Page 104 of Her Football Star Ex

And even though the words were just on the tip of my tongue, I instead said, “Yeah, it is late.”

Come on, Emerson. Just spit out the words.

But when he stepped closer and kissed me on the forehead like he’d been doing a lot lately, I lost my nerve.

Admitting that I loved him after everything we’d been through was scary.

So instead of putting myself out there, I went with the safe option and avoided the scary conversation once again. “I’ll see you soon.”

He must not have picked up on the sudden turmoil swirling through me, because he simply gave me one more meaningful look—the kind of look that sent sparks through my whole body—and then opened the door to leave.

I leaned against the door frame and watched him walk to his truck in the driveway, and as he set Evelyn in the backseat, I knew that if I wanted to become a family again with that man I was so desperately in love with, I would be the one who’d need to make the grand gesture.

I’d need to lay everything out there and hope Vincent wanted to take a leap with me.

41

Vincent

Emerson:Jaxon and I thought it would be fun to have a picnic in the back yard on Saturday afternoon. Think you can come? I’d love to run some things by you.

I looked at the text for about the hundredth time since Emerson had sent it to me on Monday. Even though I’d had all week to think about what she might want to run by me, I had no idea what it could be.

Okay, so that was a lie. I definitely had a few ideas of what it might be…I just didn’t know if I should get too attached to any of them.

So on Saturday, after Evelyn woke up from her morning nap, I loaded her into the backseat of my truck and drove across town to the house I had been spending more and more time at recently. I hoped this picnic would go well.

She wouldn’t have me come over just to call off whatever had been going on between us the past several weeks, would she?

I really hoped not.

My heart was in my throat as Evelyn and I waited for Emerson to answer her door. When she appeared in the entryway, wearing the same pink sundress she’d worn in the photo sitting on my nightstand with her hair cascading in curls around her face, she took my breath away.

“Hi,” she said, looking up at me with those big green eyes of hers. “I’m glad you could make it.”

“Thanks for inviting us over.” I smiled nervously, still not sure what exactly to expect. “Sorry I didn’t dress up more.”

She took in my blue-and-green plaid button-up and jeans and smiled. “You look great.” Then she turned to Evelyn who I had managed to dress in a pink-and-white striped dress with a bow on her head and said, “And you look adorable little Miss Evelyn.”

She gave Evelyn’s hand a gentle squeeze and my heart warmed with her greeting.

She really had accepted my daughter with so much more grace than I ever could have expected. It was amazing.

“Jaxon is already out back,” she said. “So if you two want to follow me, we can start eating.” She gestured for us to follow her, and as we did, I took her in.

She really was the most beautiful woman I had ever met. And if she hadn’t avoided the conversation of what we were to each other every time I tried to bring it up, I would have been down on one knee again in a heartbeat.

Well, you know…if I wasn’t scared to death that she’d reject me.

We stepped onto the back porch. When Jaxon saw us, he came running toward me, giving me a hug around the legs. “Hi, Daddy!”

I smiled and patted him on the head. “Hey, bud. How are you?”

“I’m good.” He gave me a big, toothy smile. “Mom made dinosaur sandwiches.”

Before I could even respond, he grabbed my hand and started pulling me toward the grass where they had laid out the green-and-white quilt that, several weeks and a lifetime ago, I had told Emerson was the thing I’d keep to remember her by.

“You get to sit here.” Jaxon pointed to one of the corners of the blanket. “Baby Evelyn goes here.” He touched the back of the booster chair that had been his when he was a baby. “And Mommy sits here.” He pointed to a spot next to where he’d told me to sit. And then he took a seat on the other side of the quilt.

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