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“Okay, good. Well, I feel great about it.”
I could practically feel the relief through his silence on the other end of the line, and I smiled. It was the truth. This was the right next step for us. I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t been worried that Zac would chicken out on telling Grayson about us. Mostly, I hoped that he would, but there was still that fear that this would be too much for him to trust me with, and he wouldn’t fully let me in.
I knew it would change everything, and the fact that he’d gone through with it and had taken that step felt like any part of the remaining bricks in our wall had been smashed to smithereens. And hopefully, me saying I felt good about the change had the same effect on him.
* * *
“I’ve actually met a lot of guys who missed the birth of their kids,” Zac told me as we strolled the aisles of the Halloween store behind Grayson. “It’s pretty common. One dude I met in San Diego has four kids, and he was gone for every single one of their births.”
“That’s so crazy. I mean, I get it, because it’s not like the military is going to send you home from deployment for every major life event. But missing the birth of your child? That’s so big. For both parents.” I stopped walking, my eyes widening as I looked up at Zac. “Oh my gosh, I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”
He let out a low chuckle. “Don’t worry about it. Everything I missed was my own fault. And you’re right, it was probably hard for Candice. But since I can’t change it, I’m trying to make up for it now.”
“You’re doing a great job.”
“Thanks.” One side of his mouth lifted as he peered down at me, then he gave my hand a little squeeze.
“So, uh, crazy question,” I said, watching as Gray studied the superhero costumes. “I know we’re just now easing into being together and having Grayson be part of it, but have you thought about whether or not you want to have more kids?”
Zac stilled beside me. “Uh … well, I …”
“No pressure,” I cut in. “I guess Aria’s news just had me thinking about it.”
“What kinds of things are you thinking?”
I bit my bottom lip. “I don’t know, like I said at the wedding, I don’t feel the same way about having kids as I did three years ago. I wasn’t ready then, but I’m not getting any younger. You know?”
“Yeah, now that you mention it, you do look more wrinkly than before.”
I gasped and reached for the closest weapon I could find, which happened to be some kind of plastic blade. “Watch it, buddy. I’m a ninja.”
“I’m just teasing,” he said, quickly disarming me in a practiced move before putting the blade back on the shelf with a grin. “You’re as beautiful as ever. Also, not even thirty. So no wrinkles yet.”
“You’d better still love me when I’m wrinkly.”
His smile dipped a little bit, and he hung his head. “I’m just glad you’re giving me a chance to get there.”
My mouth closed with a snap, far too head over heels for this man and his swoony words to respond.
“Anyway,” he went on as we followed Grayson to the aisle where they kept the family costumes, “if this keeps going on like this, are you saying sometime between now and when you’re wrinkly, you wanna have more kids?”
The idea lit up every nerve in my body, and I felt a wide smile stretch over my face. “Yeah, I think so. What about you?”
“It took a while to wrap my head around being a dad, but it’s great. So yeah, I’d love that.”
“Cool. Well,yayfor being on the same page about it, then.”
He smirked. “And also for talking about it ahead of time. I kinda feel like a lot of our issues could have been solved by talking before, so it’s cool that we’re doing so much of that this time around.”
“I agree.” I rose on my toes and kissed his cheek, smiling again.
“What about this one?” Grayson asked, pointing to a giant marshmallow costume. “I can be the marshmallow and you guys can be graham crackers and then we’d be a s’more!”
Zac laughed and shook his head. “I don’t even like s’mores.”
“What?” I shrieked, holding my hands over my chest like I’d been stabbed. “That can’t be true.”
“When do you ever remember me eating s’mores when we were together?”
