Page 70 of Until I Have You

“I mean, Dad and Sonia worked out,” Abigail says, acting as though we are the only people in the room, that no one might overhear our conversation.“They’re twenty years apart.”

So are we.

“They’re doing just fine with the age gap, right?”Abigail offers, the slightest hint of a smirk on her lips.

Sonia laughs.“I mean, we have our moments.Have you seen your father trying to use a phone?”

“All right, you don’t need to remind me,” Edwin complains with an eye roll.

I start to open my mouth to reply but stop when I feel something against my calf.

A foot.Abigail’s foot.

She smiles at me.Innocent and placid.

I narrow my eyes at her, my mouth in a thin line.

Your father is right there.

Her smile falters.

We agreed.

Her foot persists up my leg.

I don’t draw away.

Until we’re interrupted by Bonnie cheering as she watches gravy roll down her potato volcano.

“Bonnie, don’t be impolite,” I chastise quickly.

“Sorry, my fault,” Nate says with an apologetic smile.

“Nate’s going to be the fun dad,” Laney, his partner, says, before looking over at herotherpartner, Mason.“Mason will lay down the law.”

Mason rolls his eyes.“I can’t dole out all the consequences.”

To add further distraction, baby Alanna starts wailing, which scares Emma, and she starts crying too.

Liam reaches out and spills a glass of water.

Suddenly, everyone at the table is in an absolute tizzy, moving things around, trying to calm babies, squabbling about spills.

It’s as good a time as any for me to get up and collect myself.

“Bathroom,” I mutter and excuse myself out of the dining room and down the hall to the bathroom where I splash cold water on my face, hold onto the sink, and hang my head in shame.

“You’re stronger than this,” I say to myself.

I’ve been to hell and back.Been through worse.

So, why does Abigail Lyons have me clutched in temptation with one smile?One touch?

“She doesn’t.”

From the moment I met her, she’s been a distraction from my work, from the dower of the past few years.Something bright.Something new.It’s a fixation, something that will pass with time.I can survive it.

If I choose to.

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