“We could have done that too,” he said. “I could have made it for you. I hate that you’re cooking now.”
“Don’t. I wanted to do this and I like not being alone right now.”
He pulled her next to his body, their chests hitting. “I like not being alone too.”
His mouth slanted over hers, the heat of his body relaxing her, her arms going around his neck.
Their lips were hungry for each other, their tongues tasting what her body was craving but telling her she needed to keep it all in check for now.
Their time would come, when she was ready.
And three hours later, she was getting ready for bed. Alone.
Dinner had been nice. They’d watched an action flick with the lights off, her under his arm like she had done when they were teens.
They didn’t make out like they had back then. Rather, they watched the movie, had some snacks, and he left, giving her one more scorching kiss to keep her more awake than tired even though her body was exhausted.
The minute she pulled the covers back, her phone rang. She thought it was Archer and leaned over to grab it, saw it was Tucker and decided to get this over with.
He never called at what she considered appropriate times.
“Hello,” she said.
“It’s Tucker.”
“I know,” she said. “Your name comes up.”
She didn’t understand why he always had to say his name.
“I’m calling to let you know the two weeks I want Archer.”
She scrunched her nose and tried not to grind her teeth. It didn’t work that way. He didn’t get to call and say when. They worked it out and if he canceled like he often did, she had the right to decline another week.
But she never wanted Archer to get upset if he couldn’t see his father and she didn’t want to be the one blamed for no relationship between them.
In her eyes, her ex did a good enough job of ruining that on his own.
“When is that?”
“I looked up when school ends, I’ll take him that Saturday and bring him back two weeks later on the following Saturday.”
“So June thirteenth and you’ll return him on the twenty-seventh?” she asked as she looked at the calendar on her phone. “You’ll have him for Father’s Day this year too.”
“That’s right. We’ll go to Florida then. Or maybe I’ll take him to Disneyland in California.”
“He’ll be thrilled either way,” she said. “But I’ll hold off telling him just yet.”
Tucker sighed. “I’m not going to cancel again.”
He said that all the time, but he normally didn’t cancel on the rescheduled date. “Just the same, I don’t want his hopes up to only get squashed again. It’s still two months away at this point.”
“You always do whatever you want anyway, but the next time I talk to him I’ll bring it up.”
“As you should,” she said. But it’s not like Tucker talked to Archer much so it’d still be another month, she was positive. The most Tucker did was email Archer that he replied to on his iPad.
She promised him a phone for his tenth birthday, but maybe she’d do it before his trip with his father. Archer was a wild child but responsible with his electronics.
Just another thing to add to her list of things to do.
