Page 61 of Shattered Dreams

“All good?” he asks.

“They’re on their way back early,” I say.

Disappointment crosses his face. And I get it.

He tugs on my sweatpants, yanking me closer. I lean down to kiss him.

“We should get cleaned up.”

“Yeah,” he agrees, but doesn’t move.

I laugh, kissing him again.

I could really get used to all of this.

Eventually, we head to the bathroom, wash our hands and faces, and change our clothes.

“So, Amelia knows,” Paul says as we leave the bedroom and head back to the living room.

“Really? You told her?”

“Not exactly. She already knew.”

“How?” I ask as I grab the remote.

“No clue, but she wants you, Rylee, and your parents to come to Maddox’s birthday.”

“Just her?” I ask teasingly, but inside, I’m serious. I need to make sure he wants this stuff too and isn’t doing it just because.

“What? No, of course not. You know I want you all there, and so does Maddox.”

“Just making sure,” I say, scrolling through the different movies to watch.

I probably should wait to see what Rylee wants to watch, but when she gets here, maybe we should go outside instead of sitting inside. It’s getting colder each day, and soon enough there will be snow outside, and though I don’t mind it, I don’t want to sit in it for hours like I do during the summer or even the fall.

“Anyway, we always go to the pumpkin patch with him. Do the hay ride, pick out pumpkins, take pictures. All that stuff.”

“We will be there.” I give him a soft kiss, and just as I’m pulling away, Rylee comes barreling through the door.

“Daddy, look what I got!” She runs toward me, holding up a plastic yellow bag that’s almost as big as her.

I laugh, as I take it from her.

“It’s my Halloween costume!”

My mother walks in, closing the door behind her.

“I hope it’s okay, but as soon as she saw it, she knew she needed it.”

I open the bag and see exactly why.

“Rylee, you’re going to be Straw Berry for Halloween?” I say excitedly.

“Yes!” She jumps up and down, squealing with happiness.

“I wasn’t sure they would have one in her size, but they did.”

I pull the costume from the bag, laughing when I hold out the fuzzy pink cow onesie suit.