trying to get used to being in a relationship, but you need to decide now if you’re in
this with him for the good and the bad. If you’re not, then you need to duck out now.”
“I’m not bailing on them,” I responded without hesitation. I wasn’t fooling myself that it was
going to be easy or that we wouldn’t butt heads from time to time, but Corey was it for me. And from
the little I’d gotten to experience of Willow, I knew it wouldn’t take long before she wound her little
fingers around my heart. It wasn’t that I thought they needed me; it was that I already couldn’t imagine
a life without them in it. “There’s a lot Corey and I are going to have to talk about but I’m going to
make him realize he can rely on me.”
“That’s all I wanted to hear.” Vivvie stood, approached me, and bent down to kiss my forehead
before tickling the little wiggle worm nestled into the crook of my arm. “The three of you together are
adorable. Happy looks good on you.”
“Thanks.” I was shocked when she left it at that and excused herself. I grabbed the remote so I
could find some ponies to watch with Willow. “Okay, princess. Let’s watch a show while your dad
sleeps, and then we’ll go back down for dinner. Sound like a plan?”
“Yeah, but maybe we need two pony shows.” She leaned forward to look at Corey. “Daddy musta
been really sleepy. I think he stayed up too late last night playing.”
I choked back a laugh before squeezing her. “You may be right. We’ll have to make sure he goes to
bed on time tonight, won’t we?”
