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I took them with a kiss of thanks, then slipped them over my eyes.
I wasn’t completely blind without them, but nearsightedness was no joke. I’d like to see a predator coming at me in the woods before they got like, six feet away from me, ya know?
The world opened up to me once my typical horn-rimmed glasses were on my nose, everything coming into crystal clear focus, including my ex-wife and her…fucking butt-ass naked boyfriend.
“Really?” I complained from around the jeep.
“I gotta piss!” Jamie called back.
He must have figured I was aiming my comment at him, because Paula was dressed, albeit rustled to hell with a couple crispy leaves matted into her blonde curls.
The guy stumbled over toward the thicker woods to relieve himself.
“How long does your mom have the kids?” I asked Paula while moving around the jeep.
Mia followed, a mess of blankets in her arms.
“She said she’d take them until tomorrow,” she told me. “But it’s your weekend, so you can pick them up today if you want.”
I sighed and shoved my hand through my hair.
“She can keep ‘em,” I said eventually. “I know she doesn’t get as much time with them as she’d like. Besides, when my mother comes, she’ll want to see the boys more than just on the weekend.”
“Thanksgiving was supposed to be mine this year,” she said. “And Christmas was yours since I had it last year.”
“Yeah. We can trade if you want.”
“Oooooor…” Pauls said with a wicked grin, “Why don’t you come to Thanksgiving? We’ll make it a big family affair.”
I eyed her like she was fucking crazy. Which she was.
“I’m not going to your family’s house for Thanksgiving like we were still married, Paula. I indulge your insanity most of the time, but I refuse to endure another holiday with your parents. Besides, I’m sure Mia is spending the holiday with her family.”
Paula turned to her as if a simple ok from Mia would put me back in line. In reality, there wasn’t a single fucking thing that would make me force our parents together again when we were divor—
“I was actually hoping, maybe, to spend the holiday together,” Mia said, turning her eyes to me.
I blinked.
“Really?” I asked.
Surely her family expected her to go home for the holiday, but she wanted to be with me, instead?
A blush pinkened her cheeks as she gave a tiny nod, smiling.
“Oh my God, you two are too freaking cute,” Paula said, wrinkling her nose and grinning at us, as if she was simultaneously charmed and disgusted by the display.
“Get your boy toy, and let’s go,” I told Paula, dismissing her.
“You know, I don’t call Mia your toy,” she told me, her grin turning to a frown. “I thought by this point you’d realize he wasn’t so bad.”
Speaking of the devil, he wandered up in just a pair of jeans, buckling the button.
Now, I didn’t get intimidated by other men often, but staring at the dude’s eight pack had me rubbing my barely-there bumps that were slowly fading to the background with my age. The muscles that had naturally appeared in my youth were melting away in front of my eyes. Maybe I needed to learn to enjoy hitting the gym. I had a young girlfriend to impress, and a dad bod wasn’t going to do the trick, and neither were home exercises, evidently.
Before I could demand the guy put on a shirt, He pulled one out from the back pocket of his shorts, and I kind of hated him for using the same moves I used to when I was his age. And just like then, Paula couldn’t tear her eyes away from the guy’s chest until it was covered. That’s when she shook herself to break the spell, then produced her car keys.
“Ok, everyone inside!” she called, moving around to the front seat.
