Page 162 of Five Summers

“There are a few things I should have asked already,” I state, placing my glass back on the table.

“Such as?” she says, wiping her fingers on her napkin.

“You never got the chance to pursue your dreams like I did,” I remark.

“No, I didn’t. But I wouldn’t change the outcome because it gave me our beautiful little boy,” she responds.

Her words bring tears to my eyes.

“I regret not talking to you that night when I called. I really wish I had,” I confess.

“We can’t change what’s happened, Xander. But I don’t understand why you called me but you wouldn’t talk,” she questions.

“Because I knew I’d hurt you. I understood I wasn’t good for you.”

“That’s not true, Xander. You’ve always been good enough. I just wish you could see that.”

“I truly believed that what I did was for the best.”

“But I needed you.”

“I get that now,” I add, watching her pick up two fries and put them into her mouth. “I’ve mentioned that I’m in, and I mean it.”

“Yeah, I still don’t know what exactly that means,” she says, shifting her focus on her plate.

I extend my hand, softly gripping her chin and guiding her face back to me. “It means I want a life with you and Alex. I want the family we’ve created. I want it all.” She gulps when she hears what I’m saying. “You’re my one and only, Poppy. I wanna get to know my son and be his dad. I want us to be a family. If you’ll have me, then I want to give you and Alex the world. I have the means to do that now.”

“Xander,” she whispers.

My heart pounds in my chest, filled with the overwhelming fear that she might reject my plea. At that moment, my lungs tighten, making each breath feel like a struggle, but I push through. “I can't get rid of the regret I have for leaving you. But what I really want is a future with you and Alex. Just tell me you want it to.”

“I do want it, Xander. Of course, I want that.”

“Then let me take care of you and Alex. Let me do what I should have done all those years ago. Let me do that for the both of you.”

She gazes up at me with misty eyes and nods. “I would love that.” Leaning forward, she kisses me, and if Walter weren’t about to join us any minute, if we were alone, I would solidify my promise by having her naked on this table, savoring her instead of finishing the half-eaten burger still on my plate.

I keep my eyes on her as she turns back and picks up her burger.

“Promise you’ll do something for me, Princess,” I add.

“What’s that?” she asks.

“Do you still want that dream you spoke about?”

“To run a music academy to help disabled children.”

“Yes.”

“Of course. One day maybe, I’ll get a chance to do that,” she says, before finishing what’s left of her burger.

“Is that why you agreed to do this job? Was the money going towards something like that?”

“No. It was to buy a home so Alex and I could move to somewhere better than where we currently live.”

Her words hit me harder than a punch. While I’ve been living a comfortable life, I never even considered what her life has been like raising my son on her own.

“Damn it, Poppy. Is that what you were referring to earlier with that remark about run-down apartments?”

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