After about an hour she slipped out of Finn’s room and sat down on the sofa next to Simon. Her eyes shone with unshed tears. “I didn’t want to let Finn see me cry.”
The tears started to roll down her cheeks and Simon pulled her to him, holding her while she cried her heart out.
The next day, Simon invited them over to hang out at his pool. He had some good news from Dover’s board that he wanted to share with her in the aftermath of the successful interviews she had orchestrated, but he would save that for later in the day.
An afternoon at the pool would be a welcome distraction for Finn, so when Heather and Finn arrived at his apartment in the afternoon he guided them downstairs.
They spent the day playing Marco Polo with Finn in the shallow end of the pool.
“How about we head out for some ice cream?” Simon suggested when they trooped into his apartment after their swim.
“Yay! Thanks, Simon! Can I get chocolate ice cream?” Finn asked.
“Sure you can,” Heather said. “Why don’t you go change into some dry clothes?”
“Okay, Mom!” Finn grabbed his swimming bag and raced into the guest room.
“Thank you for inviting us today,” she said.
Simon pressed a gentle kiss to her inviting mouth. Simon knew that she was still hurting despite the fact that she had won the custody battle. Knew because she had a kind heart and all she had wanted was for Gary to be a real father to their son. But with Gary skipping town, it looked like Heather was going to end up parenting Finn by herself.
As his lips brushed feather-light against hers, he vowed to do everything in his power to help her with Finn. He might not be Finn’s father, but he was starting to see the boy as his responsibility. A responsibility he wanted, because the truth was he really was starting to think of Finn as his own son.
Simon pulled away to end the kiss, wanting to tell Heather how he was starting to feel about his role in Finn’s life, but he knew he was going to have to wait. Wait and let her heal. Then he could tell her that he was more than ready to step up and be a real part of Finn’s life.
“You’re welcome,” he said finally. “It’s good for us to spend time together. I never got this kind of quality time with my own parents.”
“Well, maybe we can start to make up for that a little.” She wrapped her arms around him in a quick hug, the warmth of her body reminding him just how much he loved her.
A knock on the door made him pull back.
“Are you expecting someone?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Nope. It’s probably the weekend concierge. I’ll go see what he wants.”
Simon walked to his door and opened it. For a moment his brain didn’t register what he was seeing. A middle-aged man with graying hair and familiar blue eyes. It was like looking right into his own eyes, as crazy as that sounded. He paused when he realized who he was looking at. After all these years and all this time, his past had finally caught up with him.
His mouth went dry as he stared at the man.
Finally, Simon found his voice and said, “Dad?”
THE END