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“You don’t need to hide your reaction from me,” I murmured.
“I’m not.” Her head fell back on my chest. “It’s just…you keep saying these things that are filling a part of me I hadn’t even been aware was empty and I’m scared.”
“Why are you scared?”
“Because what if I get used to it and it goes away?” she whispered. “It was okay that I was empty before. I didn’t even know what I was missing, you know? But now I do, and I’m afraid if you keep filling me up the way you do, I’ll get used to it. And then, one day, what if this doesn’t work out and you’re gone, and I have this big empty place in me I’m acutely aware of because you took such good care of me and said such nice things and made me feel so pretty and desired. What am I going to do then?”
I took her by the shoulders, spinning her around, and covered her worried mouth with mine. She gasped at first, then melted into me, giving me her lips and tongue.
Words weren’t my thing. I once went fifteen days without speaking, and only broke my silence so I didn’t fade away. But with Wren, my thoughts tumbled out, and my thoughts about her were overwhelmingly sweet. Maybe I should’ve played it cool, kept some of it to myself, but games weren’t my thing either.
My forehead knocked against hers when our lips parted. “Not gonna happen. I’m not goin’ anywhere by choice. If I should happen to be hit by a bus tomorrow, then I’m glad you’re aware of that part of you that’s been achin’ to be filled. You deserve to have that. I never want you to think bein’ empty is okay. Even if my ass is splat under a damn bus.”
She scratched my beard and sighed. “I need to get dressed.”
Reticent little bird. I guess I was just going to have to show her how out of my mind I was over her. She wasn’t getting it. But she would.
As if on cue, the door to her bedroom banged open and Ezra charged inside. Ignoring his mother, he stopped in front of me and jumped up and down, poking his chest.
“Mommy, Mommy! Cow-um wants my jammies!” he proclaimed.
Snorting a laugh, Wren pulled a long-sleeve T-shirt over her head. “Really? I don’t know if they’ll fit, Cow-um.” Her eyes flared with amusement. “Are you a bigPAW Patrolfan?”
I raised a brow at her. I had no fuckin’ clue. “The biggest.”
Ezra jumped again, this time with his arms straight up in the air. “I’m the biggest!”
I smacked my forehead. “That’s right. You are the biggest. I forgot.”
He squealed and threw himself at Wren’s legs. She laughed and rubbed his hair, all while keeping an eye on me. I’d seen them together, but watching from the outside was nothing like being in her sweet-smelling bedroom, Wren pantless, Ezra in jammies and crazy hair, hugging and happy.
“What do you want for breakfast?” she asked her son.
“Eggs!” Everything seemed to be an exclamation from him. “Cow-um can make them.”
Wren laughed. “Callum has to go bye-bye. I’ll make your eggs, baby buddy.”
It was early Sunday morning, I had nowhere to be. I wanted to contradict her, but I wasn’t about to do that in front of her kid. I didn’t always understand a lot about most people, but I knew better than to get between a mother and her kid.
Ezra poked his lip out. “You gotta go bye-bye?”
I shrugged. “Maybe I can hang out for a little while. I can’t cook eggs, though. Not unless you want them to be black.”
His tiny nose wrinkled. “Nooo! That’s yucky!”
Wren put her hands on her hips. “See why Mommy has to cook your eggs? Nobody likes black eggs.”
Ezra screeched again and ran to the bed to start bouncing all over it. Kid had energy, fuck. It wasn’t even six thirty in the morning.
Wren looked at me. I looked back at her. Her forehead was crinkled.
“You need pants.”
She looked down at her legs, giggling after a beat. “Yeah, I guess I do.”
Once she put on a pair of leggings, I got down on my knee and took a foot in my hand to slip a thick, woolen sock on. Then I traded it for the other foot, repeating the process. I stood and kissed her crown. Her forehead was crinkled again when I met her gaze.
“Go make your kid breakfast, Little Bird.”
