Page 61 of Challenged By You
Delight, and something else I can’t name, settle on his face. “Let’s do the zoo every week,” he murmurs before pulling me in front of him.
“Let’s get through today first.” I wiggle my hips at him, causing him to let out a low groan.
“I’ll never make it until the next time.” Leaning forward, he places a kiss on the spot between my shoulder and my neck that makes me go a bit cross-eyed.
Bumping my hips back, I send him a smoldering look over my shoulder. “Elephants first. Play time later.”
With a laugh, Jonas pulls out the map. “This way.” He points to the well-marked sign.
And we set off to find elephants and so much more before the kids decide they’ve had it.
* * *
I’m glaringat Jonas as the elevator climbs to the sixth floor. “This is not sticking to a budget.” But it’s halfhearted at best. Despite my letting him off the hook at the zoo to spoil us with ice cream, Jonas needs to remember we’re with him because he’s him, not because of a difference to our lifestyle.
“T, it was their first trip to the zoo,” he counters softly.
We’re having a spat over the fact both of my kids are asleep each holding a new stuffed animal clutched to their chest. Chris picked a tiger, Annie a goat, though for the life of me, I still can’t figure that one out. “I know, but the smaller ones would have been just fine, Jo—” He stops my words with a kiss.
It’s short and sweet, and it makes my heart stop and listen to him when he says, “I want to spoil them a little. I like them as much as I like their mother.”
Shaken down to my very core, I place my hand on his chest and ask, “Enough to eat mac’n’cheese for dinner?”
“Even enough for that.” He cups the back of my neck and is about to lean down for another kiss when the elevator door opens. I turn to push the stroller out only to find my way blocked.
By my mother.
“Excuse me,” I say coolly. Jonas tenses behind me, blocking the door from closing on us, but prepared for anything.
My mother doesn’t move, but her face twists with pain as she looks down at Annie and Chris. “You haven’t called. What are you doing for work?” Her voice comes out accusatory as if I’d leave my children to harm.
“No. I found other accommodations, since your services were no longer made available. If you’ll excuse me, I need to get the kids inside. They’ve had a long day.”
Mom steps aside enough for me to push the stroller out but doesn’t move far. “How…” She clears her throat. “How have Chris and Annie been?”
I whirl around, incredulous. “Are you kidding me?”
“Trina, take a deep breath.” Jonas places his arm around my waist. “It was a good day,” he reminds me.
Trying to keep it cool, I inhale and exhale several times. “It was,” I remind both of us before addressing my mother like a stranger. “My children are fine. We’ve been out exploring the city.”
“With your new…friend.” My mother can’t help the dig.
“No, with the governor. What does it matter, Mom? I’m doing my best to give a healthy, balanced life to the lives I created.”
“And you think this is helping them? Getting involved with a man you don’t know? Letting them get attached when…he… could be gone tomorrow?” she rasps.
A heavy silence descends in the hallway. “Jonas, will you please take my children inside?”
“Not a chance.” His voice is as razor sharp as one of my knives. He doesn’t approach my mother, but his words shock her. “Despite everything, somehow your daughter grew up caring about people—not just herself. You have no idea of the hell she’s been living through recently, do you?”
“What do you mean?” My mother stammers. Her eyes dart to me accusingly.
But Jonas plows over her unasked questions. “Trina’s someone who took her past and genuinely wants to make things better for the future. And if you can’t see her for the warm, lovely woman she raised herself to be because of whatever issues you have with your own past, then perhaps it’s better for both of you to be polite neighbors.” Tugging on my arm, because I’m stuck in place, he growls, “Come on, T. Let’s get the kids inside. It was a big day.”
Unfrozen, I agree, “It was. It’s not every day someone gets to see their first tiger.”
“Or their first goat,” he counters.
