Page 99 of Skylar

If God answered her prayer, she’d be there to witness the big events. Graduations, her wedding, her baby or babies. Skylar wanted to be there for all of that.

But she also wanted to be able to tell her what a good job she’d done coloring a picture. She wanted to watch as she learned to ride her bike. As she improved in her skating. Skylar wanted to be in the audience when Shiloh searched the crowd. She wanted to see the smile bloom on her face when she spotted her.

She wanted as much as she could have in her role as Shiloh’s birth mom.

Unfortunately, she wouldn’t be able to have hardly any of that if she stayed in Vegas.

If the ache in her heart was anything to go by, it was perhaps time to consider that change lay in her future.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Aiden leaned back in the booth he was seated in, patting his stomach as he did. “That was delicious.”

Devon nodded and mirrored Aiden’s position from his spot across the table. “I thought we deserved a celebration after what we’ve had to deal with in this project.”

“I can’t believe they finally signed off on it,” Aiden said with a sigh. “I was beginning to wonder if we were going to end up with our first stalemate.”

“I’m just glad they finally accepted that they couldn’t have everything they wanted. We’re not above the regulations of the city and state.”

“And now we move forward.”

The past week had been stressful, and yet also fulfilling with regards to his career.

He couldn’t say the same about things between him and Skylar. For some reason, after they’d texted earlier in the week, he hadn’t heard anything further from her. Which was odd since they’d been texting pretty much every day prior to that.

Unfortunately, she was off on another trip, and he didn’t feel comfortable bothering her while she was working.

On Monday, it would be three weeks since she’d left. It honestly felt like the longest three weeks of his life. Perhaps time would be going faster if he knew when he’d see her again, but Skylar had given no indication of when she planned to come back to Serenity.

He knew he should be worried about his desire to see her… to be with her… again. But he wasn’t. Being around her againhad drawn something to the surface of his heart that he couldn’t ignore.

Over the weeks that she’d been in Serenity, he’d gotten to know the woman she’d become, all the while getting glimpses of who she’d once been. It hadn’t happened right away, since she’d been determined to keep distance between them and had erected a glass wall around herself. One that he could see her through but left him with no access to her emotions.

It had happened gradually. But on the boat, he’d finally felt like that wall was cracking and that she didn’t hate him like she had at the start.

He’d thought he’d be happy with friendship between them. But as time passed, his heart was telling him that he wanted something more. Something deeper and lasting. Something more than they’d previously had.

“Are you heading to Serenity tonight?” Devon asked as he picked up his coffee and took a sip.

“I’m not sure yet. I may just go out tomorrow morning.”

“How has it been not having your mom and Willow around?”

“It’s quiet, and I have to cook all my own meals now.”

Devon chuckled. “So you miss your mom’s cooking?”

“Sure do,” Aiden said. “Wouldn’t you?”

“Definitely not. I grew up on burnt ramen and mac and cheese. My mom is a terrible cook. She tries, bless her heart, but she rarely succeeds.”

“My mom’s a great cook,” Aiden said. “So without her, my diet has narrowed to some pretty basic stuff.”

“How is Shiloh?”

Aiden thought of the conversation he’d had with Charli the night before. “She hasn’t been feeling very well the last day or so. Charli wasn’t sure if it was just more residual effects from the last round of treatment or if it was something more.”

Aiden had been praying hard that it wasn’t something more. The idea that the initial treatment might not have worked was scary and almost induced a panic attack similar to what Skylar had experienced on the way to the airport.

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