“Sam and I decided you were right, and we should make more time for fun. So, this is your official invitation to our pool party this weekend.”
I look up from the invitation, and I feel my smile growing too big. My smile is more appropriate for winning a new car off of The Price Is Right than accepting a pool-party invitation. “I love this idea. Count me in.”
“Before you agree, you should know that my entire family will be there.”
Okay, okay, okay. Just chill the freak out, Evie.
I want to dissect every part of what he just said and look for all the hidden meanings. Meet his family? This has to mean something, right?! But instead, I answer, “How entire are we talking? Like distant-crazy-Uncle-Fred-who-drinks-too-much-and-might-try-to-cop-a-feel entire?”
He laughs and rubs his hands over his legs and dark denim jeans. “Just my parents, sisters, and their families.”
“That doesn’t sound too bad. In fact, it sounds like fun.” Someone sign me up for a movie deal, because I’m such a good actor right now that no one would suspect I’m completely freaking out. Jake wants me to meet his family. Wants me to spend the day with his family. Which reminds me of something.
“Wait, where’s Sam right now?”
“My sister is at home with her. I had to run into the office for a little bit.”
Right. The office. HIS office. The one he owns. I have to stop thinking of these things, because all they do is remind me that there is no way this guy should be interested in me. I’m the furthest from successful anyone could be. Just ask my mama. She’ll tell you.
“So, work usually keeps you pretty busy?”
He sighs one of those heavy man sighs that sounds like he’s literally holding the world on his shoulders. “Yeah. But I’ve delegated a lot of my work to the two other architects in the firm, though.”
“You don’t sound as relieved as a person normally does after a statement like that.”
“I guess it’s because I’m not really all that relieved. This is going to make me sound like the world’s worst dad, but…I love my job. It’s been hard for me to give up most of my work to be home with Sam.”
I shake my head. “That doesn’t make you sound like a bad parent. I think, if anything, it shows how amazing you are. You’re giving up something you love to be there for your kid.” I wish I wasn’t having to say all this out loud. It’s forcing me to think of all of the incredible qualities of Jake that I’ve been trying to ignore.
“Thanks. It was easier to balance it all when…” His words trail off, and I know what he’s not saying.
“When you were married and had a second parent at home with Sam?”
His blue eyes lock with mine, and he nods. “Sorry. I don’t mean to keep dropping that in every conversation.”
“It’s okay. Really. It’s a part of your life, so why wouldn’t I want to talk with you about it?” And then, suddenly, I realize I’m not such a good actor after all because I’m letting my interest in him show way too much. I clear my throat and look down at my knees. “How were Sam and Daisy getting on after I left?”
“Great. Sam is like a new kid with Daisy. She seems so much lighter and more excited about life.” He chuckles. “She even put a fake spider in my sock drawer earlier today. You have no idea how good it is to have her interacting with me like that again.”
I smile. “That’s wonderful, Jake. I’m so happy for you guys. I know what it’s like to find that security, and honestly, there’s nothing quite like it.”
“Is that how you felt when you first got Charlie?”
I smile at the memory of those first few weeks of finding my new independence. My parents hated it, but I thrived in it. “Yep. It was pretty wonderful. I didn’t move out of my parents’ house until I was twenty-three because I was so scared of what life with epilepsy would look like living on my own. But Charlie and I clicked right away. My parents didn’t support my decision at all to leave their house because…well, I think they liked being able to keep me under their thumb. So when I moved out, Joanna became more of a mama to me than my own mother ever was. She helped me set up a landline here that attaches to a special button Charlie can push when I have a seizure.”
I pause and point to the round yellow button on the wall by my bed. “It speed-dials Joanna’s number. She usually waits about ten minutes for my seizure to pass and me to regain consciousness and then calls me to make sure I’m okay.”
“Wow,” Jake says, looking stunned.
“I know. Charlie’s pretty incredible. And even though we can’t technically train a service dog to alert before a seizure, he has. Charlie alerts me about thirty minutes before almost all of my seizures, and that gives me a chance to go lie down in a safe place.”
“That’s…I don’t even feel like the word amazing is good enough. Do you think Daisy will do that with Sam?”
“Hopefully. But only time will tell. Just keep an eye out for Daisy doing anything out of the ordinary. It could be her trying to signal you.”
Jake nods thoughtfully for a moment, and I think he’s about to say something profound. “And to think we would never have found any of this new independence for Sam if it weren’t for you telling me to get my head out of my butt.”
He and I both laugh at the memory. I still can’t believe I said that to him, but I don’t regret it anymore. Not if it got us to this place.