“Not everyone has parents who give them a choice,” he argues. “Some people have to work hard regardless of what they want.”
I shake my head. “I’m sorry you felt you had to live up to your parents’ standards, but you’re an adult who hasn’t lived under their roof in years. You don’t get to do the same to me by tying my worth to your expectations. I refuse to be trapped in a life that doesn’t bring me joy. If you ever loved me at all, you would have wanted that for me too. Instead, you threw me out because you couldn’t bear to see me happy in moments youweren’t. This was the right decision for us. I can’t imagine raising children with someone who doesn't love and respect me.”
He blanches.
“I hope you got everything you ever wanted—a stable job and a big old 401k to go with it,” I finish.
I’m fuming when I leave him. Struggling to settle the feelings I’ve pushed down in his presence and the conversation we should have had a long time ago. I found more love and respect in the last two months of my life than I was shown for twelve years in the one I shared with him.
I take three deep breaths before I reenter the gym. Everyone’s in full costume and spread across the room. Props are placed and a playground from a magical storybook is what their imaginations created onstage.
It never occurred to me that I’d love this—working with kids—as much as I do. I’ve never understood how anyone is expected to know what they want to do with their life without trying it first.This fulfills meis the thought running through my head as I take in all that those four weeks with these talented kids have accomplished.
“You okay?” Everett asks, leaving Quinn’s side. Blake is slowly rolling her around the gym floor on his skateboard.
I should be honest with him that I’m anything but. I can’t here, though. “I’m fine.”
Everett slides his arms around my waist. It’s the first time he’s touched me in front of Quinn or anyone else. A declaration that I am, in fact, sleeping with my boss, even if I haven’t been nannying as much as I was before he finished his songs. Tears are threatening to surface as I pull away from him. I don’t want Brian to be right about me, and I can’t fall apart in front of everyone.
“You don’t have to pretend you’re okay with me. Youdeserve to be pissed or hurt. The guy tried to bulldoze all of your hard work.”
“He brought Miss Amy in here because he thinks I won’t see this through. And he was right to worry. I’ve walked away before when I didn’t love something. But that’s not what’s happening this time. I can’t explain why working with these kids and spending time with Quinn makes me happier than anything else has.”
He brushes a thumb across my cheek. “If it makes you happy, Summer, it doesn’t have to make sense to anyone else.”
This time when he tries to hold me I let him. I hug him back, and I don’t let go. Because this is what a relationship is supposed to look like—communicating about difficult things rather than skirting them. Showing up for the other person with understanding and support rather than leaving them.
It’s how unconditional love is supposed to feel.
“Will you go on a date with me?”
The sidewalk touching Blake’s house shrinks in the rearview mirror, along with his skateboard on the porch steps where he abandoned it before heading inside. A warm breeze funnels through my rolled-down window post talent show practice. If my hair wasn’t tied back, I’d miss the fine lines that appear around Everett’s eyes in my peripheral view.
He’s surprised. After everything that went down with Brian at the school, I can’t blame him. My sticky cheeks from drying tears are evidence he thought I’d need the night off.
This request is anything but spontaneous. In two days, Everett is leaving on tour. My time with him and Quinn israpidly ending. Sulking over my failed marriage is not how I plan to spend one of my last nights with them.
“Going out? Like… dinner, movie, and a goodnight kiss?” he clarifies.
He tracks my gaze, eyes still fixed on the suspended mirror between us. Quinn’s swinging her feet in the back seat and smiling at a woman bent backward as she clings to a leash attached to her boisterous yellow Lab.
“More like, dinner, dessert, and a bedtime story with Quinn. Considering I’m your babysitter, I was thinking we’d stay in. And I don’t kiss on the first date.”
He fights amusement. “We’ll see about that.”
One of the things I love most about Everett’s and my connection is how unorthodox it is. We don’t play by the traditional rules I did with Brian. He and I both know where this night will end up—in the same place every night this last week has. I still like to mess with him.
“What did you have in mind then?” He reaches across the center console, toying with the frayed hole in my denim shorts.
“I’m still waiting for you to say yes,” I remind him.
I suck in a little breath when the warm pad of his finger comes into contact with my inner thigh.
“Yes, Summer. I’d like to go on a date with you. But I have one request.”
I finally pull my eyes from the road to look at him. His have warmed to a hypnotizing shade of liquid gold. “Anything.”
“Wear the dress.”
