“Pickles didn’t get the memo about the unwritten rule,” I comment as I watch them.
“Relax,” Spencer assures me.
My eyes meet his gaze. “You have some great photos. You're such a natural in front of the camera, Hadley too. She must get that from you.”
“It must run in our blood.”
His lips twitch for a second, but whatever thought is in his mind, he ignores it as he tips me back for a deep kiss. Clearly, my surprise was a success.
* * *
Sitting on the sofa,we just put Hadley to bed and are ready to look at a few unedited photos that the photographer sent.
“She is fucking adorable,” Spencer proudly states as he sees the first photo where Hadley is hanging off the branch of a tree.
“Boys will go wild for her when she's older.”
“Not on my watch,” he warns while he slides his thumb across the screen.
“You can pick a few to blow up and frame. The rest we can make into a photo book. You must have a photo book of Hadley somewhere from when she was a baby.”
Spencer doesn’t look up. “Somewhere. I love this one.” He holds the phone up to display the photo of him showing her the baseball while they were on the dock.
“Thought you would.”
“My mom will go crazy for this.”
“We’ll make sure they get a copy.”
We both pause when we see a photo of just the two of us. It almost scares me how natural and happy we look.
“Not bad.”
He gives me a pointed look. “This is a keeper.”
I don’t say anything, instead watch him swipe to the last photo and nearly gasp. It’s all three of us, and I have butterflies in my stomach. It’s confronting, but in a good way. My eyes land on a perfect photo of a family of three. Three people who seem immensely happy. It fills my soul with hope.
“A good memory,” he notes as his thumb traces the screen.
“A keeper,” I repeat his words from before.
But I don’t want us to get too sentimental. Maybe we should slow down, but I don’t want to. I should, considering my history, but everything feels so right.
I bounce off the couch because a million thoughts are floating in my head. Walking to the wall of baseball photos again, I cross my arms.
Spencer is fast behind me, his arms wrapping around me from behind.
“You okay?”
“Totally,” I lie.
He kisses my cheek as we both look forward, yet neither one of us seems to be looking at anything in particular. “Thank you for today. It was unexpected yet exactly what we needed. Sometimes I forget that a photo can be the proof. I actually look like a good father in the photos.”
“You shouldn’t have doubts.” But he does, I sense it sometimes. He is confident about everything, except slightly shaky when it comes to his daughter.
We stand there in an embrace for a good minute, just holding one another.
“High school you was kind of hot,” I say, breaking the ice, my head indicating to the photo.
