“So if I was a football player, you’d have more boo-boos to kiss.”I glance up, and he winks at me.“Seriously, I’m gone all the damn time.”
“I guess you didn’t realize it until you had people to come home to.”I flutter my lashes.
He bends over and kisses me, making Tanner squeal.
That’s Tanner’s new thing, and I swear I think Easton taught it to him just to have an excuse to kiss me.Not that I’m complaining.
“My favorite days are my off days now.”He goes back into the kitchen.
I think right now might be the perfect time to tell him that Tanner called me mama, but I don’t want Easton to think I’m expecting him to put me in that role.
“Honor asked me something the other day.”
“Yeah?”
I wonder if he really even heard me because he’s busy cutting up a grilled cheese sandwich into the tiniest of squares for Tanner.I understand his obsessiveness, though.I’m afraid every time I feed him that he’s going to choke.
“She asked about the search for Tanner’s mom.”
“Okay…”
“Are you still not going to look for her?”I reach forward to help Tanner pick up a piece of avocado and put it in his mouth.It’s a new food for him, and he’s enjoying playing with it more than actually eating it.
He pushes away my hand.“Mama.”
This I should have expected.Here I am tiptoeing up to telling Easton, and the little man just outed me.
Easton says nothing, but when I peek at him in the kitchen, he’s staring at me instead of cutting the sandwich.
“So… I didn’t tell you.”I sit back in my chair.“Actually, can you come here?”
I don’t want to have this conversation with him across the room.It’s too important.
He brings the plate and the grilled cheese over to the table before sitting on the other side of Tanner.“I know,” he says as soon as he sits.“I heard it on the monitor, and I didn’t want to tell you or freak you out.I didn’t know how you felt about it and you didn’t tell me, so…”
I laugh because this is so us.I really hope one day we can actually stop putting up our guards.
“I was shocked.Though honestly, I don’t know why.He’s probably like, ‘This woman who’s around me all the time, you must be my mama.’”
Easton squints.“I’m not sure that’s it.”
“He just thinks he should have one.Every show has one.Every book has one.Every one of his friends has one.”
“When did Tanner get friends?”He places a piece of the grilled cheese on Tanner’s tray.
“You know what I mean.Hazel is always with her mom, for one.”
He puts up his hands.“I think the real question is how do you feel about it?”
My eyes widen.“How doIfeel about it?How doyoufeel about it?”
Easton hooks his foot under my chair and slides it toward him.He pushes away the plate, invades my space, and whispers, “I fucking loved it.”Then he leans back, giving Tanner another piece of grilled cheese.“I’d love for you to be Tanner’s mom, but I’m not gonna put that pressure on you.”
Of course he isn’t.He’s probably afraid I’ll bolt.The old me would have.
I press my lips together.“It doesn’t really scare me.Isn’t that weird?”
“Well, I made a pretty kickass kid.”
