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“Normally, sure,” I said. “But I hired Jason to be the manager of this entire thing. He knows what he’s doing, and since I’m sure I’m going to wind up writing another book, I wanted to see how the whole process works with the first one.”
“That makes sense,” Erin said. “I do know some about publishing, but I’m mostly an editor. Maybe I can get more into the publishing side of things, and the next book you write I’ll be the one who will take care of all the publishing.”
“God, that would be heavenly,” I told her. “Maybe I’m going to have to write a book about our romance one of these days.”
Erin blushed a crimson shade, and I laughed. “You know you would read it.”
“I’m just not sure I want other people to read some of the details of things we’ve done,” she said with a smirk. “Enough to make me blush and I’m the one who did it.”
“I’m not complaining,” I told her. “There’s some things I want to write down just because of how much I loved it when it happened.”
“There’s plenty more where that came from,” she told me. “Just say the word, and you know I’m ready.”
“Unfortunately, we’re going to have to be careful for the next couple weeks,” I said. “With your friend getting here Friday.”
“I know, but she’ll understand. I’m not sure when I’m going to tell her, but I will while she’s here, so we don’t have to worry about it the entire time. I just don’t want to tell my dad yet, so that’s what’s going to make this tricky.”
“I told you I will deal with that if you want me to,” I said.
“I don’t know yet,” she said. “I’m thinking about it. But look! Surprise.”
She pointed just as we got to the school, and I looked where she was pointing. Libby’s class was just now getting out for the day, and the kids were flooding down the steps. I scanned, looking for Libby. I didn’t see her until I realized that she was the child who was standing at the top of the stairs.
I hadn’t noticed her at first, and I suddenly realized it was because of her outfit.
She wore a green shirt with short sleeves. It had been so long since I had seen her wear anything but black, and even longer since I had seen her in anything that showed her arms.
Instinctively, I pulled Erin close. I was going to go in for a kiss, but she put her hand on my chest and stopped me.
“I don’t want Libby to find out about it this way,” she said. “Just like I didn’t want to spoil her surprise to you with what she’s wearing today.”
I looked over toward the school. Libby was engrossed in conversation with one of her friends, so I snuck a quick kiss.
“We’ll tell her tonight,” I said. “Over dinner.”
“You mean it?” Erin’s eyes went wide, and she had a smile playing around the corners of her mouth.
“I mean it,” I said. “If we’re going to tell your friend, we better tell Libby first. She’s the one who is part of the family, and I don’t want her to have to find out before a friend does.”
“That’s true,” Erin agreed. “God, I made it all day without blowing one surprise, and now you’ve given me another one I have to keep a secret until dinner. You don’t know what you two do to me!”
“I could say the same to you,” I told her, kissing her once more on the cheek before Libby started coming in our direction. “She’s going to be thrilled.”
“I sure hope so,” Erin said.
She had a bit of a concerned look on her face, but I turned my attention to Libby. I wanted her to know how proud I was over her choice to wear a short sleeve today, and I could tell she was on top of the world with pride over what she had done.
God knew I hoped against hope she would be happy for Erin and me. I wanted to believe that she would be, but there was still the chance she was going to be upset over the fact I was dating someone again after the passing of her mother. But she loved Erin, and I hoped that would be enough to overcome any of the fears and feelings she might have against this.
But I wouldn’t know for sure until we talked with her that night, and I, too, couldn’t wait for that to happen. Part of me wanted to talk about it with her on the walk back to the house, but I decided against it.
We would talk about her day and how it was for her wearing her short sleeves. We could talk about Erin and me tonight. We weren’t going anywhere, after all, and there wasn’t a rush to tell my daughter about us dating.
Finally, at dinner, I brought it up.
“Lib, what do you think about Erin staying with us?”
“I love it,” she said.
