“Maybe she’ll stick around.”
“I’d never ask her to.”
Evie shrugged.“Maybe if she knew you wanted her to, she would.Her best friend is here.What is she going back to?”
I opened my mouth to tell her, but realized I didn’t know.
Evie’s phone buzzed, and she looked down at it, then hugged me.“Katie’s here.I love you, Dad.Have fun.”
“You, too,” I said before she ran out the door and I realized she was leaving so Reegan and I could have time alone.
My kid was way smarter than I knew.
I chuckled as I returned to the table where Reegan was stacking dishes.“You don’t have to clean up.”
She smiled at me.“You cooked.It’s the least I can do.”
I grabbed the leftover dishes and carried them to the island to make it easier to put things away.“Evie adores you.”
“The feeling is mutual.She’s a great kid.”
I stopped her before she was able to get out of the kitchen.I pulled her into my arms and kissed her softly.“I adore you, too.”
“That feeling is mutual, too,” she whispered.
“Good.”I kissed her again, getting bolder with a sweep of my tongue through her mouth.
She held onto me, her hands sliding up my arms.She groaned when I flexed, her nails digging into my muscles.“You are dangerous to my sanity.”
“That feeling is mutual, too,” I parroted her words.
She chuckled.Our gazes met and held.I saw all sorts of things in her eyes.Questions she wanted to ask, things she wanted to know, maybe even a hint of the same feelings I’d been fighting to keep buried.
I wanted to kiss away all her worries, love her until she didn’t have anything to worry about, but she spun out of my grasp and went to the table.
Something was there.Something she was afraid to say to me.I wanted to know what it was, but until she was ready to say it, I knew I wouldn’t find out.
We cleaned up the kitchen in tandem.Dirty dishes went into the dishwasher.Leftovers were packed up and put in the fridge.When there was nothing left to do, I turned to Reegan again.
“I don’t want kids,” she blurted before I could say anything.
“Um, okay?”
She exhaled a long breath.“I… My last relationship… He wanted kids, and I didn’t.I told him I’d think about it, but I was scared to let go of him.Of us.We’d been together for years, and…”
“Flying without him was hard?”I asked, using her words.
She smiled sadly.“Yeah.It was.Very hard.But it was wrong of me to hold on to him for as long as I did.I told myself there was something wrong with me for not being excited about kids.I’m a teacher.It’s almost a requirement.But I’ve always been reluctant to have my own kids.Landon… My ex.He pushed me to move our relationship forward.After three years, he wanted me to move in with him.I… I couldn’t do it.I signed a new lease on my apartment without telling him.He broke up with me.I deserved it.I don’t blame him for doing what I didn’t have the strength to do.”
“I did the same thing with my marriage,” I confessed.“I knew Hannah was all wrong for me after about a year.She wasn’t the person I thought she was.But I blamed myself.I asked her to move here.I convinced myself she would see the same things I did in this town, but she never wanted to be a part of it.She wanted a kid, and I thought that would make her happy, so we had Evie.For a little while, things were better, but…”
“It still wasn’t right.”
“Yeah.I am the reason she’s unhappy.If she’d never moved here, she might have had a better life.”
“But you love Evie?”
“I do.God, more than anything.She’s my entire world.”
