“Sweet dreams,” he croons in a lulling tone.
And I do dream, but they’re anything but sweet.
Xander
“I had a nightmare,” Thea tells me, laying her towel down in the sand. She plops on it, stretching out her legs. She looks fucking amazing with her golden tanned skin and that little white bikini. It barely covers anything—which means several guys are staring.
Fucking great.
“A nightmare?” I repeat, sitting down on my towel beside her. I peer at her over the top of my sunglasses. “About what?”
I try to recall if she was thrashing in her sleep or anything like that.
“You were talking to my stomach.” She gestures to her stomach like I don’t know where it is. “And I was fat.”
“Fat? You mean you were pregnant?” My brows furrow in confusion. “I’m missing the nightmare part here?”
She glares at me like I’m stupid. “I was pregnant. That’s the nightmare. Can you imagine us with a baby?” She laughs like it’s the funniest thing she’s ever heard.
I wince, feeling kind of hurt by that. “You don’t think we’d be good parents?” I know Thea has struggled with thoughts of motherhood in the past, and I get it, her parents weren’t exactly great so she didn’t grow up desiring a family like I did.
She shrugs. “I don’t know,” she answers honestly. “I know some girls only dream of the day they get married and start popping out
kids but that’s never been me. I do want a baby, one day, but not now.”
“You’ll be a great mom one day,” I say honestly.
Thea doesn’t see herself clearly. She thinks she has no heart to give, but she’s the warmest and kindest woman I know. Any child would be lucky to call her mom.
“One day, far, far, far into the future,” she intones.
I chuckle. “After your five-year plan?”
“Exactly.” She nods, adjusting her sunglasses. She rolls over onto her stomach and props her head in her hands. “I’m only twenty-two. I want to live a little first.”
I stare at her. “Let’s not live too much, okay?”
She laughs and smacks my arm. “Not like that. I just mean, I want to enjoy this time. Being young and married. Doing things like this.” She shrugs and motions around us. “This is nice.”
My lips crook into a grin. “So does this mean you can fit more vacations into that plan of yours?”
She laughs and tosses sand at me like it’s a snowball. “Yeah, I think so. We need to take advantage of these kinds of things while we can. Not just while it’s only two of us, but also while we have the money and whatnot.”
I laugh. “You think the money is going to disappear?”
She smiles. “You know what I mean. You can’t play football forever, so we have to be smart with our money, which will mean less of this.”
“I know what you mean.” I lean over and kiss her. “Let’s not stress about the future right now.” I point to our incredible view, the ocean and sweeping cliff side with homes. “We have to live in the moment while we can.”
By some miracle, she doesn’t argue. Maybe, somehow, someway, I’m finally getting through that thick head of hers but it’s doubtful.
We arrive back in the states and Thea immediately falls asleep in the car. I feel like falling asleep too, even though it’s three in the afternoon our time. It’s been a long hard day of traveling and we’re both exhausted. I want nothing more than to get home, shower, and fall into bed.
It’s strange driving home to a home that hasn’t actually been our home yet.
We haven’t slept here, not once, but this is about to be our home.
The place I hope we’re going to grow old in.