I opened my mouth, about to reply, but it was no use. They all had grins on their faces as they wound me up, so instead of replying, I stuck my tongue out at them like the mature adult I was and headed upstairs.
It didn’t take me long to feed Leo and for him to fall back to sleep. Asher came in to say goodbye before he left for school, and Dad wasn’t far behind him. They both placed kisses against his little head, trying not to wake him, and once they were gone, and I knew I could have a shower with the door open so I could listen out for Leo, I covered my cast with a plastic bag, switched the water on, and waited for it to warm up.
I couldn’t deny that I felt better today than I had since I came home from the hospital. I’d had a straight six hours' sleep, and I felt like a new woman with a new lease of life. Once my hair and body were washed, I stepped out, wrapped a towel around my body, and brushed my teeth, just in time for Leo to wake back up. I stepped back into my bedroom and saw Ford sitting on the edge of my bed.
“You could have called me to come and have him while you had a shower,” he murmured, glancing up at me.
I shrugged in answer, not knowing what to say to him. I could have, but…I hadn’t. I didn’t know why I was trying to do it all on my own, and I didn’t have time to think about it. I needed to dry my hair and get dressed and then pump some milk before we left, and I only had twenty minutes to do it all in.
“You can get him dressed,” I told Ford and moved toward my closet. My clothes still didn’t fit me like they used to, but I’d managed to thrift some of Asher’s T-shirts he didn’t want back and make them look less like sacks on me. So right now, leggings and T-shirts were still a staple in my universe, but I was hoping I’d get back into jeans sometime in the next month.
I heard Ford leave my bedroom and shut the door behind him, so I quickly pumped some milk and blow-dried my hair at the same time. Once I was dressed, it was time to leave. I rushed downstairs, placed the milk in the refrigerator, kissed Leo’s cheek as he lay in Mom’s arms, and then walked past Ford, who was waiting at the front door for me.
We walked side by side to his car, which was on the driveway, and once we were alone, I realized it was the first time since before I’d had Leo. He’d so quickly become part of me, and I wondered if Ford felt the same.
“Is it bad that I miss him already?” I whispered, staring at the house as Ford reversed off the drive.
“No,” he said, his voice low. He was silent until he got to the end of the road, and as he pulled to a halt at the stop sign, he turned to face me. “You know you’re not alone in this, right?”
“I know.” I puffed out a breath and stared out of the windshield as he turned left. It was the same way he’d driven when I’d been in labor, and I turned to stare at the back seat. “I can’t believe I had him in your car.”
Ford chuckled, the sound so easy. “I know.” I glanced at him, not able to stop my smile as I stared at his side profile. “I can’t believe it either.”
My stomach flipped as his arm moved to the center console, and I remembered a time we’d been in this car, just him and me, and I’d placed my hand inside his. It felt like so long ago, but also just yesterday. So much had changed since then, and I was finding it hard to comprehend.
Neither of us spoke again until Ford pulled up at the hospital entrance. “I’ll go park and come find you,” he said, and I nodded as I pushed out of the car. I was hoping I wasn’t going to be in here long as I only had to have the cast off.
I made my way to the elevators inside the building, and up to the floor I needed to go to. And I hadn’t been sitting for five minutes when the doctor called me in. I had my cast taken off, and then my arm checked, and finally, I could scratch
the itch that had been there for what felt like weeks.
By the time I exited the waiting room, Ford was walking up the hallway toward me. He halted, his brows lowering. “That was quick.”
“Yep.” I grinned and held my arm up. “And I’m finally cast-free.” It was the last sign of what had happened that night at the cabin. Although the memories would always be there, there weren’t physical signs any longer. I’d replayed the events over and over again in my mind, but this felt like the final step. I’d never forget what happened there, but it was time to try and move on. To move past it.
Ford turned around and walked by my side. I didn’t know what was going on with him today, but there was something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. He seemed…distant. Was it because I was trying to do everything on my own with Leo? Was he resenting it?
My mind was spinning by the time we got back to the car, and I opened my mouth, about to confront him about it when he blurted out, “Go on a date with me.”
I blinked, sure I’d heard him wrong, but when he turned his head to look at me, I knew I hadn’t. His eyes swirled with something I couldn’t place. “A date?” I asked, my voice merely a whisper. “You want to go on a date with me?”
He scrubbed his hand over his face. “I know we did things a little backward.” He paused and pulled in a breath. “But…maybe we could start over and go on a date?”
“Like, dinner-and-movies kind of date?” I asked, my lips slowly spreading into a smile.
“I…yeah. Or, you know, whatever you want to do.” He shrugged and tried his hardest to look like this conversation wasn’t bothering him, but his hands clenched around his steering wheel, turning his knuckles white, told a different story.
“Dinner would be nice,” I told him, not looking away from him.
“Yeah?” I nodded, the smile now turning into a full-on grin. “Dinner.” He relaxed back in his seat. “This Saturday?”
“It’s a date,” I confirmed, my stomach flipping.
He turned to face me, his gaze meeting mine. “Our first date.”
Chapter Twelve
FORD