“’Bye!” shouted Shane good and loud because Josh kept the back windows safety-locked.
“Bye!” Dillon and Riley called out in unison.
Shane didn’t stop waving until they turned the corner and left Adams Street behind. “Dad?”
“Hmm?”
“When can Dillon come stay over at our house?”
“You just had a sleepover at his house and he’s coming over with Riley on Friday for my birthday, remember? Plus, you’ll be seeing him all week at daycare.” Josh glanced in the rearview.
Shane was deep in thought. “So can he sleep over on your birthday? I like it when he sleeps over.”
“Shane, it’s been three minutes since we left Dillon’s house.”
“But Ican, right—have Dillon at my house for a sleepover?”
“Of course you can.”
“So can he stay Friday night?”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Oh, Dad…” With a heavy sigh, Shane leaned back in his booster seat and stared dreamily out the window.
They drove the rest of the way home in silence. Josh thought about Riley. Lately, she was all he thought about. She was in his head and in his heart.
He wanted more from her than she ever intended to give again. For a month now, he’d been telling himself he needed to accept her decision, that she’d made her choice and he wasn’t it.
But now he kept thinking of last night, of the two of them on her sofa, nice and cozy for hours and hours. Of waking up that morning with her right there, sound asleep on his lap.
He wanted that—the two of them, together in that perfect, beautiful everyday way. He wanted to spend his nights in the same bed with her and his days working hard to make a good life for her and their kids.
Yeah, she’d turned him down. She’d dealt a hard blow to both his heart and his pride. But his heart could take the pain.
As for pride, any fool would tell you that pride never kept anyone warm at night.
Chapter Ten
Monday, Riley stopped in at Big Country Grocery before picking up Dillon from daycare. She was standing in the bread aisle trying to decide between whole wheat and seven-grain when she glanced up and spotted Lenore. Josh’s ex was pushing a full cart and coming her way.
“Hi!” Riley said. She’d meant to sound friendly, but somehow it came out shrill and borderline frantic.
Lenore wheeled her cart to a stop next to Riley’s. “Hello, Riley. How are you doing?”
“Uh, great. Fine. Trying to decide what bread to buy…”
Glancing from the loaf in Riley’s left hand to the one in her right, Lenore advised, “Your call, but I like the plain whole wheat. The seven grains always end up stuck in my teeth.”
Riley smiled and nodded. “Good point.” She put the seven-grain back on the shelf as another shopper carefully maneuvered around her cart and then Lenore’s.
Lenore said, “You know, I think it’s getting kind of silly not to say anything about the baby. So I guess…congratulations?”
Riley put her hand on her growing belly. “Thanks,” she said.
It wasn’t a bad moment. Lenore didn’t seem the least hostile. Maybe she really was moving on with her life.
But then, out of nowhere, she announced, “Listen, Riley. Josh has always had a thing for you. I just know he would marry you in a hot minute—and as for you, wake up. It’s so obvious you’re in love with him. What are you waiting for? Just pull the trigger already and marry the guy.”
