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He grins up at her. “Okay!” They go back inside.
My hip throbs from where I fell, but I don’t care. Her plan worked without too many hitches, and now he gets to go to the park. Win-win.
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31
Aria
The Somerset Harbor nature trail is one of my favorite spots around. The trail leads through a small forest which backs up onto a beach. It’s perfect. There’s even a small playground Owen loves. We’re the only ones here, which is nice.
Once parked, we get out, and Owen darts for the playground. A light snow happened last night, but it doesn’t slow him down. I almost think he likes it more.
Whose kid is he again?
I’m bundled up with layers on layers, and I’ve brought my picnic backpack. Two thermoses with canned ravioli, another with hot tea for me, and one with hot chocolate for him. I’m going for mother of the year here. Sitting on the wooden picnic table, I set it down and watch him go from the monkey bars to the swings. My tea is some weird lemongrass concoction Lily swore by, and when I taste it, it’s actually good. Like really good. I was skeptical, but—
“Mom, push me!”
Duty calls. “Okay, hon.”
After I push him a few times, he gets relentless. “Higher!”
“This is as high as I can go.”
“Okay,” he sulks.
Everett parks his beat-up truck next to my car, and a thrill zips through me. I’d secretly invited him today for this trip. Depending on how things go, Owen may be in for the surprise of his life.
Everett jogs up to us wearing half as much warm gear as me. So, this is where Owen gets his love of the cold from. He smiles as he approaches, and Owen waves, then jumps from the swing to greet him. “Hi, Everett! I didn’t know you were coming.”
“Hey, kiddo! Your mom invited me. I hope that’s okay.”
“Yeah! Can you push me on the swings?”
“I’ll give it a shot.”
I smile and let him take the push position. Just being near Everett, I am dying to kiss him. But instead, I murmur, “Hey.”
His voice deepens when he speaks to me, and that tone just sets me on edge. “Hey, Aria. Thanks for the invitation.”
“Glad you could make it.”
“Wouldn’t miss this for the world.” Everett turns his attention to Owen, and soon, it’s like I’m not even there. He pushes him much higher than I did, and Owen squeals with delight. I return to my tea, and can’t help but take some pictures. I should have gotten some of them playing dinosaurs when they first met, but I was so taken by the sight of it that I didn’t even think about it. Now, though, in the crisp winter air and bright morning sunlight, it’s the perfect time for pictures and tea.
After a while, Everett suggests, “How about the monkey bars? Those were always my favorite when I was your age.”
“Okay, but I’m great at it. I can get to seven.”
“Oh yeah? Show me.”
Owen runs straight to the monkey bars, and Everett grins at me before joining him.If I weren’t in love with this man before—wait. It’s too soon for that, isn’t it? I mean, we’ve never even gone on a proper date.But that feels like an arbitrary unit of measurement for relationship progress. And this is so much more real than dinner and a movie. In fact, every interaction with Everett has been deeper than some superficial excuse of a date. So, maybe the standard rules don’t apply here. Maybe it’s not crazy to think I’m falling in love with the father of my child so soon.
And even if it is crazy, do I care? Truthfully, no. I don’t.
Owen tries for the eighth bar and falls, then he turns to Everett. “Can you do that?”
“I don’t know. It’s been a long time. Let’s see.” When he grabs the bars overhead, he has to bring his knees up off the ground so he’s not just walking beneath them. It’s plain that he could do the whole thing, but he drops after five. “Wow. You must be really strong to do seven. Can you show me how you did it?”
