Page 76 of Sweet on You
One of the other parent’s chimed in. “I think the kids from the other town were school age—first grade or so.”
Good. Itwasdifferent then. I breathed a little easier, knowing that. “This guy was probably an amateur photographer stupidly not realizing it wasn’t okay to take pictures at a playground. And when you yelled, he got scared and ran.”
The father nodded. “You’re probably right.”
“But text your friend at MGPD anyway,” Lex said. “I’d rather be cautious.
Several of the moms mumbled in agreement. Even though I had been the voice of reason, something still wasn’t sitting quite right with me. Even the most amateur photographer should know that it’s in bad taste to photograph other people’s kids—toddlers—at a playground.
Lex stood, lifting Olivia into his arms. “What do you think, Olivia? Ready to go home?”
“No!” she cried and dropped her face into his shoulder.
Lex glanced at his phone. “Why don’t Ronnie and I push you on the swings for five more minutes? Then we go home.”
Her face brightened and she smiled, clapping her hands. “Swings! Swing, swing, swing!”
“So, it’s a deal?” Lex held out his hand as though this was a business deal to shake on. Olivia stared at it, utterly confused until Lex physically took her hand in his and gave it a gentle shake saying, “Deal.”
Olivia squealed with delight and repeated, “Deal!”
* * *
Later that night,I silently washed the dishes, careful to keep the volume of my music low as Lex put Olivia down in her pack and play in his bedroom. I hummed quietly along, cleaning out the bottles and scrubbing various bowls and spoons we had dirtied in only a few short hours.
I remembered, from when Maddie was this age, how quickly things dirtied and the stockpile of toys and dishes and diapers. But wow. It was easy to forget when you haven’t been around a baby in over a decade. We were all so young when Cam and Hannah got pregnant. I was only just barely out of high school when I became an aunt. Callie and Noah were still just babies themselves, it seemed.
I smiled, remembering being in the hospital, Hannah resting sleepily in her hospital bed after giving birth. Cam went to grab them some food of the non-hospital variety and I sat there with a swaddled, sleeping Maddie in my arms, humming softly to her. Watching her chest rise and fall. Watching the subtle twitch of her mouth suckling at nothing as she slept.
“She’s finally asleep,” Lex whispered, pulling me back to the present. Behind me, I heard a door click quietly shut as Lex exited his bedroom, baby monitor in hand. His hair was a mess, and the dark circles beneath his eyes suggesteddaysof no sleep… not one afternoon with a toddler. He looked frighteningly exhausted. But I remembered those same bloodshot eyes on Cam when Maddie was born. And again after Hannah had passed. “It takes time,” I reiterated, not for the first time today, and brushed my thumb beneath his weary-looking eyes.
He leaned into my palm, grabbed my hand and brought the inside of my wrist to his mouth, kissing me so tenderly that it sent goosebumps racing up my arm to my heart. “Thank you for today,” he whispered. “I don’t know if I would have made it without you.”
I nodded. “Yes, you would have.”
He shook his head as moisture filled his eyes, and he looked away shamefully. “Honestly, I don’t think I would have. I think I would have called for the Murphys to come pick her up. Your idea to Facetime them before bed to calm her down was genius.”
“And I bet they didn’t think you were any weaker because of it.”
He gave me an exhausted smile. “They didn’t. They told me that they thought it was a great idea, too.”
The oven beeped and I opened it, checking on the casserole that was almost done. Lex blinked, looking from me to the oven, then back to me. “How in the hell did you find the time, let alone the energy, to cook something?”
I shrugged. “It’s just a casserole. They’re easy and I was able to use the random things in your fridge.”
He walked to the fridge and opened it, staring first inside, then blankly back at me. “I didn’t know I had enough in here to make a sandwich, and you made a casserole?”
I laughed and rolled my eyes. “Maybe youaremore helpless than I thought. I call it a kitchen sink casserole. It’s basically just a mishmash of whatever’s in your fridge. You had a head of cauliflower, some leftover chicken, bacon, cream cheese and ranch. I just sort of threw it all together and baked it.”
He stepped into me, backing me into the counter. “You’re amazing,” he whispered, his palm lifting, cupping my jaw.
I arched my brow. “Because of acasserole?” I laughed, slipping my arms around his shoulders. “You’re an easy man to please.”
“With you, apparently.” He brushed a rough thumb over my bottom lip before kissing me hard. His tongue traced my mouth and I opened to him, gasping as his cock pressed against my belly and he deepened the kiss.
His hand slid up under my shirt, skimming the bare flesh of my abs until he reached my breast, squeezing against the sheer lace of the bra. I gasped, breaking the kiss and throwing my head back. He used the moment to lick down my neck, nibbling at my collarbone. “How long do we have until that casserole is ready?”
“Fifteen minutes.”
