Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
MARCUS
“ Y ou said we could play games, Dad,” Sadie tells me.
“I know.”
“With no time limit,” Sam tacks on. “So we can play as much as we want, right?”
“Right,” Sadie agrees.
“As long as you eat your dinner.”
I steer the SUV into the parking lot of the local pizza joint and park the car.
“We love pizza, Dad! We’ll eat all of it.”
“And the salad too.” I press the button to turn off the car to the sound of groans.
“I don’t like lettuce,” Sam tells me.
“You liked lettuce last week,” I fire back at her, watching as they unclip themselves from their booster seats.
“Eww. Lettuce is gross. It’s slimy.”
“Slimy? It’s not slimy.”
“It was really wet,” Sadie chimes in.
“Wet is not slimy.”
“It was gross.” Sam rolls her eyes at me .
The joys of children.
Opening the door, the two of them hop out and grab my hands as we walk inside. It’s a small place, one where people don’t pay me any mind when they recognize me. It’s one of the draws that keeps us coming here for our weekly pizza night.
The smell of tomato sauce and garlic hits us as we walk inside. Pictures of all kinds of pizza hang on the walls. Arcade games for kids line the back wall, where there’s also a window to watch the chefs make the pizzas.
Butcher paper is taped onto each table with a bucket of crayons sitting in the middle.
“There are my favorite customers!”
Sam and Sadie giggle as they head to our usual table in the back near the games.
“Hi Paul!” They greet him in unison.
“How was school today?” he asks them.
Paul, an older man with a brood of at least a dozen grandkids, has always been kind to my girls. With a gray mustache and a bald head, he is never without a smile on his face.
“We started a new book about a girl who solves mysteries with her dog,” Sadie tells him, taking her seat across from me.
“I don’t know how a dog can solve mysteries,” Sam says.
Paul grabs a crayon from the bucket and hands it to her. “Why don’t you see if you can figure it out while I make your pizza?”
Sam’s brown eyes light up. “Okay! I’ll tell you when you come back.”
“Attagirl.”
Paul gives me a wave before heading back without taking our order. That’s the best part of coming here. Paul knows us and will always have our order in at lightning speed.
Paul’s Pizzeria is hopping for a Thursday night. The take-out line is snaking around the wall.
“Hi, Miss Smith!”
Harper? Where?
I turn to see where the girls are waving and I spot the woman walking toward us. Nerves burble up in my stomach. I haven’t seen Harper since we kissed at the end of last week.
Doesn’t mean I haven’t been thinking about that kiss ever since.
“Marcus. What are you doing here?”
“It’s pizza night!” Sam answers for me. “Daddy takes us out for pizza every week.”
“As long as we’re good at school,” Sadie clarifies.
Harper gets down on her level. “You mean you don’t make pizza at home?”
Sadie snaps her gaze to mine. The look there is like I told her Bluey doesn’t exist in real life. “Why have we never made pizza before?”
“You like coming to Paul’s.”
“But why can’t we make our own?” Sadie scoffs.
It’s not much, but this brief show of attitude makes me nervous for them to become teenagers. All over not making pizza at home.
“Maybe next week for pizza night we can make our own.”
Harper’s hand is covering her mouth. Those bright blue eyes give her away. They’re sparkling with the smile she’s hiding.
“What kind of pizza do you get?” Harper asks, once she’s composed herself.
“Pepperoni, ham, and olives. ”
“Olives? You like olives?”
Sadie nods at her as Paul drops off two juice boxes and sparkling water for me. “Olives are my favorite.”
“Have you tried olives?” Sam asks her, screwing up her face as she stabs her straw into the hole on her drink.
Harper laughs. “I’ve tried olives before. Not my favorite.”
“Have you had them on pizza?” Sadie asks, pointing a knowing finger at her.
Harper shakes her head. “I don’t think I have.”
Sam’s face lights up. “Dad, can Harper have pizza with us tonight? She has to try it. Please?”
She clasps her hands together under her chin, turning puppy dog eyes on me.
“Why don’t you ask Harper and see if she can stay?”
If I ask, I don’t know what her answer would be. Would she want to sit here and have pizza with us after that kiss? Would it be too awkward? If the girls ask, she has to say yes. No one can say no to my girls. How I manage to tell them no when I need to is one of life’s great mysteries.
“Harper. Will you please have pizza with us?” Sam asks, turning those wide, big eyes on Harper.
“Oh, I don’t want to interrupt family pizza night.”
I wave her off. “Join us, Harper. Please.”
Blue eyes connect with mine. I can see her weighing her decision, probably thinking about our kiss. We haven’t been together since then, and seeing her like this brings it all back.
The sweetest of kisses.
It’s like it erased the time we weren’t together with one moment. Sure, I had my share of women over the years. Situation-ships, if you will. We both knew what we wanted going in. And that was that we didn’t want more.
I couldn’t bring myself to want more from anyone. Not when the only woman who mattered is sitting across from me.
Harper.
She’s wearing a pair of black leggings, a white T-shirt, and a black jacket. Even in that, she’s fucking stunning—all that blonde hair sweeping down in soft waves over her shoulders.
“Okay.”
“You can sit next to me.” Sadie pats the plastic black booth seat next to her, and Harper drops down next to her.
“Thank you.” Harper smiles at Sadie, and the way my daughter looks at her? It’s like she hung the moon. “So it’s pizza night, huh?”
“Yes.” Sadie extends a crayon to her. “And coloring.”
“I like coloring,” Harper tells her.
“Me too. Can you draw a rainbow?”
Harper nods. “Do you like rainbows?”
This is the one thing I always remembered about Harper. She’s a natural at connecting with anyone she meets. It’s why Sadie doesn’t hesitate in inviting her to sit down next to her. It’s one of the many, many reasons I fell for her all those years ago.
Sam challenges me in a game of tic-tac-toe while Sadie and Harper draw pictures. I can barely get a word in edgewise since they’re chatting her ear off, mainly about school things. It’s like they’re in their own club because they know everyone.
It’s the cutest damn thing how much my girls like her.
Paul brings out the pizza and salad and I divvy it up between the girls. “Remember what I said?” I eye both of them.
Sam rolls her eyes. “We have to eat our salads.”
“You don’t like salad?” Harper asks, grabbing her own helping .
They both shake their heads, talking over each other. “It’s too wet.”
“And slimy.”
Harper looks at both of them. “Well, salads are one of my favorite foods.”
“Really?” Sam asks.
Harper nods. “Yes. So you better eat up before I eat all of yours.”
Both girls start gobbling down the leafy greens in front of them.
“How did you do that?” I ask. “That would have taken me all night to do.”
She shrugs. “I guess I’m a magician.”
“Can you always come over for dinnertime?” I laugh.
Sam looks up, cheeks puffed out before she swallows. “Can Harper come over for dinner every night?”
I smile at her. “Not with those manners, Sam.”
“Sam!” Sadie hisses.
“Besides, Harper has her own life. She can’t always come over for dinner.”
“Maybe for pizza night?” Sadie asks.
Harper takes a slice and bites off the tip. “If I do, does that mean you will try my favorite pizza?”
Both girls nod and Sam asks, “What’s your favorite?”
“Hawaiian,” I answer for her.
All three of them look at me. “How do you know, Daddy?”
“What if it’s changed?” Harper asks, taking another bite of pizza.
There’s a slight raise to her eyebrows. Challenging me. I wish it was the two of us sitting here alone. I’d love to ask her if any of her favorite things have changed.
Knowing her, she’d say yes just to piss me off.
Sadie’s voice pulls me back into the conversation .
“What’s on Hawaiian?” Sadie asks, taking a bite that is too big for her.
“Slow down there,” I tell her.
She chews and swallows before waiting on Harper’s answer.
“Pineapple and ham.”
“Fruit on pizza?” Sam asks. “That sounds weird.”
“Do you like our pizza?” Sadie smacks her lips together, a ring of sauce around her mouth.
Harper gives her a smile. “I do. Might be my new favorite.”
The girls make quick work of finishing their dinners. Not even the temptation of Harper being at dinner can stop them from wanting to play their games.
“Here.” I pull the small stack of quarters from my jacket pocket. “Go play.”
“Yes!” they chant together and grab the baggie from my hand and go running toward the games, where they are still in my line of sight.
“For real. Did you like the pizza?” I ask, leaning back in my seat and sipping on my drink.
Harper laughs, shaking her head. “God, no. Who likes olives?”
“My two weirdos.” I smile at her. “I remember I always ate yours when they came in your meals.”
“You do?” Harper drops her elbows on the table and leans across.
I nod. “I remember everything about my wife.”
Harper’s eyes widen ever so slightly. “I’m not?—”
“You’re not what?” I lean across the table. “Because we still haven’t met with any lawyers, Harper.”
“Only until we can figure out what we’re doing next.”
“Next?” I cock an eyebrow at her. “I know what I’d like to do next. ”
“And what’s that?”
“I want to kiss you again.”
“You do?” she asks, like she can’t believe I’m saying it.
“Yes. I’ve thought about that kiss every day.”
“Me too,” Harper confesses.
A smile spreads across my face. I couldn’t stop it even if I wanted to. And I don’t. I want Harper to know exactly how I’m feeling. I don’t want to play any games. Something tells me Harper wouldn’t appreciate them.
“What does that mean for us?”
“It means?—”
“Daddy, look.” Sadie comes running back over. “We each got one!”
They’re holding up a plastic container with the lids off. Each has a pink ring on their index finger. “I loved these rings when I was little,” Harper tells them.
“We got a third for you.” Sadie holds out the small yellow container and pops the lid off for her.
“You did?” Harper looks touched as a pink ring of her own spills into her awaiting palm. “Thank you.”
She slides it down over her pinky, and it brings back memories of when I slid another ring down her finger.
“We match.” Harper wiggles her fingers for the girls to see.
“That was nice of you girls,” I tell the twins. “I think it’s time to head home. Bath before bed.”
“Can Harper come next time?”
“We’ll see,” I answer them as I drop a few twenties on the table and wave my goodbyes to Paul. When we’re outside, I click the fob and let the girls say their goodbyes to Harper before I double-check their seatbelts.
“Hey.” I grab Harper’s elbow before she can scurry off.
“Yeah?” It doesn’t take much to stop her. There’s a warmth in her eyes that settles something in me. Some long-lost part of me that I didn’t really like to think was missing but actually was.
“Thanks for staying tonight.”
Harper looks at the girls through the car window before turning her attention back to me. “You’re really good with them.”
I squeeze the back of my neck. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. You are their entire world.”
I blow out a deep breath. One I didn’t even realize I was holding. “I try. I try really hard to give them the best life they can have. Everything I do is for them.”
“I know,” Harper agrees, squeezing my bicep. “Trust me, I know better than anyone.”
There’s a million apologies I could give her, but I don’t know how far it’ll get me with her. She only needs one.
And I’m not quite sure how to word it to her.
“Look, Harper?—”
“Take me out.”
“Uhh, what?”
There is no possible way I heard her correctly.
“On a date. You remember how those work, right?” There’s a smirk playing on her full lips. One I wish I could kiss.
“Funny. I think I can figure out how one works. You want me to take you out?”
“Yes. I think your wife deserves a night out with her husband.”
“When?” I fire off. I don’t want to give Harper the chance to change her mind.
A date with Harper? I would walk through fire for just one chance to show her I’m not the guy that left her all those years ago.
“When are you home next and don’t have a game?”
Fuck. I roll through my schedule in my head. I have it memorized because I want to make sure I’m always here for the girls. I don’t like taking time away from them, but Harper is one of the only people I will sacrifice time with them for.
“Sunday. We have a game tomorrow night and Saturday, then I have Sunday off.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to spend the day with the girls?” Harper asks.
And this is why I want to make this date happen more than anything. One dinner with them and she is already thinking of them. The same Harper she’s always been.
“I’m taking the girls to the zoo, but maybe we can get dinner after?”
Harper nods. “Dinner sounds good.”
I step closer, keeping a foot between us. I’m well aware there are two sets of eyes on us. I don’t want to let the girls know how much Harper means to me. It’s too early for that.
“Perfect. I’ll get a babysitter lined up. Dinner.”
Harper nods, crossing her arms over her chest. “Perfect.”
I can’t fight the smile that slides across my face. “Thank you.”
Harper backs away, taking a deep breath. Almost like she needs the space from me.
Is she feeling what I’m feeling?
“For what?”
“For giving me a second chance.”