“Thanks,” he said. “I will.”
“Good. Let me show you around some. Then while you and Archer hang out, I can get that together and in the oven.”
They moved through the first floor of the house; the back was open into the family room with a dining room off to the side. Her office was in the front that she rarely used. Just a place to paybills and keep documents more than anything. Tucker had the front of the house for him. His office and den across from it.
They went upstairs to a loft where Archer watched movies and TV when he wanted, had some toys there and hung out with friends also. His room and two others were there with a bathroom.
She’d bypassed her primary on the first floor off the kitchen. Jayce didn’t need to know that, it wasn’t as if she opened all the doors to the bedrooms upstairs. Only Archer’s was open, with the bathroom next to it.
“Mom, are you done with Jayce now?” her son asked, his voice pleading. “I want to play games.”
“You two do that while I put dinner together. Once it’s in the oven then I’ll come back and join you.”
“We can kick Mom’s butt,” Archer said.
“Or we could find something we are all good at,” Jayce said. “Maybe take turns doing things.”
“I like to throw the ball long. I can do that while you and Mom catch outside.”
“Sounds like a win to me,” he said. “What do you say, Mom?”
The adorable grin on Jayce’s face matched with her son’s pleading hands melted her heart. A vision she’d always dreamed of when having a family, and one she never got.
Seeing it now only brought frustration and annoyance.
She wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to open herself up again to anyone, least of all someone with a proven record of not sticking.
7
ON BOARD FOR IT
“Iwon again,” Archer shouted.
Jayce thought he was better at video games than he was, but he was used to different games than Archer was playing when he had time.
His games weren’t best for an eight-year-old though.
So football it was, which had never been his sport.
“You did,” he said.
“And I think you’ve had enough screen time for today,” Farrah said, coming back into the room.
His eyes landed on her body, his glance lingering more than it should. She caught it, dipped her head, gave a soft smile and then returned her attention to her son.
Did he remember her legs being that long before?
Yeah, he did. Might have had some not so clean memories of them wrapped around him as a teen while they made out on the couch. But they were fantasies.
Even long after they’d broken up and decided to just be friends, he still dreamed about her body against his.
He wondered if she’d struggled as much as him to step back from those two months of closeness they’d had.
Though they hadn’t had sex, he had gone to third base with her. Felt the most intimate parts of her body and had spent the past week dreaming of it again.
He had no right to do that. He knew.
But Farrah standing there in baggy jeans and a fitted purple T-shirt, showing off the athletic body he remembered she had wasn’t helping him either.
