AllFreeNovel
Share Us
And rightly so. As much as I want her back, I wouldn’t use our son to do it.
“Nope.” I shake my head.
“You kiss, and you fight.” He shrugs again. “Like Aunt Harper and Uncle Keith—”
“Mom doesn’t make me coffee.” I latch onto the one thing he mentioned about his ideas of marriage that Julie doesn’t do. I feel a little bit guilty when he sinks back against the seat and sighs.
Glad to have that conversation behind us, I hurry around the car and get in the driver’s seat.
“Dad?”
“Hmm?” I meet his eyes in the rearview as I start the car and put it in drive.
“Do you want to marry Mom?”
“Can I ask you something, Ryle?”
“Yep.”
I laugh softly and wonder when my kid grew up. I feel like I’m talking to a teenager instead of an incoming first grader.
“Do you want me to marry your mom?”
“Would you live with us then?”
I hold my breath for a second, hoping Julie would understand why I feel compelled to answer him honestly.
“Yes.”
“Would you get me a baby brother?”
“I don’t know, Ryle. Do you want a baby brother?”
“Yeah.” He nods, but he looks away. “Would you be like Grandpa and Grandma?”
Panic shoots through me as I jerk my gaze back to the rearview mirror to look at him. What has he seen my parents doing?
“What do you mean?”
“Would you guys be happy?”
I feel like he knocked the air out of me again. I can only nod, because yes, I would be happy to be married to Julie and living in their house and kissing her.
“Yeah, we would.” I have to hope she would say the same thing.
“Then yes.” He nods. “I want you to marry Mom.”
23
Julie
“So?”
Dani’s been patient. We’ve been gone for an entire day now, and she hasn’t asked about Truman. I know she saw us holding hands at Ryle’s tee-ball game the other night, so she’s got to be bursting with questions. I appreciate her patience, but on the other hand, all afternoon on the beach today, I was tense, just waiting for her to start the interrogation.
I don’t mean to sound harsh. After all, Dani was there when Truman left. Dani was my shoulder to cry on. She held my hand when Ryle was born. She sat with him as a newborn when I needed a break. She did my laundry and insisted I nap.
All that without ever knowing why we broke up.
