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“Of course.”
“Oh, and we have to add finding plane tickets to the list.”
Corey frowned. “Plane tickets?”
“I told Hope when she won I’d come out there. After the holidays. Maybe January or February.” Her mind flew through all the things Hope had told her about Minnesota. “Or we could wait until the spring or summer months. She says northern Minnesota is gorgeous. Like the Duluth area and stuff. We could also make it into a mini sightseeing vacation.”
“Yeah, okay. That’s cool. Whatever you want.”
He sounded hesitant.
“You don’t want to go with?”
“I’m just imagining a plane with a squirming toddler.” He chuckled, although she still heard the wariness. He must’ve sensed her discomfort. “I didn’t realize you were so close to Hope. We met her once for a few hours.”
Amelie started to wiggle, indicating she wanted to get down. Genevieve set her down, and she immediately walked back to her blocks and plopped her butt to the floor. It’s as if she knew Mommy and Daddy wanted to have an adult conversation alone.
Corey wasn’t wrong. She had only been face-to-face with Hope once. But the many phone calls and texts told a different story. She felt like she had known Hope since she was a little girl. That they’d grown up together, sharing stories, sharing woes, sharing heartbreaks and joy. Genevieve couldn’t explain it and didn’t know where to start.
A tender smile hit his lips as he grabbed her hands. “I’m not trying to dissuade you or anything. I was just surprised you wanted to visit her.”
“Melanie was my best friend. I could tell her anything.” She sniffed, feeling sudden tears in the back of her eyelids. “At one point in our lives, we did tell each other everything. I’ll always regret not mending what was broken between us that she felt she couldn’t tell me about Amelie.”
His brows puckered low. “I know. I know.”
She sensed he wanted to say more, or something else, but he settled with those two simple words.
“I can’t explain it, but Hope feels like my new best friend. I can call her and she listens. I don’t feel weird or awkward or think she won’t understand. I know it’s crazy. We haven’t known each other long, but,” she shrugged, “she’s my friend and I want to show my support. I don’t want to screw up again.”
Corey squeezed her hands, then let them go, framing her face. “You won’t. You didn’t last time. Sometimes, life happens. Shit happens. You have to stop blaming yourself.” He kissed her. A sweet brush of his lips, making her ache for more. “I was confused, but now I understand. Hell, we can visit her this week if you want. I’m game for whatever.”
“That would be hard to do this week.”
“It’d take some work, but it’s not impossible.”
The fact he was willing to do that meant so much to her.
But it wasn’t necessary.
“Let’s take our time and plan it. But I appreciate the offer.”
Another slow, compassionate kiss touched her lips. All of his love, his understanding poured out in each movement.
“Dada, more. Dada, more.”
Corey chuckled against her lips. “She wants more Cheerios.”
“Dada, more!”
“You better get on that, Dada.”
He pressed another kiss, harder and more insistent on her lips, before letting her go and backing away. He ruffled Amelie’s hair and picked up her empty cereal bowl from the floor near her blocks.
“You plan the trip.” Soft clinking filled the room as the cereal fell into the bowl as he poured. “Hell, if you wanna see her now, then in the summer, we can do that, too.”
He walked around the counter, the bowl in one hand, and wrapped one arm around her waist, pulling her snug against him. “Life’s too short not to do what you want. We learned that the hard way. We lived it. I almost lost you. We shouldn’t waste a moment of our lives waiting and wondering and thinking we can do something down the road. We do it now. No more hesitating. I’m sorry I did in the beginning.”
She smiled. “You’re right.”
