“They felt broken.”
As I watched them, I wrapped both hands around my coffee cup and lifted it closer to my face to hide my smile.God, he looks so happy, standing there beside my daughters.
Lu rolled the scooter the last few feet to the house, but honestly, I was a little distracted by the look of him as he straightened up again and came toward me. For one fleeting second I thought he was going to walk right over like he used to. I suddenly remembered with painful clarity what it had felt like to touch him after workouts when we were younger, when he had pressed that hard body right up against mine and laid a kiss on me that would always leave me breathless.
There was this smug, stupid, sexy grin he used to give me whenever he caught me staring.The things that grin used to do to me.
Meanwhile, I was standing there in yesterday’s leggings and without even having brushed my teeth yet. Jennifer narrowed her eyes at me. “Mommy?”
“Hmm.”
“What are you staring at?”
I blinked hard and averted my gaze, swinging it toward her instead. “Nothing. Just making sure your sister is still in one piece.”
Zach coughed suspiciously into his hand, clearly hiding a laugh. I ushered everyone back inside before I embarrassed myself further. I distracted the girls with breakfast and the promise of the swimming pool afterward. At least that worked.
Lu studied me as she sat at the counter, precisely where she’d been told, without any argument at all. “Can we swim right after we eat?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?” she asked.
I shot her a smile as I lifted the plate of pancakes out of the warming drawer. “Until one of you turns blue.”
The girls started arguing over their pancakes about who would turn blue first while Bear hovered close enough to be remembered in the event that someone wanted to feed him a bite. Zach drank two enormous glasses of water, looking annoyingly good for someone who’d apparently run several miles.
“How are you not tired?” I finally asked.
He shrugged. “Endurance, or have you forgotten that I’m naturally athletic?”
I snorted before I could stop the sound from coming out.
Zach pumped his eyebrows at me. “I was wondering if you’d still laugh at my bad jokes.”
Heat crept into my cheeks.
Thankfully, Amber walked in, drawing everyone’s attention to her. She said hi and turned to look at the girls. “I know it’s a long shot, but I’m driving back to Milwaukee today to explore. Would you like to come with me?”
“There’s a water slide at the pool,” Jennifer said slowly. “Why don’t you come swimming with us?”
She sighed. “Okay, I see how it is. Thank you for the invitation, but I’m going to stick to exploring. I found the most awesome looking shops online last night. Maybe I’ll swim with you tomorrow?”
Lu’s entire face twisted like she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You want to goshoppingwhen there’s awater slide?”
“Yes,Lauren,” Amber said, emphasizing her name with a slight smile before coming over to ruffle her hair. “I’m going shopping over playing in the billionaire’s private water park. Such a waste.”
“Shopping or the water park?” Zach asked. “Because if you’re talking about shopping, I agree.”
“I was referring to the fact that you have a water park and you probably haven’t even thought about opening it up to local kids to enjoy.”
She backed out of the kitchen then, wiggling her fingers in a wave on her way out the door. Zach stared after her, his head shaking before he glanced at me. “She’s never going to come around, is she?”
“Her wounds are deep,” I said quietly, glad that the girls had already gotten back to loudly trying to decide who was going down the slide first. “I am sorry, though.”
“No need.” He shook his head again before grinning at the girls. “I’m going to beat you both to the pool.”
They shrieked their protests in unison, both of them bolting off the stools and thundering upstairs while he laughed and tookoff in their wake. I followed after them, my coffee now cold but still in my hand.
