“And I just…” Tears slid from his eyes and Rylee caught them, wiping them away. “I justneedto be around joy right now. And I know where to find it?—”
Rylee cut his words short, balancing herself on the arches of her feet to wrap her arms around him the best she could.
A short second later she stepped back and invited Xander into the brownstone.
His Jordans had yet to step off the welcome mat, when Nova and LJ shouted, “Uncle Xander!”
The two children dropped the Legos they were playing with to run up to Xander, wrapping their little arms around each of his legs.
And that smile Rylee noticed was missing on Xander had instantly returned.
“What are you guys still doing up so late?” Xander asked as he kneeled to give the children a hug.
His voice didn’t sound the same in this state. It sounded broken, strained, and hearing that made Rylee’s heart ache even more.
“Mommy was cleaning but then we’re going to sleep,” Nova informed.
“Oh!” LJ shouted. “Can you read us our bedtime story,pleaseee?”
Xander peeked back at Rylee, and all Rylee did was nod.
“Of course,” Xander promised with a nod of his own. “I’ll read you both one. How does that sound?”
“Great!” LJ expressed with a playful jump like a superhero.
Xander laughed, scooping up the children. “Aight, so let’s go.”
“Uncle Xander,” Nova said as Xander carried the children, one on each arm, up the stairs effortlessly. “You smell a little funny… like that black stuff my Grandpa Gannon makes barbecue with.”
“Yeah,” Rylee heard Xander say as he reached the top of the stairs. “Uncle Xander had some kind of day.”
As always, Nova and LJ didn’t even look back at Rylee. They just buried themselves in Xander’s embrace on the way to their rooms like he’d always been part of the blueprint that were their lives. And maybe… he had become that.
Rylee squeezed her eyes closed and shook her head, attempting to shake the thought while making her way to the living room to clean up the Legos.
Any other night, Xander popping up without calling first would have gotten under her skin, but based on Xander’s moodwhen he arrived and based on what he said happened, he needed this. And Rylee was willing to let it go… this once.
After the Legos, Rylee made her way up to the rooms. She checked Nova’s room to see she was already in bed, tucked in, and dozing off.
She could hear Xander reading the last of the few lines to LJ in his room and made her way there.
When she arrived, she watched from the doorway, as Xander read to a drowsy LJ. Xander’s hulking figure, sitting in the chair Rylee kept in LJ’s room for herself to sit and read to him.
Her heart was full and aching at the same time. But for once, as she watched Xander be the amazing man he’s been from the start, she doesn’t resist the warmth. She lets that warmth and the view of her son and her man wash over her.
She stepped back as Xander stood from his seat. He extended his fist for LJ to bump and wished him a goodnight before leaving LJ’s room and shutting the door gently.
“Thanks,” he said low. “As simple as that was and maybe inconvenient, I needed that, for real. I appreciate it.”
Rylee watched as Xander pinched the corners of his eyes before running his hand down his face.
“I should get going.” He grabbed the bottom of his jacket to zip. “Long day, and I need a shower bad.” He smiled next. “Because as Nova told me, I smell funny.”
Rylee smiled back, reaching for his hand and stepping closer to him.
“You don’t have to go,” she told him low. “Not tonight. You shouldn’t be by yourself tonight.”
This was one of the things that made Rylee uneasy about dating a firefighter. Though he’s often assured her that a majority of the work he did as a firefighter was not dangerous or life-threatening, every so often they got a call that was.
