Chapter Thirty-One
Olivia
I lifted my hand to knock on Jace’s front door when I heard a squeal of laughter from my daughter coming from inside the condo.
The sound filled my heart to bursting. I’d spent every day since she was born trying to make the best decisions for her.
I gave Kaylee everything I could, I built my life around her, and the main reason I’d failed to tell Jace how I felt about him was my worry over how it would impact her.
But hearing her laughing her head off with Jace and Kayden was a shock to the system.
Maybe what was right for me could be right for her too.
The sound I’d just heard felt like home.
It felt like the sounds I wanted to come home to every day.
I’d only been at the hospital for a few hours.
Just long enough for Mom to calm down and feel confident in the doctor’s assessment that Carl needed three stents due to blockage in his arteries.
The procedure was fairly minor and she liked the doctor assigned to their case.
When I’d hugged her goodbye, she’d gripped me by the shoulders and said, “Life is too short and tenuous not to spend it with the people you love, Livvy. Go see Jace and Kaylee.”
Her words had made me tear up not only because she was right, but because there was another deep laugh sounding on the other side of this door and I was pretty sure I wanted him around too.
I knocked twice.
“Come in,” Jace yelled.
I twisted the handle, and Kaylee came running to the door. “Mommy!”
“Hey, baby girl. Did you have fun with Jace and Kayden?” I asked, giving her a hug.
She grabbed my wrist and pulled me into the living room. “I gave them a makeover!” she exclaimed.
I looked at the two of them sitting together on the couch and covered my mouth with one hand as I tried to suppress the laughter. “Nice job, Kaylee. They look beautiful.”
Jace glared at me but it was hard to take him seriously with the streaks of glitter all over his face and bows clipped into his curly hair. As my smile widened, his glare intensified. Where did she even get glitter?
Kayden smiled proudly, like he was happy to be covered in glitter and barrettes, and I shook my head as I took in the sight of these two gorgeous men having just succumbed to the ultimate girl-dad moment. Yeah, they’re cut out for this alright.
A large structure in the center of the living room caught my attention.
I gasped as I took in a three-foot-high MAGNA-TILE structure that looked more elaborate than anything I’d ever seen.
It was erected on the floor, but spanned the length of the coffee table and it was built like a doll house; open on one side so you could look into the rooms and closed in the back.
There were holes that resembled windows and doors between the rooms, and on one end of the structure was a parking garage with MAGNA-TILE cars parked in various spots and ramps leading to multiple levels.
“What did you all build?” I asked, circling around it.
Kaylee jumped up and down next to it. “Mommy, did you know Kayden draws buildings?”
“Yeah, I do, honey,” I said, smiling at him.
“He doesn’t build them, he just draws them. Other people build them. He made an exception and built this with me.”
I chuckled as she fumbled over the word exception. The proud, yet sheepish smile on Kayden’s face pulled at my heartstrings.
“That is a lot more MAGNA-TILES than you had in your backpack,” I said. “Where did all of these come from?” I noticed the sketches of the structure on the coffee table.
“Jace,” Kaylee said, sitting down next to the structure and putting two Fisher Price Little People inside her building.
Jace ran a hand through his hair, knocking out a bow. “You should have heard them, Liv. Kayden started talking about how they could use the different MAGNA-TILES and asking her about the shapes and sizes that she had, and they were so into it, working on the drawings.”
I raised an eyebrow at him, waiting for the moment when he became a total sucker.
“They didn’t even ask,” he said with a sigh. “I just got dressed, walked the two blocks to the toy store and bought every single package they had.” He pointed to a basket on the floor next to the couch. “She’s got about fifty farm and safari animals in there that came with the kits.”
I laughed. “Wow, and the glitter? Are you responsible for that?”
Jace shook his head vehemently. “Absolutely not. She pulled that shit out of her backpack and I’ve been cursing ever since.”
Kayden laughed and put a hand on Jace’s shoulder. “He really has. Said it’ll be stuck in his beard for weeks. I think he looks kind of cute though.”
Jace glared at him.
“He does look cute,” I said, laughing. Watching these two with Kaylee and imaging how they’d been with her all morning made my heart so full of joy that it nearly burst. “Well, it looks like you all had a lot of fun.”
“Kayden’s a really cool dad, Mommy,” Kaylee said, looking in her backpack for something.
Kayden’s eyes widened and the happiness on his face was unmistakable. Jace put his hand on Kayden’s knee and squeezed. My chest ached with a desire to do the same.
“How’s Carl?” Jace asked, slowly pulling the bows out of his hair.
“He’s good. They’re taking him in for three stents now and he’ll have to stay in the hospital for a night or two, but they said these should take care of the blockage that’s been causing his symptoms.”
“That’s good news,” Kayden said. “Jace filled me in on the situation. Are they postponing the wedding?”
I chuckled. “No. At least, not according to Carl. My mother is less convinced, but he’s adamant that he’s marrying her in December as planned.”
“Of course he is,” Jace said with a laugh. “He’s gotta lock that woman down. Val is a catch.”
I rolled my eyes. “My mom adores Jace and he’s an ass kisser.”
Kayden chuckled and looked at Jace adoringly. “I bet he doesn’t even have to try to impress moms.”
“He doesn’t,” I said.
Kaylee pulled a book out of her backpack and climbed onto the couch on the other side of Kayden and curled right against him. “Mommy, can Kayden read me this book before we go?”
My heart flipped over, and judging from the look on Jace’s face, his did too. “Take your time, honey. Jace and I need to talk anyway.”
Kayden squeezed Jace’s hand and kissed him on the cheek. “Why don’t you two go out for lunch. Take your time, talk, do whatever you need. We’ll be fine here.” He put his arm around Kaylee.
“Are you sure?” I asked. The idea of being alone with Jace for any length of time felt like too much to hope for.
We were always either at work or with Kaylee, so it was rarely just us and I wanted to talk to him before I could overthink this situation anymore.
I knew what I wanted with him. “Do you feel comfortable being alone with her?”
“I do,” Kayden said confidently. “She likes books, I can relate to that.”
I laughed. “Okay. Kaylee, do you want to stay with Kayden so Jace and Mommy can talk for a little bit? It’ll just be a couple hours and then I’ll come get you.”
“Yep. Kayden, can we watch The Land Before Time again?” she asked him.
Kayden smiled at her. “If your mom is okay with TV, then yes. There is more than one movie, so we can watch a whole new Land Before Time.”
Kaylee’s eyes widened and turned to me with hope and excitement.
“Yes, I’m fine with that. You’re really sure, Kayden?” I asked.
“I’m positive. I have both of your numbers, and the nearest hospital is five blocks away. I always know the answer to that question, even without a kid to consider,” he said. “Seriously, it’s lunchtime, so you two go eat and I can order delivery for Kaylee and me. Is there anything she can’t eat?”
“Grapes, popcorn, marshmallows, chewy candy, nuts—basically anything hard and round,” I said, listing off the choking hazards that were seared into my mom-brain. “No allergies though.”
Jace laughed and stood up. “Don’t worry, Liv. If it’s even remotely choking-hazard adjacent, he’s not letting it near her. I gave her dried fruit for a snack earlier and he insisted on testing each type of fruit because they looked chewy and unsafe.”
Kayden’s cheeks pinked just a little bit. It was adorable. “I was thinking I’d be least anxious feeding her soup for my first attempt at this. Something that I’m certain will go down safely.”
I laughed and Kaylee looked at him with zero judgment. “I like chicken noodle soup. I know how to chew noodles.”
Kayden tightened his arm around her. “Sold, kid.” He looked up at us. “We’re ordering soup. Go out and have fun.”
Jace turned to face me as Kayden and Kaylee started looking at the book together.
“Where do you want to go?” he asked, taking my hand in his.
“Somewhere quiet where we can be alone.”
He looked at me earnestly. “Liv, I need to be clear about one thing. Is this a date?”
I chuckled. “It kind of feels like a first date. Doesn’t it?
“Sweetheart, I’ve thought about our first date for years. If this is it, I need you to trust me and give me ten minutes.”
I laughed. “Do your thing.”
Jace ran down to the bedroom and I circled the MAGNA-TILE castle while he was gone, beyond impressed.
I snapped a picture of it and then I turned my camera on Kayden and Kaylee and snapped a quick one of them snuggled together.
I looked at it on my phone screen for a few seconds before texting it to Kayden.
I was still looking at it when I felt Jace come up behind me. “Kind of melts your heart into a puddle, huh?” he said, looking over my shoulder.
“Yeah, the same way it melted the first time she crawled into your lap with a book.” I turned around to face him and looked him up and down. What the hell?
“Jace, did you just change out of jeans and into sweatpants for our first date?”
He grinned, looking extremely confident for a man taking me out in a pair of sweatpants and a white T-shirt that allowed me to take in all the tattoos on his chest. The glitter was gone, though his beard still sparkled in a few places. I mean, he does look hot as sin.