He kisses me again.“I wish I was going with you.”
“You have a game tomorrow.Besides, you need to get more boo-boos for me to kiss.”I place a quick kiss on his lips and move to stand, but he tightens his arms around me, not letting me.
“Another.”I kiss him, and Tanner squeals.When I go to move, he doesn’t set me free.“Another.”
“East.”I hook my hand around the back of his neck and kiss him hard enough to steal whatever smart remark he had waiting.When we finally separate, I’m still close enough to feel the heat of him.“Happy?”
“In front of our son?Jeez, do you have no self-control?”
I slap his shoulder and get up.This time he lets me, laughing the entire time.
“Mommy can’t get enough of Daddy,” he tells Tanner.
“Man, you get the green light, and you go from zero to sixty.”I shake my head at him.
“Don’t pretend you don’t know the man you married.”
I stand in the kitchen and watch him leisurely give Tanner little pieces of sandwich.For a man who was so closed off to commitment, Easton sure knows how to love freely.Isn’t that the problem with both of us?We both jump into things without thinking about the consequences until they hit us right in the face.
ChapterFifty-Four
Easton
The minute our game gets rescheduled due to weather, I ask Callie if she can keep watching Tanner so I can meet Hadley at her friend’s grandma’s funeral.I’m sure her mom is at her side right now, lobbing one passive-aggressive insult after another.
I want to show Hadley that I can be present.Sure, my schedule sucks and she’s practically raising our kid on her own some weeks, but there are times the universe is on our side and we can be a normal couple.Attending a funeral together, hand in hand, my shoulder there for her to lean on.
Callie happily agrees, joking that Tanner loves his girlfriend, Ellis.I joke back that he would be the stud to nail an older girl.
In the Uber, I send Hadley a quick message.
Game delayed until tomorrow.I’ll be there in twenty minutes.
I’m thankful that last night we discussed the details of the funeral, so I know the exact funeral home where it’s happening.
The rain slows down traffic, pounding on the windshield and spraying up from the tires.
I didn’t expect an answer from Hadley since I’m sure she has her phone silenced, but what I thought would be twenty minutes takes forty minutes.I try to remind myself that any time is better than none.
The Uber stops outside the funeral home, and the parking lot is full, the street parking nonexistent.This woman must’ve really been loved.
I thank the driver, pay, and tip him on the app, then put my phone in the inside pocket of my suit and walk up to the doors.
A lot of people, most of them elderly, fill the lobby.Hadley isn’t there, nor her mom.
None of the elderly people even give me a second glance.They’re all sitting on couches and chairs, some on their walkers, too engrossed in their conversations to care about me.Thank goodness.
I go to the viewing room, and the casket sits at the front, one end open.
I scan the room for Hadley.Then I see her in a small circle in the back of the room with her mom, Sloane, and Whit.The entire Hargrove family has shown up.They’re all in black, all impeccably dressed with not one hair out of place.
Margot’s eyes lift, probably clocking everyone who walks into the room.I don’t know her that well, but she seems like the kind of person who can find an opportunity even in a room full of grief.It’s really shitty that I lack any love for my mother-in-law.She touches Hadley’s hand and nods in my direction.
This is the entire reason I came.Her.
Hadley sees me and her lips tip in a smile, her tense shoulders relaxing.
God, I love that I give her that look.
