AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Soon. Really soon. I promise,” I say.
Leo crosses his arms over his chest. He’s clearly not happy with my answer, nor is he happy with his abuela who he’s pouting at.
Tentatively, I touch his arm and lean in. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Okay?”
Leo inhales deep, chest puffing, smile growing. Without warning, he throws his arms around my neck and burrows himself into the cavern of my bent-over body.
There is no hesitation. Just instinct. I accept him tight, sliding my hands over his back. He is so small compared to me. In need of his father’s protection. In need of his father’s love. My love. Leo awakens a part of me that has been dormant far too long. I always wondered what might fill the gap in my heart that fame and fortune haven’t.
It’s been a Leo-shaped hole and I didn’t know it.
I glance up at Isabella to make sure she’s not upset with me.
And she’s not. The exact opposite. She’s smiling at the image.
“Now, you don’t want to keep Abuela waiting, hm?” I say, finally releasing him.
Leo leaves my embrace reluctantly and goes to Marisol. He takes her hand. “Okay, we can go.”
“So glad I have your permission,” she says with a roll of her eyes. With a wave over her shoulder, she catches Isabella’s attention, “We’ll be fine. Have fun.”
I watch them go until they disappear out the door of the long diner, decorated with turquoise and pink and all kinds of ephemera.
Suddenly, a hand grabs mine. Isabella’s hand. I know it so well.
She presses herself to my side and my insides stir.
“Don’t turn around,” she says in my ear. “There’s someone in the kitchen trying to take a picture of you.”
I clamp my teeth down on my lower lip and wince. I turn my head just enough to see the line cook through the window, trying to get a good snap of me. I’m haunted by my life. Can’t have a goddamn moment with someone without an asshole trying to screw it up.
“You get out of here. I’ll settle up and meet you at the car,” she says.
I grip her hand harder and jerk her toward me. Fuck it. “I want time with you, Isabella.”
Isabella gives me another one of those fresh, unfettered smiles. “I know. We can go somewhere private.”
My jaw tenses. “Where?” Unless she wants me to take her back to my motel room, what kind of privacy could we possibly have when I’m recognizable everywhere we go in this town?
She laughs, shaking her head. “You don’t remember our spot, Rex?”
All my frustration evaporates. Our spot. In the desert. Under the stars. A trademark of our time together. “You want to go out there?”
Isabella pauses for a moment. Her warm brown eyes search my face. “I’m still the girl you met five years ago. In some ways.”
Yes, she is. In many ways. In fact, in all ways. But time and responsibility have built a shell around her.
I’ll break through it. One step at a time.
Starting tonight.
Chapter 12
Isabella
We make it out of town and to the spot while the sun is still clinging to the sky. Soon it will dip completely below the horizon and there will be a chill in the air before we know it. Luckily, I keep blankets and sweatshirts in the back of the car as part of an emergency kit in case the car should breakdown… in the tundra, I guess.
It never hurts to be prepared, especially with a child in the mix.
