Page 78 of Accidental Mile High Daddy
Chapter 25
Sienna
Six weeks later…
Somewhere between the ultrasounds, the constant exhaustion, and the sudden cravings for salt oneverythingand pickled foods, my world had quietly rearranged itself to include Matt without either of us ever saying it out loud.
I had his card back. Not in a weird, sugar-baby,buy what you want foreverkind of way, but in ayou’re carrying my children and if you dare try to buy a stroller with your own money I will just transfer it back to youkind of way. I had a driver, too, which was probably the weirdest addition. His name was Chris, and he always had water bottles ready and somehow knew exactly when the music started to grate on my ears and would turn it down. Matt had insisted — “You’ll end up causing a twelve-car pileup trying to eat pickles from a jar and drive at the same time.”
He wasn’twrong.
We had a rhythm, though. I’d see him a few times a week, usually weekend nights when I wasn’t so exhausted from teaching and Zach had already gone to bed. Dinner, laughter, the kind of ridiculous sex that left me breathless and aching in places I couldn’t talk to my OB about. But when it was over, we didn’t curl up and whisper things in the dark, we didn’t linger, we didn’t drift off like we had in Cancun. He’d kiss my shoulderand tell me to text him when I got home if I was leaving his, or I’d fall asleep in my bed and wake up to empty sheets and a note to have a good day.
There wasn’t a conversation. There wasn’t a commitment laid out in spoken terms, and there weren’t promises outside of“I’m not going anywhere.”
But, weirdly, it didn’t feel empty. Probably because he kept showing up, every time, never running completely and always coming back.
I hadn’t asked him to prove anything, not directly. But I knew he could feel me waiting to see if he’d slip again, if he’d vanish when things got too hard. So far, he hadn’t flinched, even when the hormones got messy and I’d sobbed when Zach drew a stick figure of me. He’d just pulled me into his chest in front of his kid and kissed the top of my head like he understood.
I didn’t know exactly how much of our situation he’d told Zach, but Zach seemed content and unquestioning anytime Matt was affectionate with me around. He’d asked a handful of times about the babies. He knew he was going to be a big brother, but at least around me, he didn’t ask about my role in all of this or what it would mean. Not that Matt and I had even fully had that conversation yet.
So, when Matt had asked me to spend a few evenings around his place while he was in Tokyo for business, just to help keep Zach’s routine somewhat normal and give Margot a bit of a break, I’d said yes. A million timesyes.
It wasn’t babysitting. Just spending time with him during the easy periods, even though I’d tried to insist I could do more. Matt had very gently suggested I let Margot handle anything harder, like taking Zach out or getting him ready for swim lessons. “You’re growingtwopeople,” he’d said. “You’re allowed to sit down and watch cartoons, Sienna.”
I still got to help him with his homework, though.
But today, while Margot did the grocery run and Zach and I made a tower out of couch cushions with T-Rex Time Jam playing in the background, the doorbell rang.
Zach turned his head toward the sound, his little brows scrunched up. “That’s weird. Margot never rings the doorbell.”
“Maybe it’s a delivery,” I said, pushing up carefully from the floor with one hand on the edge of the couch. Matt and Margot hadn’t mentioned anything was coming, but unless it was a couple of Jehovah’s Witnesses here to try to convert us, I didn’t have a better guess.
He hopped off the cushion stack and followed me, trailing right behind. “I don’tthinkso. Delivery people use the buzzer. Daddy never tells them the gate code.”
“Maybe Margot forgot her keys, then.”
Zach didn’t look convinced, but he nodded and skipped right up to the front door anyway. I paused with my hand on the knob, leaning to the side to glance through the peephole.
I froze.
Ofcourseit was him.
“Zach, can you go check the pillow fort?” I said, trying to keep my voice light as I straightened up. “Make sure it’s not falling over. I think your T-Rex might’ve knocked something loose.”
Zach, in all his innocence, didn’t even question it and perked up immediately. “Okay!” he chirped, darting off, pretending to speak into a non-existent walkie-talkie with words like“rescue mission”and“operation rex is go.”
I waited until he was fully out of sight, then unlocked the door and wrenched it open two inches.
Enough for me to look Ryan in the eye.
He stood there in his button-up shirt, sleeves rolled up to the elbows, mousy brown hair a bit of a mess, his tie askew. His brow twitched a little as he registered my face, but then he rolledhis eyes and took a step toward the door like I was a problem in his way.
“I didn’t say you could come in,” I snapped, shutting the door an inch.
“Right, like you have authority.” He hooked his fingers on the door, pushing back, forcing it back open. “MATT!”
“Jesus, Ryan,stop, you’ll freak out Zach,” I said, letting the door open but stepping in the way of him.
