It wasn’t the first time that thought had occurred to him, but lately it felt like it could be a reality.
He and Lexi weren’t strangers, and no matter how much she said she didn’t want to look back, they had a past, and it could very well feed into their future. They already knew each other so well that it took away the awkward getting-to-know-you phase. Sure, there were gaps that needed to be filled in—things that shaped them as adults—but who they were at their core was still the same.
Was he rushing things? Maybe. But he’d already had to put his life and things that he wanted on hold in order to appease his family. So now that it was his turn, he was eager to have the life that had been essentially taken away from him.
All the years without her—all the years of thinking about her, all the what ifs—carried him through to where they were today.
“Dad!” Annabeth called out as she ran to him. “I got to pick the movie! This is going to be so much fun!”
Hugging her, he agreed. When Lexi and Jonah caught up, it took every ounce of self-control not to kiss her. They’d been careful not to show that side of their relationship in front of their kids, but hopefully after tomorrow that would change.
“You ready for movie night, buddy?” he asked Jonah.
“Yeah! Annabeth said we’re gonna watch Zootopia!”
“And you like that movie, huh?”
He nodded enthusiastically. “And maybe tomorrow we can watch Zootopia 2!”
Connor ruffled the boy’s hair. “I hear you’re having a boys’ day tomorrow.”
“Uh-huh! And I get to test all the stuff for kids to do!”
“That is so cool!”
Another enthusiastic nod. “But Mom said I’d have to ask Mr. Slater if we can watch another movie.”
“We should do that tomorrow after dinner!” Annabeth chimed in before glancing around. “I’ll ask Harlow and Maisie!” Then she dashed off with Jonah chasing after her, leaving him and Lexi alone.
Stepping in close, he said, “I have a confession to make.”
“Oh, really?”
He nodded. “Uh-huh. I don’t even feel a little bit guilty about the kids asking for even more time and more movies.”
“Can I let you in on a little secret?” she whispered before adding, “I don’t either.”
Unable to resist, he kissed her. “Is it tomorrow yet?”
“Mmm…soon,” she hummed. But before she could say anything else, Harlow and Swati joined them, and that was the moment that his countdown clock began.
Saturday morning, Lexi stared at herself in the full-length mirror and sighed. She was already up in the suite she and Connor were staying in today and trying to calm her nerves.
Everything had gone smoothly so far. The guys had picked up Jonah and had a backpack all set for him and their adventure. They were going to go fishing and hiking and pretty much test every activity they had planned for kids. Walker told her not to expect them to bring him back to the cabin until around ten at night.
“So late?” she asked, concerned because it was only eight in the morning and it seemed like a very long day. “He’s definitely going to need a nap at some point.”
“Don’t worry. We’ve incorporated nap time into our itinerary,” he assured her. “After last night’s movie, Annabeth convinced us to watch Zootopia 2 tonight. I told her we wouldn’t have all the snacks like Connor made last night, so we decided on a movie and s’mores.”
“You guys are really going out of your way for this and…well…thank you.” She felt her cheeks heat because, essentially, they were all going out of their way so she and Connor could have sex, and it just felt weird for so many people to be involved.
“Look, I know when you first agreed to take the job here, you felt very differently about Connor. And if I thought for even a second that this wasn’t what you wanted, I’d do everything in my power to talk you out of it.” He shrugged and smiled. “But it looks like you’re both happy—and frustrated—so it just seemed like the least the rest of us could do was help. Besides, you’ve given us the perfect excuse to run around and play today.”
“Jonah’s very excited about hanging out with all of you. He hasn’t really had a male role model, so this means a lot to both of us.”
“Go and have a good day and know we’ve got everything under control.”
It was weird watching her son walk away and knowing she wouldn’t be seeing him for almost fourteen hours. That had never happened before, and now that it was, it was a relief that she had something to do; otherwise, she’d be freaking out.
