If smiles had a volume, Garrett’s would be turned up to an eleven.
And now that the ice has been cracked, I feel like I can keep the conversation going, turning slightly to face Sarah directly. “I really like your style,” I tell her genuinely, though I’m sure at least a small part of her has to be thinking I’m trying to brownnose. “I never think to put boots with my dresses.”
She shrugs, a little unsure how to handle the compliment. Which is totally strange because I feel like people should be complimenting her all the time.
Garrett looks from the road to me and back again, his eyes trying to communicate something that’s a lot more complicated than what can be said in a look. I make wide eyes in an attempt to tell him this, but I’m not sure he’s getting the message.
Sarah finally sighs from the back seat, evidently having watched the entire exchange.
“He’s looking at you like that because my mom hates the way I dress.”
My head whips to the back seat with genuine surprise. “Seriously?”
Sarah looks skeptical but finally nods. “Yeah.”
“Why?” I find myself asking before I can reel it back in. Jesus, Lauren, the last thing you need to do is get in the middle of some war with the freaking ex-wife!
But I am truly mystified. I think Sarah looks so great. Beautiful and put together, and not revealing or anything that would suggest it isn’t age appropriate. It looks like it fits her. And like it’s all her. Not her trying to mimic someone else.
“I’m sorry,” I apologize when it becomes clear no one knows what to say. “Let’s talk about something else. Giraffes,” I say, scrambling to find something that feels less controversial.
Hayden laughs. “I’ve heard they poop.”
And just like that, every one of us bursts into laughter, and a rainbow forms in front of the proverbial clouds.
Maybe today is going to be okay after all.
Garrett
My chest burns and my dick twitches as Lauren leans against the rail of the panda exhibit and coos at the “fluffy cuties.” We’ve been through half of the exhibits, and each of them ends the same way—with Lauren looking at them like she wants to give Fat Frank a companion—and the feral man in me grows more and more upset at my inability to touch her with each one.
It’s worth it, though, just to see her interacting with my kids and enjoying herself so much.
Sarah rolls her eyes at Lauren’s cheerleader-like disposition, but Hayden is eating it up with a spoon. Apparently, crushes on Lauren have some kind of genetic link for the men of the family.
“Did she really just call them fluffy?”
I laugh. “She’s not always this gushy,” I argue soundly. “Obviously, something about the pandas just flips her switch.”
“Right.”
“Sarah—”
“Don’t worry, Dad,” Sarah cuts me off to say with a sigh. “I actually like her. A lot. I just can’t stand…” She swirls her finger at Hayden and Lauren flapping their hands at the pandas. “This.”
I chuckle. “We’ll move on to the next exhibit soon.”
“Whatever,” Sarah says dramatically. “At least Hayden isn’t talking about feces anymore.”
I smile. “For some of us, a pretty, sweet woman is enough to make us grow up a little bit.”
She rolls her eyes again.
“Hey, baby girl. You say it all the time. You are the superior gender of the species. That’s a fact.”
Lauren turns back to look at me over her shoulder, her smile bright and uninhibited. She’s having the time of her life, and for me, that’s the sexiest look a woman can have, bar none.
“You like her,” Sarah says simply, cutting through the bullshit in a way maybe only a kid can.
I nod and agree. “I do.”
She sighs, leaning into my side so I put my arm around her. “I’m glad. Maybe you can be the subjects of my next romance novel.”
“What?” I snort. “Uh, maybe not.”
“Why not?” she snaps.
“Because…because no. I’m just warming up to the idea of you writing them in the first place,” I say with a laugh. “Let alone about me.”
She smirks. “Maybe I’ll just rename the characters. You’ll never know.”
I groan, and the sound of Lauren’s voice makes me lift up my head. She and Hayden have returned from the side of the panda exhibit. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” Sarah says quickly, and Lauren shrugs her shoulders, unbothered. She seems completely comfortable with being out of the loop, and beyond that, she seems to understand with great clarity that there will be times that conversations will be just between the kids and me.
Bethanny could never stand being on the outside looking in. I always understood it, but there’s something so refreshing about someone who seems to understand relationships can work as both a unit and independently of each other.
“Okay. What’s next?” Lauren asks eagerly, bouncing on her toes like a little kid. I smile, Sarah rolls her eyes, and Hayden offers up a suggestion. “How about the koalas?”