Page 103 of Her Football Star Ex

He studied the ground, his jaw working for a moment. “Even when it’s a third or fourth chance?”

“Yes, Vincent.” I nodded. “Sometimes even then.”

* * *

The next fewweeks found me in a new normal—one that the longer it went on, the more attached to it I became.

Work was the same as usual, hard and monotonous sometimes, exhilarating on other times, but it was my evenings that had become my real joy—my evenings which I very rarely spent alone anymore since whenever I dropped off Jaxon at his dad’s place, I usually ended up hanging out with them until bedtime.

And on the days I had Jaxon, we still ended up either going over to Vincent’s place, bringing some takeout with us, or he and Evelyn would come hang out at our house and Vincent and I would cook together, trading off who held the baby if she was fussy.

It was like living my dream day every day.

And I never wanted it to end.

So when Vincent asked me if I wanted to go on a stroll with him one sunny spring evening when Arianna and Cole offered to watch Jaxon and Evelyn, I said yes.

When he tried to hold my hand as we walked down the sidewalk in the park, I let him. And that night, when he walked me to my door and gave me a tender kiss on the cheek, I went inside and relived the sweet moment over and over again, just bursting with pure joy because I was so happy.

So incredibly happy.

But even though I was so happy, I was also scared. Because it almost seemed too good to be true—that I could be on the cusp of everything I ever wanted: Having the man I had fallen in love with again love me back. Having the cutest son in the whole wide world call me Mom. Having the career and the home of my dreams.

And…if everything worked out in the way I was starting to dream it would…to have a daughter, too.

To be Evelyn’s mom.

And so along with all the good things I had going in my life…I was so scared that it could all be taken away from me in a second. Because I had learned from past experiences that just when you thought everything was going your way, it usually meant the universe was getting ready to drop another bomb on you.

And I really,reallydidn’t want anything to mess us up this time.

* * *

“Thanks for having us over,”Vincent said, standing from my couch one night after he and Evelyn had come over for dinner and a movie with Jaxon and me.

Jaxon had conked out on the loveseat a while ago with a blanket pulled over him. And I’d spent the movie nestled under Vincent’s muscular arm as I cradled his sweet baby girl, just loving her warm and snuggly body against me as she slept.

“It was nice,” I said, looking up at him. “I’m glad you two could come over.”

“Me too.” He grabbed Evelyn’s car seat from the rug and set it on the couch next to me so I could slip her into it for her drive home.

And even though I wanted to hold her for a little longer, I slipped her out of her blanket and eased her from my arms and into her car seat.

And as I strapped her in and covered her again with the purple blanket, I couldn’t help but think it would be so much nicer to simply say goodnight instead of goodbye after nights like these.

Once Evelyn was secured, Vincent took her car seat by the handle and I walked him to the front door.

And as we walked to the place where we’d be saying goodbye again for what was becoming more times than I wanted to count, a swelling filled my chest. A swelling that had been growing stronger and stronger as the weeks had gone by.

And I may not have consciously thought about it until this moment, but I knew what that feeling meant.

It meant that I loved him.

I loved Vincent.

He turned back to me before opening the door, and when our eyes locked, I wondered if he could see on my face all the emotions that revelation filled me with.

“Well, I better get going,” he said as I was just trying to figure out how to tell him what I felt. “It’s late.”

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