Chapter Sixty-Three
Sloane
“Why don’t you invite her over?” Grace said when I filled her and Maddie in on what was happening with Ashley as we stood in Maddie’s kitchen to start making delayed-Thanksgiving dinner. Ryan and Craig were outside throwing the ball for Greta and Fritz, the German Shepherds Craig found injured on the side of the road and spent a small fortune on in vet bills.
“I don’t know. I thought about it, but I wasn’t sure if she’d want to come. Things have been so going good between us, I didn’t want to rock the boat.”
“How would inviting her to dinner be rocking the boat?”
“Well, if she didn’t want to come, I didn’t want her to feel obligated to just because of Millie. Or , if she didn’t want to come, and she said so, then I’d feel shitty. It just felt safer not to ask.”
“Men,” Maddie muttered with an eyeroll.
“What?” I exclaimed. “I’m doing what Grace said! I’m trying to make her remember why she fell in love with me.”
“Right,” Grace replied gently. “And kudos to you because it sounds like it’s working. But she has a daughter now. You have a daughter now, and she’s growing and changing every day.”
“I’m well aware of what I’m missing out on.”
“You don’t think it would mean something to Ashley that you want to spend time with your child?”
“Or what it says to her that you don’t,” Maddie interjected.
“Hold the fuck on. I never said I don’t!”
“Sloane,” Grace continued softly. I could tell she was going to be a great psychiatrist. “You were willing to give up your paternal rights without so much as an argument. That means something to a mother.”
“I wasn’t in a good place at the time. I thought I was doing what was best for everyone.”
Maddie, the SWAT officer, was much more brash.
“Well, you’re in a better place now, so man the fuck up and fight for your kid. And your woman. You love them, right?”
Without hesitation, I replied, “I do.”
“What the hell are you waiting for?”
What the hell was I waiting for?
“I don’t know. Perfect timing?”
“No such thing, my friend,” Grace said with a smile. “I know that better than anyone.”
I thought about what her and Ryan had gone through to be together and realized, she was right.
“Can I borrow your car?”
Maddie looked at me with narrowed eyes. “Are you able to drive?”
“Legally? Probably not. Not yet, anyway, since I haven’t been to the DMV. But I lost my left leg—I drive with my right.”
Grace turned to Maddie to plead my case. “It’s a grey area…”
“It’s really not.”
“Come on,” Grace continued. “Quit being such a hard ass.”
I added my two cents.
“You just got done telling me to man the fuck up.”
“You can man up in an Uber.”
Grace dug through her purse, pulled out her keys, and handed them to me, telling Maddie, “Sorry,” as she did.
“Leave my name out of it if you get pulled over.”
“Don’t worry, I will.” I looked at her with a shit-eating grin. “I’ll be dropping Craig’s name.”
He was a captain.
Grace called as I walked toward the door, “You can drive a stick, right?”
Turning around, I shot her a look, knowing damn well her car had an automatic transmission. “Ha ha, smartass.”
“Oh, come on, that was funny.”
“Okay, yeah, that was a good one.” I offered up one last wave. “Hopefully I’ll see you guys in a bit with Ashley and my daughter.”
“We’ll set an extra plate.”
****
Ashley
I sat downstairs on the couch reading an RJ Gray military romance book while Millie slept in her playpen. Military romance had been my jam lately. I didn’t have to wonder why.
I’d just gotten to a steamy scene when there was a knock at the door, startling me. I’d put my phone on silent, so I hadn’t heard the cameras. I wondered why whoever was at the door didn’t ring the doorbell.
My body froze when I heard the code being punched in the lock, followed by the door opening, but then Sloane’s voice called out, “Hello?” and my shoulders relaxed.
What on earth is he doing here?
I set the book down and stood, looking down at my grey Cal State sweatshirt and black yoga pants to check for crumbs from the cookies I’d been munching on. Because I was home alone until tomorrow, I hadn’t bothered with makeup, and I’d thrown my hair up on top of my head in a messy bun. But at least I’d showered and brushed my teeth earlier.
“In here,” I called softly as I walked toward the entry, only to stop short when I saw him walking toward me, unassisted.
He looked good.
Really good.
I dared to say that even his swagger had returned. A hard feat with a prosthetic leg, I imagined, but he was pulling it off.
“Hi.”
Hopefully I didn’t sound as giddy as I felt.
“Hi,” he said back. The corner of his mouth turned up, revealing that dimple of his I’d always wanted to kiss.
Today was no different. I blamed RJ.
Sloane slowly moved closer with his gaze laser-focused on me.
“You’re not wearing makeup.”
I touched my face absentmindedly and suddenly the old self-conscious feelings about my birthmark returned.
“Um, well, I wasn’t expecting to see anyone today.”
He kept walking until he loomed over me and stared down at me with his bright blue eyes that looked exactly like Millie’s.
I felt his hand touch my waist, as he whispered, “I like you without makeup. You’re beautiful.”
“So are you,” spewed from my mouth before I could even think twice, because I really did think he was beautiful. I suspected his male ego might not appreciate being called beautiful, so I tried to correct myself. “I mean, handsome. You’re handsome.”
“Maybe my right side.”
“No,” I replied as I reached up to trace the scars along his hairline and down his left cheek. “All of you.”
His polite smile told me he didn’t believe me, which bothered me, so I reiterated, “You are.”
Instead of arguing, like I expected, he simply said, “Thank you,” and continued staring down at me. “Where’s Millie?”
I nodded toward where she slept in the playpen in the corner of the room.
His close proximity was making my brain short circuit, and I blurted out, “What are you doing here?”
“Well, I came to invite you to dinner at Craig and Maddie’s, but”—his thumb stroked my hip bone—“now that you’re standing in front of me, I really want to kiss you instead.”
“Instead?” I boldly hooked my arm around his neck and tugged his face closer to mine. “Why can’t it be both?”
That made him chuckle. “I’m not sure. Maybe because if I kiss you, I’m not going to want to stop to go have dinner.”
Oh damn! Good answer.
“I’m so sorry I hurt you, sweetness,” he continued. “So. Fucking. Sorry. I don’t have an excuse other than my head was pretty messed up. But I’m not sorry for leaving here. The recovery program has been the best thing for me.”
“I can see that.”
“Please let me be a dad to Millie. I think the skin grafts will help with my scars—at least on my face.”
Tears filled my eyes.
“Your scars don’t matter, Sloane. She needs her father in her life. I would never take that from you. The only way it wouldn’t happen is if you chose that.”
“No fucking way, baby.” His hand slid around my waist, and he pulled me tighter against him. “Now, let’s talk about you and me.”