Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 60530 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 303(@200wpm)___ 242(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60530 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 303(@200wpm)___ 242(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
“Want to help me make coffee?” I offer her. She enjoys doing the “adult things,” so of course she nods vigorously. Sitting her on the counter, she heads right for the coffee filters.
“I know what to do,” she tells me and my confident little girl gets going while I do my best to keep smiling for her. We count the scoops of coffee together.
With each scoop, I try to ignore the hammering of thoughts in the back of my mind. I don’t want the past to be cleared away, or anything like that. I would never want to forget Robert. How could I ever forget him?
Ping. My phone goes off just as Bridget is stirring in creamer.
“Down you go,” I tell her and she runs off to go play after I promise to make her pancakes.
It’s a message from Brody. My smile comes easier reading such a little thing: Good morning, beautiful.
Just thinking of Brody makes my heart hum in this delicious way. I make the pancakes I promised, texting him all the while.
He makes me smile. He makes me laugh. He makes me want to share everything with him … except the thoughts of Robert.
With a burst of courage, I ask him if he wants to go to lunch. It seems like the perfect way to mark the occasion, which is that we’re together. Together, together. I wonder if it’ll feel like a special occasion forever.
I hope it does.
Are you asking me out on a date? he texts and I huff a small laugh.
“What’s funny?” Bridget questions me, a chunk of pancake speared on her fork.
I wonder what she’ll think of him. There are so many obstacles still to come.
I’m going to take Bridget out, I message Brody. So it’ll be the three of us for lunch.
He was so careful around Bridget when I made lasagna. He was quiet, awkward even but then again, so was I. This morning enough weight has been lifted from my shoulders to step into the next part of this. Bridget needs time to meet her father and really get to know him, and Brody needs time with her too. Not with Renee and Griffin. Today is as good a day as any, if he’s up for it.
He’s more than up for it. Brody messages back without letting a second pass that of course, wherever we want to go is fine. There’s an undertone of affection with his message that heats up my chest. Taking my two ladies out to town sounds like the perfect way to spend the day.
We have a morning of cartoons during which my mind is occupied with a million possibilities, and then we pick out “almost matching” blue dresses to wear, according to Bridget. Technically she’s in a Snow White dress and I’m wearing a simple navy number, but I go along with what she says and we head downtown to meet Brody. The Blue Sail is a place we don’t go often, but I know Bridget loves the menu and they have little coloring books that will keep her butt in a seat longer than other places.
Normally, I have to eat quickly, but for this … I want us to have time.
My heart picks up the moment I see him, as if it’s racing me to the restaurant. Brody is waiting for us out front on the sidewalk in a pair of jeans and a white button-down that makes his tanned skin seem even tanner. The sight of him makes my heart go pitter-patter. He has the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and looks so perfectly casual and strong. Stubble that leaves a light burn on my skin when we kiss covers his chin.
But the best part is the way his whole face lights up when he sees us. “You look beautiful.” He bends down and kisses my cheeks, and Bridget pulls on my hand.
“Am I beautiful?” she chimes in, twisting on her feet a bit.
Brody’s eyes go wide. “The most beautiful little princess I’ve ever seen.”
Brody’s eyes follow every movement of her face as Bridget lifts a pudgy hand to touch his chin. “You’re poky.” She scrunches up her nose and he laughs. His laugh makes her smile, her biggest grin, and the three of us go into the restaurant floating on that feeling.
It’s just too good to be true. Nervousness makes me feel like the other shoe is bound to drop.
It gets more real as we take a booth in the front. Bridget tucks herself in by my side and Brody sits across from us. “My mom’s headed to the airport today.” Brody looks into my eyes although his fingers fidget with the napkin wrapped around the silverware, and I see more of that guarded longing. He wants this as much as I do. “She’ll want to meet Bridget before she goes.”