Page 120 of The One I Want
“Going to see Mom.”
I reach over and give Wes’s hand a squeeze at the mention of the trip to California.
Per the divorce agreement, Cara gets one month in the summer. Because he had a feeling something might happen, Wes never told the kids this. It was a good thing, because a few weeks ago she called, asking if she could shorten the time from a month to two weeks. Something about getting tickets to a music festival or some shit like that.
It was one thing for the kids to spend the night with her in Nashville at Christmas, but Wes was worried about two weeks away. Easy enough. I suggested that after our Florida trip, we go to California with them. The kids go to Cara’s, and we find a place close enough that we can get to them in an emergency—or if she decides she’s done parenting—but far enough away that we can have an adult vacation, just the two of us.
He liked the sound of that.
I liked the sound of getting two weeks with Wes. Alone. Preferably naked for much of that time.
“That whole trip is going to be so exciting,” I say. “Magnolia? What about you?”
I look back at her as she taps her little finger to her mouth before her eyes get big as she comes up with her answer. “Getting a baby!”
Wes whips around and stares at me. I shake my head so hard it almost rolls off my neck.
“Mags, sweetie, where are you getting a baby?”
“At the mall,” she says, her tone communicating just how exhausting it is to deal with idiots like us. “Uncle Simon told me he’d take me shopping if I got good grades. Which I did. So I’m going to have him buy me a new baby doll.”
Wes and I let out a collective sigh of relief. Hell, I think Emerson does too.
“What about you?” Wes asks me as we pull into the ice cream shop. “What are you looking most forward to this summer?”
I turn to him as he puts the car in park. “I think you know.”
We lean in for a kiss, which of course gets a chorus of “ews” and “gross” from the kids as they pile out of the car. Sometimes I think he does it in front of them just to embarrass them. I also know they secretly love it.
“And how about you?” I ask. “What are you looking forward to this summer?”
He smiles. “That’s easy.”
“Oh really?”
“It is.”
“You can’t say two weeks of sex,” I say. “That was my technical answer and no copying.”
He laughs and pulls me closer. “I wasn’t going to say that, but it’s high up there.”
“Then what is it?”
He leans in, giving me a slow, but promising kiss, as we steal these few minutes alone. We don’t get these often, which makes them even more special.
“You.”
“Me?”
He nods. “Yeah, you. Every day with you is an adventure. Every day I count my blessings that you’re in my life. Every day I learn that I love you more than the day before. So yeah, my answer will always be you.”
I kiss him again, because how do you not kiss a man after he says those kinds of things to you?
You don’t. You can’t. And they usually end up with you being naked.
I love this man. So much. When I came to Rolling Hills, I didn’t know what was in store for me. I definitely didn’t think I’d meet the man of my dreams and find a love I didn’t think existed.
I was just a lost soul trying to find her way. I ended up finding a home.
