“Hey,” Tina smiled. “Good to see you.”
“And you as well. Apparently, our kids are friends. I had no idea.”
“Me neither,” Tina admitted. “Liam said that he and Bailey arranged a playdate.”
“Movie date!” Liam called from the backseat of the car.
“Actually,” Bailey pulled open the car door and slipped inside, “it’s an anime date.”
“I’m okay with it if you are,” Tina said. “We’re just going to have lunch, watch the show in the family room, and then I’ll have her back by dinner if that works for you.”
Bailey looked so excited that I didn’t have the heart to tell her no. Besides, she’d spent time with friends from school before, and she seemed really excited about this particular friend.
“Sure,” I said. “That sounds great. I’d be happy to pick her up, though.”
Tina and I exchanged numbers and she texted me the address just in case, and then she took off. Bailey had her phone, so she could call me if anything happened or she needed to be picked up, and I turned to head back inside.
Kinsley was standing there, waiting in the living room. She looked over at me, and in that moment, I wondered how I’d gotten so lucky as to meet her. It was a wild feeling, really. I wasn’t used to feeling like I wanted to grab someone and pull them into my arms for a well-deserved kiss, but with her, I wanted that.
I wanted all of that.
“Hey,” I said, swallowing hard. I didn’t want to rush into anything. If Kinsley and I were going to be alone, it was going to be hard to keep my hands off of her, and I could tell that she’d been hurt before. I didn’t know the details, and I didn’t need to. She could share as much or as little as she wanted to, but right now, I just wanted to get to know her.
“Hey.”
“Do you know how to ride a horse?”
5
Kinsley
Gregory and I explored his property for over an hour. It had been years since I’d been on the back of a horse, but everything came rushing back to me a lot more quickly than I would have expected it to. I found myself laughing and relaxing and just having fun as we rode around his property. He showed me a little creek, and a tiny waterfall, and he even brought me to an old deer stand he’d discovered one day.
When we were done, we put the horses back up and headed inside. We finished the cupcakes and had a quick lunch of sandwiches and lemonade. Somehow, we ended up sitting on his front porch just sipping our drinks and watching the beautiful sky. The clouds were rolling by, and we both kept smiling.
“This reminds me of being a little kid.”
“What do you mean?” Gregory asked.
“When I was little, I used to love spreading a blanket out and just looking at the clouds like this. Did you ever do that?”
“All the time. It’s a fun way to pass the day.”
“I agree. It’s funny because when you grow up, you think you’re going to do all of these incredible things, and sometimes you do, but sometimes you forget about other things, too.”
“The simple things should never be forgotten,” Gregory agreed.
That was one of the issues I’d had in my last relationship. I looked over at Gregory. Should I tell him about that? Did he need to know? Did he want to? It had been a long time since I’d dated someone new, and I hadn’t dated seriously before Tony. When the two of us got together, I hadn’t really had much of a dating history to talk about.
“What is it?” Gregory asked gently. “You look like you want to say something.”
“I was in a relationship,” I finally said.
“I’m not surprised.”
“You aren’t?”
“You’re a beautiful woman, Kinsley. You’re funny. You’re kind. I just hope he treated you right.”