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Lex snort laughs and ma shakes her head but smiles the entire time.
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The kids are in the back of the truck watching a cartoon and we are headed to the pumpkin patch. I glance over at the gorgeous blonde riding shotgun, her sneakered feet on my dash, enormous sunglasses on her face, and her hair blowing in the breeze coming in from the sunroof. She catches me looking at her and smiles.
"I can feel you starin' at me, Crawford James," she lolls her head to the side to look at me and I sneak a peek at her before looking back to the road. Taking the wheel with my left hand I reach across the center console and snag her hand, bringing it to my mouth for a quick kiss before resting our linked fingers on her leg.
"Can't help it that you're so god damn gorgeous. It's hard to take my eyes off ya," I say as she rubs her thumb across my hand. She sighs contently.
“You make this so easy, ya know? I never knew being with someone could be like this. My last relationship was such work. I felt like I was always working to make him happy, working to keep us together. With you it doesn’t feel like work. It just feels…” she trails off, “I don’t know, it’s just an incredible feeling.”
I’m quiet for a moment, letting her words sink in. She’s not wrong. Sometimes my relationship with Zoe felt like a lot of work. It was hard.
“Things with Zoe weren’t always easy,” I began, shif ting in my seat a little, glancing in the rearview mirror to make sure both kids had their headphones on still. “We got pregnant young, had a baby young, and then we were both working on our careers. Me working construction during the day and going to school at night. Her cutting hair during the day and raising a baby at night while her husband was in school. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I love that woman with my whole heart,” I swallow over the lump in my throat, glancing over to see Lex’s face showing nothing but compassion. I squeeze her hand and turn my eyes back toward the road. “I loved her so much. And the good days outweigh the bad days. Made ‘em not seem so bad, ya know? And it won’t always be easy with us but I hope we always have more good days than bad. I want all of it with you, you know that right? It’s okay if we have a bad day… it’s okay if some days all we do is survive. Because barely surviving with you is a hell of a lot better than the barely surviving I was doing before you barged into my classroom.” I’m turning into the parking lot for the pumpkin patch and swinging my pickup into an empty spot. Shifting it into park, I chance a glance at my girl in the front seat and tears are streaming down her face. I reach over and wipe one away with my thumb.
“Shit baby, I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
She chokes out a laugh and wipes the rest of the tears away from her cheeks, shaking her head.
“These are happy tears. The happiest. You make everything better. I can’t imagine my life without you and these kids. You’re it for me.” I can’t take it anymore, I lean over the console and snag her by the back of the neck, tilting her head towards me pressing my forehead against hers before meeting her lips with mine in a searing kiss. My heart thumps in my chest, reminding me that I’m alive and well and that Zoe would want this for me. For us.
“Eewwww! Lex don’t let my daddy kiss you! Boys are gross and they have a penis!” Aria squeals from the back. Moment ruined.
I shake my head and chuckle. “Never a dull moment,” I say, pulling myself away from Lex and snagging the keys out of the ignition. “Come on, guys. Let’s go see who can find the biggest pumpkin.”
Lex
It’s dark out by the time Ford swings his truck into his driveway. We picked pumpkins, we played in the barn at the pumpkin patch, we ate apple cider doughnuts, and we completed the corn maze. Twice. The kids had a blast and wore themselves out, they are both snoozing in the backseat and I must have dozed off as well because I wake up to Ford brushing my hair away from my face.
“Baby,” he whispers, “baby wake up. Were you expecting more company?”
“Hmm?” I mumble groggily, sitting up, looking at him like he’s lost his mind. “Company? No, no one else knows… I mean, no one mentioned anything.” I glance out my window and see a white Honda parked in the driveway. My heart starts racing. Just as I’m getting ready to turn and tell Ford to haul ass out of the driveway and call the cops, movement on the front porch catches my eye.
“Oh my God!” I squeal, flinging the door open and tearing across the small yard that separates our houses.
“Jesus Christ, Alexis. It’s about time you got yer ass home. I’m too old to sit on your porch for hours like this. Where the hell is Clarissa?” Ronnie’s grumbling from the front porch, pushing herself up and out of the swing. I come to a skittering halt in front of her and fling my arms around her tiny frame and squeeze. Hard. Clarissa got a part time job serving drinks at the tavern a few towns over, but I just ignore Ron’s question because I’m so excited to see her.
“Damnitt child, I’m old and my bones are brittle,” Ronnie says, while squeezing me back just as hard. I can’t believe she’s really here, and I tell her just that. She reaches up and pats me on my cheek.
“Of course I’m here, baby. I had to come check on my girl.” My heart soars. This woman, I love her so much and I can’t believe she’s standing in front of me. “Now, how about you introduce me to your fine as hell man friend?” She’s already stepping around me and making her way down the steps and towards Ford who’s crossing the yard carrying a sleeping Aria with Zane trailing behind him. He’s looking at me quizzically. He still doesn’t know much about my life before I came to Alabama, but he does know about Ronnie. I’ve been staying tight lipped about everything else.
Ronnie reaches him and introduces herself to him and the kids. She immediately reaches out for Aria and takes her in her arms, giving her a squeeze. I lean my shoulder against the pillar on my front porch, taking in the scene in front of me, my heart soaring. All of my favorite people are finally in one place. Ford breaks away from the three of them and strides towards me, his hands stuffed in his pockets. He steps up onto the bottom of the step so we’re eye to eye, his face soft.
“You really didn’t know she was coming,” he asks, reaching out and hooking a finger in my belt loop and pulling me flush against him. I rest my hands on his shoulders, shaking my head.
“No clue. She’s insane. What eighty-year-old lady takes off on a whim and drives hundreds of miles on her own,” I continue shaking my head. His face is still soft.
“The kind that must really love you,” he says, pressing a kiss to my temple. I run my fingers through the stubble on his face. I smile.
“She does. And I love her, too.” Ford makes a humming noise in the back of his throat before pressing a kiss to my lips which I happily return.
“And you know what else?” I ask, wrapping my arms around his neck as he drops his hands to my ass and squeezes, igniting that fire low in my belly. The stir that I get each time I’m near him. “I love you, Crawford.” I don’t miss the look of surprise on his face before I rest my chin on his shoulder, staring at Ronnie and the kids playing in the yard, trying to ignore the nervous butterflies in my stomach from his silence. Hoping I didn’t just fuck all of this up by announcing that. Is it too soon? Too much? Is he ready to fully love another woman after losing what he thought was the love of his life?
“Baby,” he rasps out and I lean back to look at his face. My eyes flicking back and forth between his, trying to get a read on him. He reaches up and tucks my hair behind my hair, shaking his head.
“I love you so fucking much,” he finally says, pulling me back against him. I breathe out a sigh of relief.
“Oh, thank god,” I say, “I thought I went and fucked everything up by saying it too soon.”
