AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No, you haven’t.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Why? I want to tell you. I was an asshole. I didn’t love her. I should never have asked her to marry me. In the end, it turned out she was just like my mother. With me for my money and status. She was stealing from me. And when I found out, right on the heels of finding out about you, I called it off. She's still living in the place we shared. I’ve given her a few months to find something else, but that’s it.”
She squeezes my hand. “I’m sorry she hurt you. I want to kick her ass because she hurt you, and kiss her because she also left you free to be with me.”
She smiles at me and it reaches all the way to her eyes, which are the color of beaten gold. She takes my breath away. Every single time I look at her.
“I was always free to be with you, Red. I’ve always been yours,” I whisper.
She grins at me and winks. And now I want dinner to be over so I can get her home and out of that dress.
I try to remember why I asked her to dinner. I want to date her, like we never got the chance to. I wasn’t even planning on taking her home tonight. So, I steer my mind back to our date and keep the mood light.
“Tell me, Red. How long have you been planning events?”
That question has the exact opposite effect. Her face falls. “To tell you the truth, yours will be my first.”
My eyes widen and I sit back in mock shock.
“My first, professionally. I’ve been planning events for years. I promise I can do the job Cristal hired me for,” she adds hastily.
“Okay,” I drawl.
Her eyes narrow and she looks ready to defend herself. I can’t hold my laughter in anymore.
“You should see your face. I’m just fucking with you. I trust Cristal implicitly. I know she wouldn’t hire anyone who would let me down. I'm not the slightest bit worried about you as our event planner.”
She throws her napkin at me.
“You rat. You let me sit here and squirm. That was very unkind,” she scolds. I can tell she wants to laugh, though.
“I'm sorry. I couldn’t help it,” I say in between guffaws. She starts to laugh, too, and her laugh is melodic and rich. Her head thrown back, her eyes closed, she looks positively gorgeous.
“I’m sorry. I must seem like such an ass, sitting here laughing at you. I shouldn’t have teased you about something you’re sensitive about.”
“I’m not that sensitive.” She rolls her eyes. And it’s true. Her feelings were never easily hurt. “I’m the mother of a six-year-old boy who is very honest in all of his observations. I know where every single line, dimple, and imperfection is on my body thanks to him. I get told when I'm not funny, when I don’t look good, when I don’t smell good, and when I need to change my nail polish color. So, believe me, I have a pretty thick skin.”
“You’re a mom,” I say, hearing the sense of wonder in my voice.
“Yes, I am.” She smiles at the thought of her son.
“Do you want children?” she asks me.
“Yes, of course,” I answer quickly. It’s something I’ve always wanted.
“Do you want more children?” I ask her in return.
“Yes, so much, Anthony would be a great big brother, and I always wanted a large family.”
“Why didn’t you have more after Ant Man?” I ask.
“Kevin didn’t want more, and honestly, now I'm glad. It would make our custody battle so much more stressful if we had more than one child.”
“Shit, Red, how is that going? You’ve got a good lawyer, right?”
“Yes, I have the best lawyer. And it’s going okay, we have a hearing set, but we can’t even file for divorce until January of next year, so we might have to do this again once that is final.”
