I swat at Aggie’s shoulder. “Aggie! I don’t need private time with him.”
“Why not? I love Tommy, but I might be willing to use a hall pass with Cooper Keaton.” She waggles her eyebrows.
“Oh my gosh, Aggie! You’re bad!”
“Aunty Aggie not bad, Mommy!” Lilly’s brows furrow in frustration at my statement.
“No, she’s not, baby. You’re right.” I look at Aggie. “She’s wonderful.” I scoop Lily into my arms and hold her tight to me. “Would you like to have a little sleepover with Aunty Aggie and Uncle Tommy tonight?”
“Can Mista Fwoppy come too?” She holds out the grubby stuffed animal that she’s been carrying around for months.
“Sure can, Lily May. I bet he’d love to have a sleepover with us!” Aggie takes her from my arms. “How about we go find some lunch and pack a picnic for Mommy, Mr. Cooper, and the Easter Bunny?”
“Yes! Bunnies wuv cawwots,” she says very seriously with a sharp nod of her head. “We need wots of cawwots!”
A big smile spreads across my face at the thought of Lily bringing Wyatt a bunch of carrots for lunch instead of an actual meal. “I think the Easter Bunny might like a couple of Aunty Aggie’s sandwiches too. He has a lot to do! Maybe we can pack him both?”
“Otay, Mommy. Both!” She scrambles down from Aggie’s arms, squeezing my legs tight before running off ahead of Aggie who tries to keep up.
Going around the trail once before making it back to the photo area, I stop and stare at Cooper in his element. He moves around so easily, clicking, checking the back of his camera, and then back to clicking. He interacts easily with the families, getting the best smiles from the kids even if they’re hesitant with the Easter Bunny.
Maybe some private time with him won’t be such a bad thing.
Pushing off the tree I walk back over to him when there’s a lull in families. Wyatt leaves and puts up a sign that he’ll be back in five minutes.
“I’m going to the bathroom, I need a break from this heat box.” Wyatt juts his thumb over his shoulder motioning toward the barn.
“Okay. Take your time. The trail is pretty quiet and Aggie is back at the house with Lily making lunches.”
Cooper leans in close when Wyatt is out of sight. “How’s it going today? Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves.”
“They definitely are. I’ve been walking around the trail and I’ve heard nothing but really positive comments from very happy parents! You did a great job putting this together.” I bump him with my shoulder, but he pulls me in close by my waist.
“We both did a good job. You had just as much planning in this as I did.”
He stares at me with his ice blue eyes and I don’t know what comes over me. “Lily is sleeping over Aggie and Tommy’s house tonight if you want to come over.”
He smiles a wicked grin, one that I could see getting him into, or out of, a lot of trouble depending on who was on the receiving end of it. “How about a real date? I can get us some takeout from Rebels. We can watch one of your shows and fall asleep on the couch?”
I let out a sudden laugh. “Maybe I’ll even try to stay awake, but it sounds like the perfect date.”
One thing I can appreciate about Cooper is that he’s as much a homebody as I am. The perfect date night for me, and apparently him, is takeout on the couch with a movie. Something I don’t often get to enjoy.
“Great. I’ll grab whatever Clarke has on special tonight?”
Another great thing about Cooper? He loves food as much as I do, and doesn’t mind sharing. With Jack it was always the same three meals and no sharing. When I haven’t been able to decide on takeout at our planning meetings, he gets whatever the second choice was so we can split it. I don’t know if he just likes what I do or he does it to make me happy. Either way, it’s working great.
“Yes, please.”
“Mommy! Whewe awe you?” A little voice comes screaming down the trail.
“Guess that’s my cue. But how does six sound?” I try to sound confident despite the anxiety coursing through my system about being truly alone with Cooper Keaton.
“I’ll be there at six on the dot.” He squeezes my hand before I get the willpower to walk away from him.
Only five more hours to get my nerves under control.
Five-fifty. I have ten minutes left until Cooper gets here and my hands won’t stop shaking. I’ve fluffed the pillows on my couch at least fifteen times in the last thirty minutes, I’ve swept, and cleaned up all the toys that were left behind in Lily’s haste to get to Aunty Aggie’s house. I can’t decide if I’m about to vomit or not, I’m so fucking nervous despite the fact that he’s come over many times since that first night. But we always had Lily as a buffer.
