He was wearing a sweater and jeans, and if he took his boots off, he’d look like he lived there.
That gave me another shiver.
What he didn’t look like was bored or impatient that I took my time in saying goodnight to my girl.
He caught sight of me, put his phone down and gave me his attention.
“Hey,” he greeted.
I didn’t say anything until I got close and plopped my ass in his lap.
He curled an arm around me instantly, shoved his phone in his back pocket with his other hand, and then he slouched deeper into my couch and wrapped that arm around me.
I nestled until I was curled in his lap, head tucked under his chin, one arm wound around him.
“Work or something?” I asked after what he’d been doing on his phone.
“Mom.”
My head shot up and I looked at him.
“Your mom?” I asked.
He nodded. “She’s pissed about what I said to Dad about her. She’s been blowing up my phone all day.”
“And what have you been doing when she’s done that?” I asked cautiously.
“Ignoring her, which, warning, usually adds fuel to the fire.”
“Aug.” I said his name, but I didn’t know what else to say.
“I’m thinking on this,” he shared.
“And what are you thinking?” I queried.
“I’m thinking that I like spending time with you. I like your house. You cook great. You’re hilarious. You’re sweet. You’re together. Your kid is everything. We’re fantastic together in bed and I dug waking up next to you. And I need to think deep about what that means when it comes to them. Because I like this so much, I want it to work. I want that a lot. And she’s big on breaking things in ways they can’t be fixed.”
There was a great deal there.
But even though big parts of me were all about him announcing he wanted us to work, I was stuck on one thing.
“My kid is everything?”
He semi-smirked. “Don’t act like you don’t know that.”
I full-on smirked, because I knew that.
“Speaking of moms,” he said pointedly.
“We’re not done with yours,” I told him. “Are you seriously thinking that…?” I didn’t know how to put it, so I asked him, “What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking that I told my father I didn’t know why he didn’t change the locks and be done with it. And what I gotta think on is why I haven’t done the same, figuratively, since she doesn’t have the key to my house.”
“Because she’s your mom?” I suggested.
He grunted out a sigh that I not only heard but felt dug deep.
And then he said, “She’s never been my mom, Pepper. I don’t have memories like you do. I don’t have anything to hold on to that makes me think she loved me. And that really didn’t strike me until I saw how you were with Juno. Until the possibility of us being a thing was us becoming a thing. I have no stake in my relationship with her, because she never bothered to form that foundation with me. I’m useful to her on occasion. She isn’t to me, ever. So now I gotta figure out if my dad goes out of my life with her, or if I’m gonna try to hold safe something I’ve got with him. And I have to admit, I think it’d be a whole lot easier in the long run for them both to be gone.”
“This is a big decision to make in a day, honey,” I said, and he smiled.
“Good I’m not making it now. I’m just thinking about it. Now…you. You’re gonna see your mom tomorrow?”
I nodded.
“Want me to come with?” he offered.
I sat still.
“Hawk’ll get it, I need a few hours to be with you for that,” he said.
“I can’t ask—”
“You didn’t. But you can.”
I thought about this.
I thought about how generous this offer was.
I thought how nice it would be if Auggie was there when I faced whatever I was going to face tomorrow.
And then I realized that it would not be good for Mom.
“She doesn’t know you, so I should probably go alone.”
“You want me to drive you?”
God, he was just so damned awesome.
Still, I shook my head.
“No, I’m good. But be alert. There might be a string of texts sometime after noon tomorrow that could be anything.”
“You could just call,” he pointed out.
“Be alert, there might be a call sometime after noon tomorrow that might be me ranting, or, alternately, sobbing.”
He grinned. “I’ll be alert.”
Okay, that was done.
And I was glad.
Moving on…
“I’d suggest we commence making out right about now, but Juno was jazzed when she found out you were coming over. Like Christmas Eve jazzed. She seemed pretty relaxed when I left her just now, but she might sneak down to check to make sure Mom isn’t screwing things up with Auggie. So we probably shouldn’t.”