usually higher with cookies.
Hunter:Copy that, commander.
Cookies incoming.
I bit my lip, grinning like an idiot at the screen. Butterflies exploded, wild and insistent. He wasn’t hesitating or stalling. He was saying yes, eagerly. I leaned back in my chair, the weight of what this meant pressing in. This wasn’t just another date. This was me opening the door to the most sacred part of my world, and he was walking through it like he was intent on being there.
Chapter Twenty One
Hunter
Iread her text three times just to make sure I wasn’t imagining it.
Camille:How would you feel about
coming over for dinner this
weekend? Just us and the kids?
My heart kicked as if I’d just been dropped into a cold ocean. Not terror, something sharper, cleaner. The feeling you get right before a plane lifts off and your stomach forgets its job. I’d been wanting this and bracing for it in equal measure for months. Now it was here.
I typed back, “That sounds perfect,” and immediately started second-guessing the wording. Too eager? Not eager enough? Should I have added an emoji? I deleted a salute emoji because that felt… wrong.
Meeting the kids wasn’t a date; it was a test you don’t get to retake. I could feel old training whispering unhelpful procedures: recon the terrain, plan, worst-case scenarios.But this wasn’t that, this was spaghetti night with three tiny humans who might decide I was a good idea… or a bad one.
I grabbed my phone and texted Nate. My buddy from the Corps has 2 kids. I’ve spent enough time with him and his family over the years that his kids now call me Uncle Hunt. His advice wasn’t always dependable; all the guy did was crack jokes. But it was the best I had right now.
Me:You around?
Nate:I’m always around. What’s
the emergency?
Me:I’m meeting her kids Saturday.
Nate:LOL send the address. I need to watch
this go down.
Me:Unhelpful
Nate:I’m kidding. Kind of. Proud of
you, man. You good?
Me:Yeah. Just don’t want to
screw it up.
Nate:Then don’t. Rule 1: don’t try too hard.
Rule 2: if you break Rule 1, bring snacks.
Kids love snacks.
Me:She said cookies.
Nate:Perfect. Also, bring something small
