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“Wow.” Garrett laughs. “Jealousy. Me. Jealous. I…don’t think I’ve ever felt that before.”
What? That can’t be true. All humans have bouts of jealousy at some point in their life. It’s not pretty, but it’s a very real part of nature.
“You never got jealous about your ex with anyone?”
Garrett shakes his head. “No. I really don’t think so.” When I say nothing, he does an amusing wince. “Is that a red flag? Something I should have picked up on?”
I shrug. “Could just be that you trusted her? We’re relatively new. Maybe you’re not feeling secure in what I’m like yet.” I pause. “I’m not a cheater, by the way. Not my thing. Hell, I don’t even think I’m capable of it. I’m simply far too loyal to sneak around behind someone’s back.”
“I did trust her,” he answers. “But I also hate to admit…I didn’t realize it then, but I don’t think I cared very much.” His shoulders bunch up and then settle again. “Honestly, I think I might have even pictured an affair on her end making my life easier a time or two.”
“Oh boy,” I mutter. “I can practically hear the marriage plane crashing and burning from here.”
He smiles, not at all offended. Then, seemingly realizing something, his expression gets serious again, and he cups the side of my face.
The heat of his hand on my skin is nearly enough to send me into vaginiac arrest. If, you know, it were an actual thing.
“I trust you too, by the way,” he adds, voice gentle. “Maybe that didn’t make it seem like it, and I promise I’ll do better. But I trust you. You’re… There’s just something about you, Lauren. It puts everything inside me at ease, and I guess I don’t want to lose it. Lose you.”
“You do the same for me,” I whisper.
Garrett puts his lips to mine, and before I know it, I’m so lost in his kiss I don’t even know we’re at a party anymore. All concern for being age appropriate for the kiddos has gone out the window, and I’m about ready to climb him like a tree and sit on his very prominent branch.
“See,” Jake says right next to us, pulling me out of the kissing fog slowly. I’m pretty sure my breasts were a millisecond away from tearing through the fabric of my shirt themselves, just to get a layer closer to Garrett’s chest. And now that I realize Jake is holding a phone, with a very active FaceTime call, I can see how much of a blessing it is that that did not happen. “I told you he was dating someone.”
“Uncle Garrett,” the young, cute blond girl yells over the camera, bouncing up and down. “O-M-G! She’s a total babe! The two of you are, like, crazy-hot together. I’m loving it!”
Garrett laughs, wiping some of my lip gloss off the corner of his mouth without shame. “Oh, well, thank you, Chloe. Your approval of our looks was just about my highest concern.”
“Hey, don’t disrespect my daughter.” Jake playfully smacks my boyfriend on the back of his head before turning the screen of the phone directly at me. “Chlo, this is your Uncle Garrett’s girlfriend, Lauren.”
“Hi, Lauren! I can’t wait to meet you in person!” Her bubbly nature is infectious.
“Hi, Chloe.” I grin. “And the feeling is mutual.”
“Aw, I miss you guys so much!” Chloe laughs and then whines, somehow managing to make the normally annoying noise sound cute.
“We miss you too, Chlo,” Garrett says sincerely, blowing a kiss at the phone. “Can’t wait to see you next week. Your dad says you’re coming home for a visit.”
She nods excitedly. “Sarah invited me for movie night.”
“Groovy. See you then, babe.”
“Bye, Uncle Garrett!” she shouts as Jake winks at me before turning the phone back to himself and walking over to the next group of people. Apparently, he’s in charge of making sure his eldest daughter Chloe, who is currently away at college, gets to talk to everyone today.
Seeing Jake’s eldest daughter makes me think of his youngest, Baby Hadley, who has evidently been napping the whole time. I haven’t had a chance to get my mitts on her sweet cherubic face yet, and it’s almost time to go.
Holley comes jogging down the stairs right at me, so I decide to give her hell over this very fact.
“Excuse me, Holl, but how is your baby still napping? I was promised cuddles!”
She snorts. “Trust me, any time you want to cuddle, all you have to do is ask.”
“Okay. I want to cuddle. Now. Please.”
She guffaws so loud, half the guests turn to face us, but she doesn’t care. “Yeah, no. I will never, ever wake a sleeping baby. So, no.”
“Holley! You just said—”
“Any time she’s awake,” she says tauntingly, moving away from me and heading for her husband. I sigh heavily, and Garrett wraps his arms around me again.
