There were no surprises at lunchtime. Overall, the day ran smoothly without any other issues.
I’d been back and forth on whether I wanted to ask Kyle to keep the boys a little longer so I could run home and talk through things with Isaac, or I wanted to tell him that I was taking the boys home. In the end I couldn’t see getting their hopes up like that, so I decided to wait for Kyle to arrive and then ask him to watch the boys.
As I stood in line handing off kid after kid, I started to get nervous.
“Hey Vanessa. How’s it going?”
I looked up and saw several of the Westin Force dads in line.
“Tarron? What are you guys doing here? Is this daddy pickup day and I missed it?”
“Something like that. We had the afternoon off so decided to give our ladies a break.”
He leaned in to kiss my cheek as I passed him his son, Caleb.
A vicious growl echoed all around us. My wolf jumped to attention. I knew that growl. My jaw dropped in surprise as the path parted and there stood Isaac.
He was here in front of everyone and he was holding a bouquet of roses and a large box of chocolates in his hand.
Tarron seemed humored by this.
“Hey Isaac. You’re the last person in the world I’d expect to find here.”
“Wait, you know him?” I asked.
Tarron nodded. So did Silas, Ben, and Baine, who were all with him to pick up their kids.
My mouth dropped open.
“How? When? How?” I repeated myself.
“What are you doing here, man?” Ben asked.
“Idiot. He’s clearly here for Vanessa,” Baine told him.
My cheeks felt like they’d just exploded in flames.
“Seriously though?” Ben said.
“I’m here to pick up my kids,” Isaac said.
Kyle was standing behind him, smirking.
“Boys, your ride’s here,” I managed to say, but it came out a little breathless.
Isaac just stood there staring at me.
“Oh no, he’s going to crash and burn,” Mason said.
“We’ve got to help him,” I heard Noah say.
“Big gesture,” Cam reminded him.
“I’m here, aren’t I?” he finally said.
I just stood there in shock, but my heart started to race and my hands were getting sweaty.
“Back up and give them a minute,” Silas said.