Page 72 of The Blessing

chapter 28

sugar

The knowledge that my girl loves me has me completely fucking elated. Never have I been more at peace with myself. I’ve been on cloud nine since hearing Ronnie admit her feelings. Now that she knows how much I love her—I can finally fucking relax. The words have been on the tip of my tongue for so long—yearning to be expressed—and now that they’ve been said I can’t stop repeating them. I’ve spent the entire morning telling her over and over again how deeply I feel for her.

When she says she loves me, too… God, no words have ever sounded sweeter. For her to have any type of feelings toward me is more than I ever could’ve hoped for. I just can’t wrap my head around someone loving me, especially someone who’s not obligated to. My father loves me—but I’m his son. Grey loves me—but that’s because I’m the only father he has. Ronnie could’ve chosen anyone in the world, but she chose me: a struggling, single dad. It’s fucking baffling to me, however, that doesn’t mean I’m not thrilled with the fact. Shit, I’m beyond thrilled to be honest. I don’t think there are words to describe the amount of happiness that’s coursing through my body.

“What are you staring at?” Ronnie asks, looking up at me from over her breakfast menu.

“You,” I answer with a smirk as I feed Grey his oatmeal. Mae and Lincoln are supposed to meet us for breakfast, but so far, they’ve been no shows. I went ahead and ordered Grey’s food. Ronnie and I decided to wait politely until they arrive. “I love you.”

She smiles and takes a sip of her tea. “You can’t stop saying it now, can you?” she sheepishly asks. “I love you, too, Trev.”

I reach across the table to hold her hand, enjoying the warmth of her palm against mine. “I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of saying it,” I say, honestly. “I’ve been wanting to tell you for so long.”

“You did.”

My brows shoot up in surprise. “What? When did I tell you?”

She gives me another sheepish smile before shrugging. “With your eyes. In the way you would look at me. I’m sure I’ve been looking at you the exact same way.”

Now that she’s mentioned it, I know she has. She’s illustrated her love for me in so many ways. I’ve had my head too far up my own ass to notice. I always thought of myself as unlovable—so, I never read too much into the things she did. Thinking back about the way she’d always looked at me warms my fucking heart. She’s loved me all this time and I never allowed myself to believe it until now. “I’m so lucky to have you, baby. I have no idea where I’d be without you.”

“Well, you’d definitely be missing out if I wasn’t in your life,” Ronnie teases me.

My stomach grumbles. I decide to pull my phone out and send a text Lincoln just to touch base and see when he plans on showing up. Right as I begin to type out my message I hear the door chime from the front entrance of the diner. I look up to see Mae and Lincoln walking toward our table. I shove my phone back in my pocket and smile at them. I feel more confident than I did yesterday. Even if they treat me like shit, I’ll be polite because I have my own little family who loves me.

I stand up with Grey to greet them. I’m surprised to find that they don’t seem as cold as they did the day before. However, it doesn’t take long for that to change. As soon as they sit down, they’re not very responsive to Ronnie and me. Fuck it. They didn’t want to see us anyway. I let Lincoln hold his grandson during our breakfast, glad that doing so gives him some sort of satisfaction. I hold Ronnie’s hand and focus on enjoying my morning with her as Mae and Lincoln continue to ignore us. I know one way to get their attention, and I’m feeling a bit spiteful after they spent the entire course of breakfast disregarding us. So, I slip off my leather jacket and rest my arms on the table. I’m wearing a black T-shirt, therefore the majority of my two full sleeves are visible. Their eyes widen in shock, but they refrain from commenting.

“So, what did you want to do after this?” I casually ask before taking a sip of my coffee. I look over to Ronnie only to find her smirking at me. It’s obvious she knows exactly what I was trying to do.

Mae gulps, but to my surprise she actually responds with an answer which isn’t oozing with fucking judgement. “I was thinking we could go to the children’s museum nearby.”

“That’s a wonderful idea,” I say with a smile before looking back to my girl. “It’s right by our hotel.”

I end up paying for breakfast, after insisting they allow me to treat them. I do it in hopes it’ll butter them up for the rest of the day. I just want today to run smoothly because it’s going to be a long trip home tomorrow. Lincoln concedes and allows me to pay but insists on paying for the museum. I’m happy to oblige considering how expensive this trip has been in the first place. Thankfully, my dad loaned me some money before we left since I was doing such a “good deed” in his eyes.

We follow their 2011 Chrysler 300 to the Children’s Museum of Northern Nevada. It’s a brick building that apparently doesn’t look very exciting to Grey. However, as soon as we enter the lobby and he sees the interior his face becomes animated. He excitedly kicks his legs, wanting down so he can crawl around the place and explore. The museum isn’t too big—or as impressive as the other children’s museums I’ve visited as a kid—but Grey seems to love it. Although, the other children scare him a bit. The sounds of their laughter cause him to become shy, and he buries his face in the collar of my leather jacket.

As soon as he gets a bit more comfortable I give him to Mae, so she can spend time with her grandson while he’s here. I grab Ronnie’s hand and we do a few laps around the main room of the museum to give Mae and Lincoln some alone time with Grey.

“I can’t wait until he gets a little older—then he can get on the slide and do all these activities.” I comment as we watch some of the older kids run around on all the play equipment. “Of course, I’ve heard toddlers are a handful.” I say, giving her an “oh shit” look which causes her to laugh. From what she’s told me about Harper, I’m sure Grey will be even more tiring.

“We’ll definitely have a wild child on our hands,” she agrees.

Something about her statement makes my heart skip a fucking beat—or two. I know it’s cheesy but hearing her talk about a future with me fucking moves me. She plans on being a part of Grey’s life. I can’t begin to describe what that means to me, or how happy it makes me feel. I won’t be a single father. I won’t have to deal with this all on my own. I want to tell her again just how much I fucking love her, but the sounds of Grey’s cries from across the room grabs my attention. We walk over, finding he’s having a hissy fit in his grandmother’s arms.

“He needs to be changed,” Ronnie says with a slight frown. “I can take him.”

Mae gives her a look which screams, “Who are you?” Although, she knows damned well who Ronnie is. I explained to them yesterday that she’s my girlfriend. So, I don’t understand what their problem is with her right now.

“If you don’t want my girlfriend to change him, I can change him.” I say with a heavy sigh.

Mae looks at me for a moment before handing my crying son to Ronnie. I want to roll my eyes at her. However, I stop myself, knowing my attitude won’t do any good. As soon as the two of them disappear into the women’s restroom the feeling in the room becomes incredibly awkward. This is the first time I’ve been alone with Catherine’s parents. Their dislike for me is palpable. I’m raising their grandson for fuck’s sake! What sort of vendetta can they really have against me?

“I should have fought for him,” Mae says quietly enough to pretend she were saying it to herself.

“Dean and Cat wanted me to raise their son,” I simply say, preparing to stand my ground.