Page 62 of Alec’s Dream

I moved to Caleb’s side and leaned down, kissing the top of his head. When I straightened, I noticed his mostly gone cheesesteak and half-full glass of juice.

“You need anything, kid?” Thankfully, I caught myself at the last second and swallowed the “baby boy” I’d been so accustomed to using. I didn’t think he’d be pleased to be called baby-anything with company over.

“I’m fine. You should sit and eat.”

I gave in to the smile and patted my son’s shoulder. “You’re a good son, you know that?”

Caleb beamed before he tucked his chin and I was pleased to know compliments weren’t off the table now that he was almost a teenager.

Now it was time to get the introductions out of the way—something I wasn’t all fired up to do for a variety of reasons, one being my face looked like hell. I should’ve taken the time to put on foundation or even a little powder to try and cover the bruising but I didn’t. Mostly because the endeavor would’ve been in vain. The best it would’ve done was make me look like a clown with caked-on makeup.

“Hi. I’m Macy.”

“Mama!” Joss took the opportunity to babble and I knew my face was red. I could feel the heat in my cheeks and the warmth crept down my chest. I wished a hole would open up and swallow me.

Damn.

“I’m Kennedy. I feel like I know you because Becky talks about you, Rory, and Caleb all the time.”

“You shouldn’t believe a word Becky says, she’s prone to exaggeration when she loves someone.”

“Except when she’s talking about how awesome I am,” Rob interjected. “Then she’s telling it straight.”

There were chuckles around the table and Becky leaned in closer to her husband.

“Right. You’re super awesome,” Becky sassed and playfully rolled her eyes. The truth was, she did think her husband was super awesome and bragged about how lucky she was all the time. It would be nauseating if I didn’t agree, Rob was pretty great.

“I’m Jameson.” The man stood, and holy shit, he was tall—at least two inches taller than Alec, who had at least six inches on me.

He also had the darkest black hair I’d ever seen and piercing hazel eyes. His stare was so penetrating I wanted to look away. To his credit, he didn’t even flinch at the sight of my face.

“Hi, Jameson. Nice to meet you. Thank you both for bringing over dinner.”

“Not a problem.”

Jameson sat back down and Alec stood, shuffling seats so I could fit at the table with Joss on my lap.

“Want me to take her?” Alec offered.

“She’s fine where she is.”

And she totally was. Jocelyn had fitted her little body to my front, wrapped her arms around my neck, and rested her head on my shoulder.

Alec’s gaze roamed over his daughter’s position and I started to get uncomfortable.

“I mean, of course you can take her if you want. I’m not trying to—”

“Babe, she’s fine. I just wanted you to eat.”

“Oh.” I waved away his concern. “Loads of practice eating while holding babies.”

“That’s right, you run Little Lights. Do you like it?” Kennedy asked.

“I do. My job is awesome. I get to play with babies all day long. Well, toddlers too. We have all ages there, from three months to five years.”

Conversation flowed easy back and forth, Becky chiming in here and there. If my head hadn’t been throbbing I could almost pretend it was just a normal dinner and these people weren’t there because Alec had to babysit me.

“You know that honey I gave you this summer? And the jam?” Becky asked.