But I was wildly elated when, for the first time sinceforever, our child was right there when Darius said it back.
“Love you too, baby.”
Happy…
Cloud…
Ofgoodness.
Darius got his son fed, and his woman, and Liam took off tothe field.Darius and I followed later, and there was only a bit ofuncomfortableness when Miss Dorothea joined Darius, my mom and dad, Lena, Toni,Tony, Talia and me (Kenneth didn’t do sports).
But she smiled brightly at us and kissed my cheek.
So I guessed it was water under the bridge, and I was gladfor it.
And one could say I was fuckingecstaticthatLiam’s cheer block was expanding.
Second best to our night at Carmine’s?(Okay, third best,after our first breakfast together.)
Sitting beside Darius, watching our boy play ball.
I’d never forget that either.
Not a second of it.
By the way, our team won, and Liam scored a touchdown.
So, yes.
Walking toward Fortnum’s after breakfast number three withmy kid and my man, this meal longer, more laid-back, with all of us cookingtogether and eating together and lingering over coffee and giving each otherstick and cleaning up together, I was walking on air.
We turned the corner to the door to Fortnum’s that wasangled there, and I suddenly couldn’t wait to walk into my past that was alsomy future.
I shot Toni a bright smile that had her eyebrows reachingfor her hairline before I pushed in, and the familiar sound of the bell overthe door rang.
But once I got inside, I stopped dead.
Toni stopped dead beside me.
And we stared.
She was the first to break the silence.
And she did this by drawling, “Welllllll…shit.”
ChapterSixteen
Swatches
Things had changed over the years at Fortnum’s.
There was an espresso bar against the side wall where thetables and chairs with the games had been back in the day.
There were new, but still worn-in and comfortable couchesand armchairs scattered around, with some tables and chairs at the front.
And there were a lot more patrons than there used to be, andalthough some high-school-aged kids were there, they were no longer themajority.
But the field of books stretched off to the back just likethey used to, and that musty smell I remembered so well mingled with coffeefilled the air, permeating me with nostalgia.
