“Okay.” She turned toward me and hugged my middle, and I gave her a tight squeeze back. “I want you to be together.”
“I know, baby.” I screwed my eyes shut and pressed my lips to her hair. “It’s my biggest hope and goal for us to be really good friends in the future, so we can still do the family stuff together. Dinners, holidays, vacations… All that.”
I just didn’t know if that was feasible.
The clock was ticking, and in a few months, Ash would move in to the house of my dreams, and we’d tell Micah and Lily the truth. It would be the last nail in the coffin. We’d sign divorce papers and try to pick up the pieces of what was left of us.
“I think we’re lost, Nate. The touristy stuff is the other way. This is all residential.”
I remembering shaking my head and looking up at that house. I’ll never forget the scenery. Middle of summer, lush trees in every front yard, little American flags onthe porches, the smell of fresh-cut grass, blue skies, someone working a grill somewhere nearby…
That’s the one, I thought back then.
I pointed to it and turned to you.
“We’re gonna raise our kids in a house like this one,” I said to you.
And you looked at the house too, then at me, and you smiled.
“Yeah?”
I nodded. Yeah. That was all I wanted.
CHAPTER 13
Four months ago
Alexandria
Ash Riley
Ipopped the tailgate to grab today’s loot from Home Depot but stopped when I felt Nate’s response vibrate in my pocket. Or I assumed it was him.
I checked my phone.
So because Micah and Lily fall asleep early, you won’t celebrate New Year’s with us?
That’s not what I fucking said. Christ. I only meant that because they fell asleep at like nine, there was no use in me sticking around until midnight.
I typed my reply.
I’ll obviously be there for dinner, but I don’t see the point in staying once they’re asleep. Hallie’s gonna spend the night gaming in her room, and Dylan will wander between his laptop, his phone, and the fridge. We’ll do our usual steak dinner, and I’ll pickup sparklers for the kids tomorrow. Do we have the ingredients for the dessert?
In other words, send me a damn grocery list. If I was going to suffer through most of New Year’s with the husband I wasn’t allowed to kiss, I was getting my fucking steak and dessert.
It was the last year we’d be maintaining that tradition. Mixed berry cheesecake served in layers in a wineglass. ’Cause we were fancy like that.
“Howdy, boss!”
I looked up and spotted James coming down his porch steps and zipping up his jacket.
“Well, hey. How was your cruise?” I asked.
I’d learned he and his husband always went on a short cruise between Christmas and New Year’s, and I couldn’t lie. I missed traveling. Nate and I had gone on a few cruises together. We’d only brought the kids once, because it was ridiculously expensive with six people.
All hope wasn’t lost, though. Theo and I were killing it at work. Our business was growing, we never ran out of contracts—except for in January and February; they were slow months—and my next raise was on the horizon already. I might be able to afford a nice vacation with the kids this year.
I needed new traditions in my life. Maybe I’d find a budget-friendly family resort in the Caribbean.
