CHAPTER 10
FLETCHER
I’m nervous as I leave Limitless and head next door. I gave Eden a little space right after she spent the night for the first time. Knowing her, she needed it to come to terms with us getting together again.
She’s never been great with change and would rather things be gradual. But I just don’t have the ability to go slow when it comes to Eden, not now after all the time we’ve lost.
After a couple of days when all we did was text, I’ve made the effort to see her and Macklin every day for the last week. Being around my woman again, seeing her outside of my dreams and memories, has been everything. Adding Macklin to the mix has only made the entire experience sweeter.
I’m not the only one who has fallen in love with Mack either. Noel and Huxley hate it when I head next door without planning on bringing Eden and Macklin back to Limitless. They love spending time with the kid, and he is all about it as well.
Even though we’ve spent as much time as possible with each other, tonight is going to be different. We’re not staying in, and Eden’s parents are watching Macklin for the night. It’s time to take this off the ranch and make it real.
I’ve set the whole thing up and even though we aren’t going somewhere fancy, making our relationship public is the next step. Eden deserves a night out as well. She puts all of herself into raising Mack and is doing a damn fine job of it. But she’s more than a mom and it’s time for her to see herself that way.
My stomach knots as I park and grab the bouquet I made from the seat next to me. It’s not flowers, that’s not special enough for my Eden and she was never a big flower person. It’s not that she doesn’t like them, but she’d rather go to a field of wildflowers than have them cut and put in a vase. Since it’s winter, I can’t exactly take her to one.
Not wanting to show up empty handed, I made her a bouquet of her favorite chocolate. I know she’ll love it because I made a similar one back in high school for our anniversary one year. She gushed over that thing for months even though it had been dismantled and enjoyed.
I click on the seat warmer and leave my truck running as I jump out and trudge up to the front door. The sound of Macklin’s laughter coming from inside the house eases a little bit of my worry and anxiety as I knock.
“I’ll get it,” Macklin’s little voice yells out and I can’t help but chuckle. When he swings the door open, he launches himself at me and shrieks, “Fletcher, Hi!”
I catch him easily and give into the need to hold him close. As he wraps his small arms around my neck, he steals another piece of my heart. As much as I hate the fact that he’s not biologically mine, he sure as hell feels like mine while he’s in my arms.
“Hi, bud. How was your day?”
He pulls back and presses his small hands against my cheeks, his face very serious. “It was good. I got to help Gramps with the cows, but I missed you.”
And I melt for this little boy completely. I’m not even a little bit ashamed to be wrapped around his finger.
“I missed you too,” I admit softly.
Eden steps into the doorway with a soft smile on her face. “How about we let Fletcher come in, Mack?”
He dramatically goes boneless in my arms and giggles, “Carry me, Fletch.”
I bark out a laugh as I step into the house. Eden grins at me and then freezes when she notices the candy bouquet. Her hands cover her mouth, and her eyes fill with unshed tears. I know they’re not sad tears because of the joy shining back at me, but I don’t like her happy tears any more than her sad ones.
With a kiss to Macklin’s head, I put him down and take a step closer to my woman. “Shooting Star,” I murmur and wrap an arm around her waist and pull her closer to me, “you know I don’t like your tears, even happy ones.”
She blinks a few times, something like awe written all over her face, “Is that a candy bouquet?”
I hold it between us with a flourish and wink at her, “It is. I came to ask you out on a date,” I flash her a sheepish grin.
“And you knew this was the way to get me to say yes?”
“I might remember a thing or two,” I tease her and soak up the smile she grants me in return. As she nibbles on her bottom lip and glances at Mack, I know exactly what she’s thinking. “Don’t worry, I already asked Walter and Edith to hang with little man for the night.”
Eden’s eyes go wide as she looks up at me, disbelief coloring her words, “You did?”
“Of course. I can’t take you out without making sure Macklin is taken care of.”
Edith walks into the room, her eyes warm and filled with excitement. “Are you ready to hang out with Gramps and me tonight, Mack?”
“Oh,” he exclaims, but then he looks over at me and Eden and frowns slightly, “I’m not going with Mama and Fletch?”
I slowly let go of Eden after kissing her temple and crouch down in front of Macklin. “You know I love spending time with you, right?” He nods, but the movement is tentative. “Well, I’ll tell you something, you are one of my favorite people on this planet, Mack, and I look forward to spending time with you every day. But we both know your Mama always puts you first and does so much to make sure you’re happy, right?” His eyes light up and I know he’s remembering the conversation we had that first morning. “Tonight, I’m taking your Mama out for a date, is that cool with you?”
Macklin nods and points at me, “Make Mama happy.”
I chuckle and hold my hand out for him to shake. “Promise.“
He turns to Edith, his face serious, “Guess it’s you, me, and Gramps tonight then.”
Edith chuckles and Eden makes a sound in the back of her throat with the effort of keeping her laughter at bay. I stand up, grip Eden’s shoulders, and turn her toward her room. “Go and get changed, Shooting Star.”
She snatches the bouquet from my hands before taking it with her. The wink she sends me when she looks over her shoulder, has me grinning at her. Do I check out her ass? You better fucking believe it.
I hang out with Macklin and Edith until Eden’s ready. After say goodnight, and giving out some goodnight kisses, I lead my woman out to my truck. When I help her in and her eyes widen, I’m sure I look smug as hell.
“The seat is warm already,” she sounds surprised as I reach across her and buckle her in.
As I look into her eyes, I assure her, “I’ll always take care of you, Eden.”
Her hands are small as she cups my jaw and murmurs, “I know.”
Even though I want to kiss her until we’re breathless, I settle for a soft press of our lips before stepping back and closing the door. The drive is pretty short to get into town. When we arrive at The Range Bar and Grill, Eden is looking at it with wide eyes.
“Wow,” she breathes, “this was not here before.”
I chuckle and give her a look when she reaches for the door handle. She folds her hands back in her lap as I jump out of the truck. “They have some good food here. The bar can get busy at night, but it won’t be too bad right now,” I tell her as I lead her inside. “They have karaoke and live music on certain nights.”
“That sounds like fun,” she gushes and lights up.
“This is just the first date of many,” I promise.
The moment we step inside, Eden tenses while her eyes dart around. “This is nice,” she murmurs, but she’s not really looking at any of it.
As I look around, there are a lot of people looking at us curiously. Since it’s still kind of early in the night, the bar isn’t full and there are plenty of people enjoying dinner out. The later it gets, the younger the crowd, but right now it’s a mix.
The whispers start almost immediately, but I don’t pay any attention to them as I lead Eden over to a table with a little reserved sign on it since I called over earlier and asked for it to be marked for me. I pull her chair out for her and get her settled in her seat. She keeps looking around as if she’s waiting for someone to start yelling at her.
She should know no one is going to make her feel bad about not being back sooner and I’m sure quite a few people will be happy about seeing us together. I relax back in the seat and watch my woman as she looks over the menu since I already know what I’m getting. Even if I didn’t, I’d take the opportunity to just watch her; she’s captivating.
While she’s still tense, she relaxes slightly after we order, and we both have drinks. The shy smile she gives me fucking slays me.
“Sorry,” she winches slightly and shakes her head a little, “I’m being silly. Thank you for asking me to go out.”
I reach over and take her hand in mine and give it a little squeeze. “I know you’ve needed some time to get used to this between us and process everything, but I didn’t want to let too much time pass before taking you out on a real date. I want you to be able to trust my intentions about where this is going between us.”
The chuckle she lets out is a touch self-deprecating. “Of course, you would know I needed to be able to process this change,” she sighs while smiling. “I was spiraling a little at first,” she admits.
“What had you thinking so hard?”
She gnaws on her bottom lip and her eyes widen as I reach over and pull it out from between her teeth. “I was concerned this was moving too fast and if it was just a reaction to seeing each other again. We didn’t have a lot of closure 13 years ago when we went from being best friends and together, even with the distance, to not in each other’s lives at all.”
I nod slowly, understanding her thinking. “The way I feel about you has nothing to do with closure,” I assure her. “I’ve missed you more than I could ever express. I missed my best friend and our relationship.” I stare into her dark eyes and hope she can feel the sincerity in my words, “I gave you my heart when we were kids, Shooting Star, and I never got it back.”
She deflates and her eyes get glassy with unshed tears. “I feel the same way,” she admits.
Her words make me feel like I’m one step closer to making Eden mine permanently. I prod her gently, “What else were you worried about?”
She huffs out a small laugh and rolls her eyes. “I’m not sure if I like how well you can read me sometimes,” she teases. “I was just,” she shrugs, “worried I was moving too fast with bringing someone into Macklin’s life. I never really thought about how I would go about it after his dad left. It wasn’t something even remotely on my radar, but I also know you will never do anything to hurt him.”
“Never,” I vow. “I understand why you’d be concern. It’s a lot to expect someone so young to understand and adapt to, especially when we’re just getting to know each other again after being apart for so long. You don’t want Macklin to be hurt.”
“You’d never hurt him,” her words are filled with an appalled shock. “I know it without question, Fletch.”
“If we need to slow down, Eden, we can,” I let her know. “I don’t want to push you to move faster than you’re comfortable with, but I want to make sure you know what I want out of this.”
She whispers, her eyes wide, “What is that?”
“You,” I lay my truth at her feet. “I just want you. I want to be with you. There will be things that are different in our relationship now, but I know we’ll face all those changes and whatever challenges come our way. I want a chance to make you mine because I already know I won’t be able to let you go.”
She can’t fight the wide smile that curls her lips upward. “I like the sound of that.”
Our food is delivered, and the conversation becomes lighter. We’re going to give this a try, a real try. I know it’ll all work out. The only woman I could ever picture growing old next to was Eden and it’s still true now.
We are interrupted a few times while we’re eating. Even though everyone acknowledges me, it becomes clear very quickly they all came by to see my woman. She tenses every time we’re interrupted, but her shoulders do leave her ears eventually and she looks far more relaxed with every person who stops by to speak to us.
As we’re finishing dinner and it seems people are leaving us alone, I lean forward and grip her hand in mine. I tease her, “Did you think someone was going to grab you and then march you out of town with pitchforks or some shit?”
I chuckle lightly and look at my girl. She has no idea how people really view her. As much as she tried to stay away, she’s always thought of Wintervale as her home.
“You never know,” she chirps, and smiles at me.
“It would never happen. Not only would I not allow it, but the people here love you. They’ve missed you,” I tell her earnestly.
Something twinkles in Eden’s eyes, and I know I need to get us out of here. As soon as possible.