Page 22 of Wes
Natalia’s gaze flicks between us, and Jeremy comes to her side. An older couple I’ve seen in the stands flanks Jeremy.
“We’re going home unless you need us,” they say, addressing Natalia. Their attention flicks back and forth between Bridgette and the rest of us.
“Thanks for coming,” Jeremy says with a smile.
“We’ll be good. Love you guys.” Natalia kisses their cheeks. From the affection, I guess they must be her parents, but she doesn’t introduce us.
“Well…” Natalia says, her voice unsure now that it’s the four of us.
“Let’s go celebrate these boys,” I say with extra pep, hoping to hide my fear she will go home after the awkward exchange with Bridgette. “Who’s hungry for pizza?”
“Yeah!” the boys echo and walk toward the last two cars.
“You sure?” she asks.
I smile. “Yeah, I’m sure—that is if all that bullshit didn’t just scare you away.” Mentally, I plead with her to join us.
Her face brightens with her smile. “I could eat pizza.”
Exhaling loudly, I wrap an arm around her shoulders and hope she doesn’t mind. “Good, I was afraid you’d say the hell with this.”
Natalia wraps her arm around my waist and peers up at me. “You weren’t exaggerating. Bridgette is—”
“Lost her damn marbles.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispers, so low I almost miss it.
Stopping thirty feet from the boys, I pull her to my front. “What for? You didn’t do anything to incite the scene with Bridgette—”
She shakes her head and sighs, stopping me. “No, for not texting these last few days…”
Looking at the boys, I see them rehashing a few plays. “Baby—” I pause, noting the ease of the endearment before continuing. “You needed space to figure things out. Are we going to give this a try then?” I ask, needing to hear her say we’re on the same page.
“I want to,” she says and turns toward the boys. “As long as they aren’t bothered.”
This woman is a great mom. “Boys!” I call.
“Yeah?”
“You guys cool with us dating?”
The boys shrug. “Whatever,” they say after looking at each other. Jeremy turns toward me, examining me for a moment, but doesn’t object.
Looking down at her, I smirk. “So what do you say, Nurse Natalia?”
She surprises me when she rises to her toes and presses her lips to mine. It’s chaste and leaves me wanting more, but it ends as quickly as it started.
“Can I retract my agreement if it means you’re going to subject us to torture?” Jeremy asks, surprising me with his eloquent speech.
I ignore him and ask, “One car or two?”
“Come on, Shorty. These two aren’t fooling anyone,” Reece states and opens the door to my SUV.
***
Contrary to Reece’s words, we drove Natalia’s car to her house before eating. Dinner went well. The boys seemed comfortable with us and ate nearly every pizza available on the buffet.
I ate the toppings Natalia didn’t like, and we teased her for her strange love of pineapple on her pizza. The first meal together with our sons was enjoyable.
