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After I say goodbye to Kayla, I wander over to Nick.
“Hey,” he says, studying my face.
“Hey,” I say with a sigh. “I’m sorry for not answering your messages last night. I just needed to clear my head.”
“And did you?”
I nod. “I guess I'm getting a lift home with you. If you’ll have me,” I add. He wraps his arms around me.
“There is always room for you. Are you going home?”
“I think so,” I say. I haven’t really thought about it. “I'm not exactly sure if I’m welcome there, but I half expect him not to go home. He’ll probably go to Mandy's. At least until he calms down.”
“Well, you’re more than welcome to come and stay with me. Hell, you can move in, if you like. If you can put up these two rat bags.”
I glance at the kids, who are over by the railing, busily arguing over who gets to ride in the front on the way home. I wince because they’re going to hate me when they figure out it's me.
“They’ll only hate you for a day,” Nick says, reading my mind.
I laugh and follow him to the car, the kids right behind us. He takes my hand in his, and while I like it, I'm still not sure how much his kids know about us.
We’re almost at the car when Max has the realization that he won’t be sitting in the front. He frowns at me.
“I suppose you're sitting in the front,” he finally says.
“If that's okay with you,” I smile.
He studies me thoughtfully for a moment.
“Okay,” he agrees as if he’s doing me the favor of the century. I sigh with relief, feeling like I just passed his first test. “I’ll allow it. This time.”The drive back home is mostly quiet, apart from the few awkward moments where Nick tries to spark conversation between the four of us. Things quickly change for the better though when Millie breaks the ice without even realizing it by asking me when I'm moving in.
“Do you want me to move in?” I ask, turning around to grin at her.
“Yes,” she groans. “I’m always outnumbered when it comes to ordering take-out. And I have to put up with these two doing what they want all the time. They never let me do anything.”
“So, you want me to even things up?” I laugh. Wait till she realizes I’m a bit of a tomboy. “It would be great, huh? We can give each other makeovers, watch girly movies, have sleepovers.” Millie cheers while Max groans loudly.
“Dad, why couldn’t you be in guys?” Max mutters.
Nick laughs. “Excuse me?”
“Yeah, come on, it would be great,” Max enthuses. “One of my friends at school has two dads, and he says it’s awesome.”
“Are you going to marry Anna?” Milly pipes up.
“Nick?” I say, keeping a straight face as I glance at him. “You can take that one.” I raise my eyebrows as his face goes red before I lose it and laugh.
“How about we see how we go?” Nick replies.
“I’ve seen you kissing Daddy before,” Milly announces, moving on to me. “On the couch. I was supposed to be asleep, but I wasn’t.” Mortified, I glance at Nick, who chuckles.
“Yeah? Well, I saw her undies on the bathroom floor once,” Max pipes up. “So, I knew what was happening.”
“Max,” Nick growls, scowling at his son through the rear vision mirror.
I sink a few inches lower in my seat, too scared to think too hard about whether or not I got them back, or if I should be searching under Max’s bed for them. I catch Nick’s eye, and he’s trying so hard not to laugh.
“What?” Max mutters. “I’m just saying I knew she was staying over, even when she crept out before we got up.” He shrugs innocently as Nick finally pulls into my driveway.
“I live next door. I could've walked the thirty seconds,” I say, biting my lip to hide my smile.
“Hey, I was trying to be nice,” he says, looking wounded.
“Are you going to kiss?” frowns Max. “Because that’s gross.”
“Then close your eyes,” retorts Nick. “Three, two, one…”
Milly giggles as Nick leans over and kisses me on the mouth. It’s only a brief peck, but enough to make Max voice his disapproval by gagging. Still laughing, I climb out. That had been a much more entertaining ride home than I was expecting.
“Bye, guys,” I say to the kids. I smile shyly at Nick. “I'll see you later?”
He winks at me. “I’ll call you.”My heart pounds as I walk up the driveway. I don't expect Dad to be here and when I go inside, I'm relieved to find he's not. I’m not ready to have whatever conversation it is we need to have. I need time to prepare. Time to think about what I want to say and how I want to say it.
