“Yes.”
His eyes widened. “Are you rich?”
“Andrew! That’s not a polite question,” Serena chastised him.
“I am.”
The boy moved closer to me, putting his hand on my thigh. “When I grow up, I want to be rich and have my own plane, but I want to fly it.”
“I think that’s a great idea. Maybe someday you can come on my plane,” I said.
“Yay. Can we Mommy?”
Serena stiffened next to me and I suspected she didn’t like my offer. “We’ll see, baby. Mr. Roarke is a busy man.”
I glared at her. “We’re friends here. You can call me Devin. Can I call you Andrew, or would you prefer Mr. Moore?”
Andrew grinned. “Andrew.”
I held out my hand. “Nice to meet you, Andrew.”
He giggled as he shook my hand. “Nice to meet you.”
17
Serena
Panic wasn’t a strong enough word for what I felt when Devin showed up at the park. Right then and there my secret was going to be exposed and I’d have to endure the wrath of Devin. It would be justified, of course. I deserved every bad thing he might say to me.
When he said, “You didn’t tell me,” in reference to Andrew, I was sure he knew. How could he not? Andrew looked so much like him. But then it was clear he was asking why I didn’t tell him I had a son, not why I didn’t tell him about his son.
The rest of the conversation was pretty much like all the ones we always ended up having before where he’d tell me he wanted to see me, I’d say I wanted to see him too, but then would proceed to say or do something that suggested the opposite. I wondered how long he was going to put up with that from me. I suppose it meant that he was sincere in his interest in me. After all, he was willing to go against his mother to see me. But of course, that was another thing I had to consider that Devin didn’t know about. His mother wouldn’t be happy about his dating a single mom, but at some point she’d figure out what Andrew was to Devin, and who knew what would happen then. She’d either shun us or fight for custody, likely with Devin’s blessing, and I couldn’t risk that.
So yep, I was still in the same predicament as always with no hope for a happily ever after outcome.
Until I could figure out what to do, or until this thing between Devin and I fizzled out, or until he learned the truth and destroyed me, I had to go along with things.
“How big is your airplane?” Andrew looked up at Devin with his wide blue eyes.
“Big enough that it has a bedroom.”
“Whoa.” Andrew climbed onto the bench between me and Devin. My heart was simultaneously singing and crying. It was so beautifu
l to see them together. To see Devin be so sweet and natural with him. “Does it go fast?”
“Pretty fast. To be honest, I’ve never thought about it.”
“I know lots about planes. Did you know that there are jets that can go two thousand miles per hour?” Andrew eagerly shared.
Devin’s eyes widened. “Holy cow. That is fast. That must be what…mach three? Mine isn’t that fast.”
“I’d still like to see it.”
Devin smiled so sweetly at Andrew and that was it. If I was fighting my feelings for Devin, I couldn’t do it anymore. Whatever happened in the future, I’d always remember this moment and how beautiful the two of them were together.
“It’s a date. Where should we go?” Devin asked.
Andrew bounced in his seat. “We can ride in it too?”