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Except Maddie stood next to me, waiting expectantly for me to carve her the perfect pumpkin. It felt good to be needed. When I finished cutting a circle around the stem, Riley handed us a bowl, and Maddie scooped out the innards and plopped them into it.
“Do you roast the seeds?” I asked, having read about that somewhere.
“We’ve never tried,” Riley said.
“I think you just season them with olive oil and roast them in the oven.” I thought I’d read something about that somewhere.
“That sounds like fun,” Maddie said.
“Just place the seeds on a cookie sheet, and I’ll handle the rest.” I didn’t know much about roasting seeds, but I could look it up. Anything to give the girl an experience to remember.
It struck me as I drew her design on the pumpkins and carefully started carving that kids just wanted you to spend time with them. It wasn’t complicated. Yet it was all I’d wanted growing up. My parents made it seem like I was being selfish for asking. They provided me with money and things, and that was supposed to be enough. It wasn’t.
I carefully carved both pumpkins while Riley placed the cookie sheet of pumpkin seeds in the oven. One was a little lopsided, but the happy one turned out pretty great. At some point, Logan and Ashley showed up with the makings for s’mores. Riley heated the apple cider, and we took it outside to light the pumpkins.
“Not bad,” Logan said when Maddie set the candles inside the pumpkins.
“Especially for my first time.”
Riley raised her brows. “You’ve never carved a pumpkin before?”
I cleared my throat, realizing I’d revealed something I probably shouldn’t have. “No.”
Rile nodded slowly as if she was mulling something over in her mind. “You’ve never been to a festival or carved a pumpkin. You’re doing all kinds of firsts today.”
I nodded, my throat suddenly tight. If we were alone, I would have said something else, like I’d never enjoyed a day with a woman so much before. But we were just a one-night stand.
I tried to tell myself that nothing had changed. Except the warm sensation in my heart telling me that everything had. I wasn’t sure I could go back to my solitary existence. Not after experiencing one day with Riley’s family.I wanted more.
CHAPTER4
Riley
Watching Easton carve that pumpkin had my heart skipping a beat in my chest. Then to find out he’d never done it before, my heart squeezed for the childhood he’d had. I’d been slightly aware of it when I was a kid. I knew he wasn’t particularly close to his parents, but I had no idea how much he’d missed out on.
As a child, I hadn’t thought about the implications. He hadn’t experienced everything we had. Love might have been withheld from him.
It made me want to be by his side for each new thing he exposed himself to. And that was scary because we’d only just reconnected.
Logan stoked the fire in the stone pit in my backyard. Easton placed marshmallows on sticks and handed them to Maddie to roast. I wondered if he’d ever roasted marshmallows before. If he’d ever eaten a s’more? There were so many things I wanted to experience with him.
His eyes met mine over the fire, and he moved closer to me with two sticks. “You want to roast some marshmallows?”
I took one of the sticks. “Have you done this before?”
“No.” His answer was simple and telling.
I smiled to cover my dismay. “Then you’re in for a treat.”
“That’s exactly what this day has been.” His tone was full of emotion.
“I’m glad we ran into each other.” It wasn’t under the best of circumstances, but it brought us together, and for that, I was grateful.
His soul was calling out for a connection with someone. And I wouldn’t have thought it was me except that last night had been incredible. I’d never felt like that with anyone else. There was something about the man I couldn’t just walk away from.
We roasted the marshmallows and ate the sticky goodness off our fingers. I was vaguely aware that Logan was helping Maddie make a s’more when Easton placed his thumb on my upper lip. “You missed something.”
My breath caught. If we were alone, would he have kissed me? Would I have allowed it? The answer was a resounding yes. The realization reverberated in my chest.
