Page 87 of Sweet on You
30
Ronnie
On Sunday night, I spent the night at Lex’s. Not that this was anything new. I’d spent almost every night there for the last three weeks. Occasionally, he would come stay at my house, but with Olivia, and him needing to wake up to be at the bakery by 4:00 a.m., it didn’t make a whole lot of sense. And I understood. He was still treading very carefully with the Murphys, and rightfully so. I saw firsthand what he meant when he said Mr. Murphy was a bit skeptical of him.
We’d had the whole weekend together, and we even had one night off when we drove Olivia up to spend the night at her grandparent’s house. A date night. Our first date night without the little rugrat in weeks. It was sexy and amazing and yet… by Saturday evening, I found myself missing her sweet little face. We even made sure Seth was able to run the bakery on Sunday morning so that we could spend the day with her at my mom’s lake house.
But the whole week, I was uneasy, remembering what Lex had said about Sarah. About inviting her to live in Maple Grove… to be part of our lives. Of course, logically, I knew she’d be a part of our lives. She’s Olivia’s mom. But did it have to be here? Did he have to offer to let her live here in my home town where he and I were trying to start a life together?
The thoughts swarming in my head kept me awake for hours Sunday night.
Monday morning, Lex had woken up without me, slipping out of bed before the sun was up. It gave me the chance to “sleep in.” The sounds of Olivia babbling over the baby monitor stirred me awake and I blinked, bleary eyed, stretching my arms overhead, and glanced at my cell phone. Five forty-five. It wasn’t all that much earlier than when I usually woke up at six on my non-running days. Even still, it was amazing how much of a difference fifteen minutes could make.
I climbed down from the loft, heading into Lex’s bedroom… although now, I suppose it was more like Olivia’s bedroom.
“Morning sweet girl,” I said, climbing into Lex’s large bed. Rolling onto my side, I tucked one of Lex’s pillows under my arm and closed my eyes, inhaling. It still smelled like him even though I hadn’t seen him sleep in this room in weeks—like a combination of masculine soap and a hint of vanilla.
“Hi!” Olivia squealed and waved.
I laughed, swinging my legs over the edge of the bed, and stood, putting her glasses onto her face. My heart squeezed as she beamed up at me. Her condition wasn’t too detrimental. Sure, she needed glasses, but lots of people did. Even so, she needed them because of her mother. Because of her mother’s selfish choices that she knew were bad for her baby.
“How’d you sleep?” I asked her. She babbled a response that I couldn’t understand, but I placated her with several “Uh-huhs” and “Oh, reallys.”
I loved how happy Olivia was when she woke up. Unlike Maddie, who used to scream and cry every morning, Olivia seemed to wake with a mellow smile. And she seemed pretty happy to play in her crib for a little while. Long enough that I could usually get a shower and have breakfast made.
Penny gave a sleepy yawn and hopped off the bed as Frost headbutted him in their morning ritual. Generally, Lex and I seemed to have lucked out with the little ones in our lives—both two-legged and four-legged. Penny was such a good dog, he rarely needed to go out immediately. Usually he was lazier than me, and I had to drag him out for his morning walk.
I lifted Olivia out of her crib and balanced her on my hip, making my way into the kitchen. My eyes were still half-closed. As I reached the kitchen counter, I paused and smiled. Sitting there was a freshly brewed pot of coffee and a napkin-covered scone. I recognized Lex’s handwriting scribbled on the napkin:
Raspberry scone—Coconut flour, Honey, Raspberries, and Lemon. Enjoy!
I broke off a piece and held it out for Olivia to try. She opened her mouth, taking a nibble, and those eyes—Lex’s eyes—went wide as a smile broke out along her face. I laughed as she made the ESL sign for ‘more.’
“It’s good, huh?” I patted my belly. “Yummy?”
“Yummy!” she repeated.
I laughed again and kissed her cheek, handing her another bite of scone before sitting her into her high chair and grabbing a bowl to prep some rice cereal.
“Your daddy is quite the catch, Olivia. Do you know how lucky you are that he’s your daddy?”
“Dada?” she looked around the room, holding up her hands in a shrug. “Where dada?”
My breath caught in my throat and a million butterflies swarmed my stomach. “What did you just say?”
She didn’t answer me, though, and instead started playing with some leftover Cheerios on the table of her high chair.
My breath was heavy, my heart slamming in my chest, as I rushed into the other room searching for my phone. Penny followed at my heels like this was the most fun game in the world. I finally found it on the coffee table, pulled up a picture of Lex, and returned to the kitchen. “Olivia, who’s this?” I asked pointing to the picture.
“Dada!”
Tears sprang to my eyes. “Oh my God. Oh myGod!”
I picked her up and hugged her, running to the door. Not thinking, I threw it open, running carefully down the stairs with Olivia still in my arms.
“Lex!” I burst into the café, tears streaming down my cheeks and Lex ran over to meet me.
“What? What’s wrong?” He grabbed Olivia out of my arms, inspecting her.
