Page 80 of Sweet on You
I bit my lip and shook my head again. “I can’t tell you. It would break our rule about taking things slowly.”
“I think that ship has sailed.” She blinked rapidly, seemingly taken aback by my statement. Then, quieter, she said, “Tell me.” The humor from moments before had vanished from her features and in its place was an intense curiosity.
“You sure?”
She nodded.
“You’re not going to go running for the hills if I tell you this?”
She scrunched her face, pretending to be deep in thought. “I mean, unless you’re going to tell me something like you’ve been keeping my trash for the last year in your basement and using my old lipstick to pretend to be closer to something my lips touched… no, I won’t go anywhere.”
“Jesus,” I hissed, then snorted a laugh. “Your mind is a dark, depraved place.” I tapped my pointer finger to the center of her forehead. “Okay.” I sat back in my chair, delicately balancing my fork onto the edge of my plate. “I was remembering the first time I ever saw you.”
“At my mom’s house, right? The pie delivery on Father’s Day?”
I smiled, remembering that day vividly, as well. “Not exactly. That was the first time wemet. Not the first time I saw you.”
Her brows pinched together. “When did you first see me?”
I gestured to the window. “I was sitting right here. I was still living among unpacked boxes. I hadn’t opened Latte Da yet, but I had signed the lease and was using the kitchen to fulfill private orders. That morning on a whim, I decided to have my coffee up here where it was dark and peaceful and had the best view of the town center. I thought I’d be totally and utterly alone… and that’s when I saw you running in the park. I nearly dropped my mug of coffee on the floor. I was so startled to see another person awake, let alone one so beautiful. From that day on, every morning when I woke up at four, I took a few minutes to have a cup of coffee up here, waiting to see the only other person out and about at that ungodly hour. You were determined. Tenacious. It didn’t matter the weather… you were always out there running. I didn’t think I’d ever meet anyone who was on the same crazy schedule I was… waking up before the sun. But there you were, up even before me every morning, because by the time I was having my coffee, you had not only been up… but were dressed and out the door, working out.”
Ronnie smiled and arched her brow. “You were watching me every morning?”
I shrugged. “At the risk of sounding creepy… yes. I wasn’t stalking you or anything, but seeing you on your runs became part of my morning ritual. I spent months wondering who you were. Why you were up so early. If you had trouble sleeping, too. I wondered if your voice would be strong and loud or if you’d be quiet and breathy. And… you gave me hope. That maybe there was someone out there for me someday. I had no idea that someone was actually the girl I spied on every morning.” I took a breath and turned to face Ronnie who was now staring out the window into the dark, inky night. “I’m sorry if that made you uncomfortable.”
A slow smile lifted at the corners of her mouth. “It didn’t.”
I beamed at her… a big, goofy smile that I couldn’t help. This was progress. I had no doubt Ronnie would take a while to warm up to me. To trust me. But I was willing to wait and this week, it felt like we had several break throughs.
My cell phone buzzed, interrupting the moment. “It’s Brady,” I said, sliding my thumb across the screen to answer it. “Brady,” I said, “What’s going on?”
“I’m sorry for the late call,” he said. “But I didn’t think you’d want me to wait on this. I just heard from the Murphy’s lawyer. “They don’t want to relinquish custody entirely… yet.”Yet. The word rang in my ears, echoing like we were in a cave. “But they do want you to start taking a large portion of her time. See how that goes for a few weeks and then if everyone is comfortable, switch you over to full custody with mandatory visitation from them. And of course, the drug testing to ensure you’re clean.”
I dropped my head into my hands. “Seriously?”
“Yeah. Seriously.” Brady paused, then added. “Congratulations, Lex. You’re about to get everything you ever wanted.”
I swallowed… hard. I hadn’t planned on going from single bachelor lifestyle to full time dad so fast. I was speechless. Completely and utterly speechless.
“Lex? You there?” Brady said.
I snapped out of it. Ronnie was now standing behind me, her hand gliding over my back and rubbing my shoulders in reassuring strokes. “Y-yeah. Sorry. I’m here. It’s just a lot to digest.”
“I had an idea,” Brady said. “You’ll need childcare during the day while you work, I assume. What if Mr. and Mrs. Murphy babysit a few days a week? That way, they can still spend a lot of time with her, but you are the parent… and you establish the daily routine, put her to bed every night, and have her on the weekends. The grandparents can even have one night a week for a sleepover if they want it.”
Wow… Brady was a genius. What an amazing way to keep Olivia’s grandparents involved. If they wanted to be, that is. “That’s a great idea, Brady.” Crap, I hadn’t even begun to think about childcare—about how I was going to care for herandrun a full-time business? I hadn’t started thinking about schools or daycares or any of the day to day things we would need.
“Great. I’ll draw up the paperwork first thing in the morning and we’ll begin ironing out the custody stipulations. Get some rest, Lex. You’re going to be an exhausted daddy soon enough.”
Except he was wrong. I wasn’t even a full-time dad yet and I was already totally and utterly exhausted.
