Page 81 of Her Greatest Adventure

“It’s not a process I can rush, Coop.”

Adalyn sets her hand on my thigh and looks at Dad. “I don’t think it’s a bad thing to want to wait. My father was so bored after he retired. I thought he was going to end up starting a beer league team just to get himself out of the house.”

“See?” Dad asks me, his sly grin making me frown.

I reach beneath the table and softly pinch the outside of Adalyn’s thigh, smirking when she sucks in a quick, surprised breath. Resting my hand over hers, I turn back to Dad.

“Oakley’s retirement is different. He didn’t have a choice, and there’s a big difference between retiring at thirty and retiring at fifty.”

“We can argue about this for days, but it won’t change my mind.”

“Can we all talk less and start eating before we’re left with cold pasta?” Scarlett asks, waving a hand over the food.

Addie giggles while reaching for the bowl of fettuccine and plating some. My throat clogs when she digs in a second time but drops the noodles on my plate instead. I feel my father watching me when she moves to the bowl of sauce and scoops up some of it, purposefully avoiding the chunks of mushroom floating around inside. As she spreads the sauce over the noodles on my plate, Dad clears his throat.

“Since when do you not like mushrooms?”

My wife freezes, eyes flying to mine. I smile softly, reassuringly, and drape my arm over the back of her chair.

“Since always. But you love them, so I never said anything,” I tell him, heat crawling up my neck.

Adalyn winces, leaning toward me. “I’m sorry. I noticed you avoided them when we were gone, so I just assumed,” she whispers.

“You should have said something. Shit, I’ve been putting mushrooms in everything since you were a boy,” Dad says.

“It’s really not that big of a deal.”

He exhales heavily. “What’s next—do you not really like cheesecake either?”

“He does.”

“I do.”

Adalyn and I speak at the same time, and her following grin makes my stomach go wild with flutters.

The sound of footsteps travelling toward the dining room has the conversation coming to a thankful end. A beat later, Mom appears in the doorway, her happiness filling the room.

“I’m so sorry I’m late, everyone,” she rushes out.

I laugh when she comes up behind my chair and wraps her arms around me, kissing my cheek twice. “Hi, Mom.”

“Hi, honey. Gosh, it feels like you were gone for months.” With another kiss, this time to the top of my head, Mom moves on to Adalyn, pausing as she stares at her with wide eyes. Curiosity blossoms inside of me when her eyes begin to water. “Look at their fingers, Adam. Oh, my God.”

Silence, and then Dad roars a laugh, his wife joining in a second later. “Christ, you’ve been here two minutes, Beth. What happened to ‘I promise I won’t cry right away’?”

Mom throws her hands in the air. “You should have known better. I wasn’t as well prepared as I thought I was. You never told me they had matching tattoos!”

“I didn’t think it was important at the time!” he defends himself.

Adalyn leans forward and glances at me, looking just as confused as I’m sure I do. I choke out a laugh and shrug.

“Well, what else do I not know? Is someone about to tell me that they’re not bothering with an annulment after all? Because I don’t think I can take it.”

Dad winks at me across the table before gesturing to the empty chair left for Mom. “Sit and eat. You’re going to scare Adalyn away.”

“I don’t scare easy. Promise,” Adalyn chips in, reaching for Mom’s hand before she can get too far. “It’s nice to see you again, Beth.”

The first of what I assume will be many tears tonight trails down Mom’s cheek as she squeezes Addie’s hand back, bringing it to her chest.

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