Total pages in book: 122
Estimated words: 115288 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 576(@200wpm)___ 461(@250wpm)___ 384(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115288 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 576(@200wpm)___ 461(@250wpm)___ 384(@300wpm)
This is what I’ve been waiting for, a peek into Gavin’s dating history. How he’s managed relationships prior to me. “Why? What would happen when you dated before?”
He shifts so he’s looking at me, instead of across the room. “She had an opinion on who I should be with, and sometimes she would make it hard for me to go on dates.”
This is new information, and I want more of it so I know what to expect. “How do you mean?”
“She would offer to take Peyton for the night, and then halfway through a date I’d get a call saying Peyton was having a hard time, and she needed me to pick her up. It made it difficult to establish new relationships. And if I hired a babysitter that she didn’t know about, she’d give me a hard time about having someone who wasn’t family watching Peyton.”
I nod slowly, wanting to be careful about how I approach this with him. I know there’s tension between him and his mother-in-law, and based on what he’s told me, it might explain why she’s been so frosty with me in the past. “Did you ever introduce anyone to your in-laws? Or Peyton?”
“Only once,” he says.
“Once?” I can’t hide my surprise. While I understand not wanting to introduce a slew of girlfriends to Peyton, because that would be confusing and challenging should the relationships not work out, one girlfriend in seven years is … not what I expected. “How long did you date for?”
“Before or after the introduction?” He looks away, his jaw tensing.
“Both?”
“We dated for six months before I introduced her to Peyton and my in-laws. We broke up a month later.” He runs his hands down his thighs, like this conversation makes him uncomfortable.
“What happened?” I ask.
“I don’t know that it was any one thing, but Karen didn’t think she was good with Peyton, and she was the first woman I’d been serious about since Marcie passed. I think it was too much for all of us.”
“How old was Peyton?” I ask.
“She was five. She only met her a few times, so she didn’t have time to get attached to her, but she had a daughter too, and she and Peyton got along, so it was still tough. I didn’t want to do that to her or myself again, so I kept my relationships separate after that.”
“Were there many?” This is information I need, not because I’m jealous or prying, but I want a clear idea of the challenges that lie ahead, not just for Gavin, but for Peyton and for me.
He shakes his head. “Only a couple, and they didn’t last very long.”
“Thank you for sharing this with me.” I take his hand in mine, feeling a lot like, despite our age gap, I’m the one with more relationship experience. I haven’t had a lot of boyfriends, or even cohabited with anyone other than my sister, but Gavin has a lot of baggage. He and Marcie were together for nearly a decade, from the start of college until Peyton was born. Since then, he’s only had one girlfriend he deemed worthy of meeting his in-laws and Peyton. That tells me a lot about where he’s at when it comes to relationships.
And it means I’m going to have to be extremely patient with him as we move forward.
“This whole situation is uncharted territory for me, Harley. I know I’ve been holding back when it comes to telling Peyton, but I think we can make a plan to tell her soon.”
“You let me know when you’re ready.”
“Okay.” He slips his hand into my hair and kisses me softly.
I can’t tell if it’s full of apology or need, or both.
* * *
I’m not going to push Gavin to say anything to Peyton until he’s ready. But it grows increasingly difficult when he does things like link our fingers when we’re out in public with her. Or he’ll put his arm across the back of the bench when we’re sitting at the park and she’s playing on the slide or the swings. He’ll absently rub his thumb back and forth on my shoulder, and I’ll have to remind him that we’re not alone.
Individually, those small affections don’t mean much and can be brushed off, but the more they happen, the more Peyton starts to notice, until finally, one day she catches us in the act. Well, not the act, thankfully.
Most Mondays I pick Peyton up from school and take her to the park—it’s our off day at Spark House, or as off as we can reasonably have with everything that’s going on—and it means that Gavin’s parents aren’t on the hook every day of the week. It’s not that they don’t want the time with Peyton, but five days a week of after-school care is a lot to ask of a couple on the verge of retirement, and it gives me and Peyton some bonding time.