Page 52 of The Forever Play

Watermelon and cherry.

My favorite flavors.

He remembers.

With a soft gasp, my head jolts up, and I find Zander smiling down at me. And then he gives me a little wink before turning to talk to Zoey. “Who’s ready for ice cream?”

“Me!” my toddler roars, making both the boys burst out laughing while I sway on my feet, gazing down at the box of Nerds in my bag and battling a torrent of emotions.

CHAPTER 20

ZANDER

Zoey holds Wily’s and my hands the whole way to the ice cream parlor and demands swings the entire way.

“Okay, last one,” I tell her for the third time. “One, two, three…”

“Go!” she yells, then starts giggling as Wily and I fire her into the air, her little feet flying high as she swings between us.

The kid is fearless, that’s for sure. The higher we go, the harder she giggles.

And the words “more” and “again”—yeah, I think they’re her favorites.

Sienna shuffles along behind us, looking kind of dazed. I wish I knew what she was thinking. Losing Zoey really rattled her… or is it the fact that I bought her a box of Nerds? I hadn’t planned on it, but when I was waiting at the counter for my turn, I spotted them and my brain shot me back to the first time she tried to woo me with her weird-ass candy.

To me, Nerds are gross, but man, did she try her best to convince me otherwise.

She spent most of our relationship doing it, even coaxing me to suck them out of her belly button.

That’s probably the only time I liked them—when I could lick them off her body.

Damn, I miss her body.

Glancing over my shoulder, I quickly skim it, wondering if having a baby has changed it at all. It certainly doesn’t look like it.

She’s fire.

She always has been.

I imagine she always will be.

Why the fuck did I break up with her again?

It’s impossible to remember as I wait in the ice cream parlor line beside her… as I watch her be a mommy.

“One scoop.” She holds up her finger. “Your choice is the flavor. That’s it.”

“Okay.” Wily picks Zoey up so she can look at the flavors.

“Chokee, stawbee, nanilla!”

“One scoop, babe,” Sienna reminds her, trying not to laugh as she looks at me and shakes her head. “One flavor. How about chocolate?”

Zoey shakes her head, her little face puckering as she scans the selection.

“My favorite is s’mores,” I tell her. “Have you tried that one? It’s got marshmallows in it.”

Her eyes light like a Christmas tree, and she starts squealing. “Mores, mores, mores!”

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