She held up a silencing hand. “Where’s Colin?”
“I don’t keep tabs on your boyfriend.” His voice had a distinctneener-neener-neenertone.
“Don’t try me, Frank. Not today. And he’s not my boy—” She stopped before even finishing that statement and reflected on the past month. Colin sure felt like her boyfriend.
Being with him was amazing. He was amazing. And the other night she should have shown him that.
“Girls, enjoy the waffles. Frank, put a shirt on. You are a guest here, no more, so before you speak or act, I want you to imagine Rose is here.”
Frank paled. Teagan smiled, then walked to the door and opened it to find Colin still standing there, leaning against the porch railing, arms crossed, looking at her from behind his dark glasses.
Even after Frank’s cold welcome, he’d waited for her.
Seizing her second chance, she walked right up to him, slid her arms around his neck, and gave him a kiss. A long, deep, lingering, this-is-a-proper-date kiss. He leaned into it and—oh my—talk about leaving her breathless.
“I missed you,” she whispered against his lips.
“Good to hear.”
“After that shitty welcome, I wouldn’t have blamed you if you’d left.”
“It was a damn fine welcome from the person who mattered.” She kissed him again. “And I wouldn’t have blamed you for taking your time. I know how much you like your waffles.”
“I like you more.” She didn’t want to ruin the moment, but she had some apologizing to do. “About the other night, I should have let you walk me home and I should have told you what an amazing time I had.”
“If I remember correctly, it was amazing times three.” He palmed her butt. “And I should have trusted you enough to handle your business. I’m learning. How to trust, that is. I just didn’t know where I stood or if there was room for me.”
“I was in the middle of an emotional storm and you stood exactly where I needed you, even making room for me under your umbrella.”
“There’s always room for you under my umbrella,” he whispered. “Even when the storm seems too much, know I’ll be right there, waiting.”
Her heart sank, nervous about what his comment might mean. “Do you want to wait?”
He took her hands in his and kissed them. “No, but I imagine the other night was a lot. The whole situation must be overwhelming. I’d understand if you needed time to figure things out.”
“We’re parents, Colin. Both of our lives are overwhelming and crazy. If we wait for the perfect time, I think we’ll be waiting another twenty years.”
“Crazy, like you catching my kid sneaking out in the middle of the night?”
“Crazy, like maybe if she knew what you were dealing with, she might back off on the sneaking. And before you look at me like that, this is coming from someone who has yet to raise a teenager. But I’d like to point out that Harley and Maddison have a lot in common, and when I told her I needed her to step up, she did.AndMaddison wasn’t doing anything both of us haven’t done.”
Maddison had been so distraught by the end of their conversation, Teagan wondered if, maybe, her sneaking out had ended up being a good thing.
“Thank you for not telling her that last part,” he said, brushing a hair off her temple and trailing his finger down her cheek to her lips.
“Thank you for showing up here today, after that disaster of a night.”
“It could have been a disaster, but being part of an ‘us’ made it manageable.” Nerves had her hands sweating. “Do you still want to be an ‘us’?” An invitation he was well within his rights to retract. “I’d understand if you’re having second thoughts.”
“Bianchi, there was you, then us, then a night full of one hell of an us. The rest is kind of a blur. My only regret is that I didn’t get to wake up with you in my arms and share waffles in bed.”
“Speaking of waffles, how about we grab some on the way to our first appointment?”
“I can think of some better ways to spend time before our first appointment,” he said. “But since both houses are full and my moves need more than a reclining seat, waffles will do just fine.”
* * *
With Teagan gone and Frank taking the girls to the beach, Harley performed Zia Iris’s sage cleanse to help with some of the tension in the house but felt about as useful as a junior lifeguard at the X Games.
