30. Chapter 30
Chapter 30
Dawson
Picking up the remote, I press the pause button, then settle on the couch next to Finn.
“Hey! I was watching that,” Finn complains, trying to get the controller out of my hands.
I lift it above my head where he can’t reach it. “We need to talk for a minute.”
“About what?” he huffs.
I did a quick read-through of the articles Chloe sent me as soon as Finn and I got home.
Here go the tactics they said to try. “How would you feel if I started dating again?”
Finn shrugs.
“How would you feel about me and Chloe being together?”
He shrugs again.
“If I find someone I’m serious about, you know they would never replace your mom, though, right?” Though almost anyone is better than Willow. Chloe certainly is .
“I guess.”
“Finn, would you be okay if I took Chloe out on a date?” Wait, does an eight-year-old know what dating someone means? “It would be the two of us going to do an activity and getting food by ourselves. I mean, sometimes, you’ll get to come too, but not always. We’ll hold hands in front of you and hug. Does that bother you?”
His forehead wrinkles. “Will Chloe move in with us?”
After we’re married, I’d sure hope so. This house has six bedrooms. There’s plenty of space for us to expand our family. And I’m getting WAY ahead of myself. Expand our family? How about we make it through a normal date first? “Maybe one day if we get married, but it’s not a guarantee.” That’s the hard part about relationships. You never know if they’ll last. But when you find someone you can’t stop thinking about, like I do with Chloe, it’s worth the risk.
“But Chloe will still come around a lot and sleep over? Can we do a blanket fort and all sleep in the basement together soon?”
“Yes, she’ll be with us more often, but no, she won’t sleep over again. That one time wasn’t supposed to happen.” Because if Chloe stays over, I’ll have a ridiculously hard time keeping things from progressing faster than they should. And Chloe deserves to be treated with the utmost respect.
“What? Why not? I want a sleepover with her too. She’s my friend as much as she is yours.”
Mine comes with benefits I can’t wait to explore. I also want Finn to think of Chloe as his friend, but at the same time I need Finn to see her as an adult he has to listen to.
Yeesh, this is getting more complicated by the minute .
The chime of our doorbell echoes in the family room. “That’s Chloe. She wanted to be here in case you had questions. Let’s ask her thoughts on a basement overnighter. Deal?”
Finn jumps up from the couch. “I’ll get it!”
Another instance where dating with a kid is tricky. I want to be the one who gets to let Chloe in and be the first to get a hug. Putting my dad hat on and setting aside my boyfriend hat, I follow Finn to the door, waiting my turn to greet my girlfriend.
My breath stalls in my lungs at the sight of her. She’s wearing black wide-leg pants, a black-and-white striped shirt, and a denim jacket. Every outfit she wears flatters her figure, making me want to trail my hands over every inch of her.
She grins. “Hey, boys. How’s it going?”
“Do you want to spend the night with us?”
Chloe’s eyes go wide and her mouth pops open. “Uh. That’s a big ask when you haven’t even hugged me hello yet.” Chloe stares at me, silently asking what in the heck is going on.
I minutely shake my head.
Finn hugs Chloe’s stomach.
“Let Chloe come in, bud.”
Finn pulls away, grabbing onto Chloe’s hand, dragging her to the couch. Chloe tries getting her shoes off, but almost trips and falls in the process.
I laugh at Finn’s enthusiastic response. When I talked to him, I wasn’t sure what was going on in his head. Safe to say, I think he’s on board with Chloe and me dating .
“All right, slow down, Finn,” Chloe says, laughing. “I’m coming.”
The three of us settle on the couch. Finn sits between us. “Now, can we talk about the sleepover?”
“Chloe can’t stay tonight. You have school and I have work. And weekends are busy with football. We may have to wait a while.”
Finn scowls, folding his arms across his chest. “You guys always get to do the fun stuff and I never do!”
Chloe mouths, “I’ve got this.”
She puts her hand on Finn’s knee. “Hey, little man. I know you want to have a fun night together, and we will. Your dad is saying we can’t tonight. But why don’t we get your calendar and we’ll find a weekend when it works with both our schedules. We can even make a paper chain to count down the days if you want.”
Finn perks right up. “Can we, Dad?”
Yet again, Chloe comes in with a great idea, preventing a complete meltdown. “Yes, I’ll get the calendar now. We have fall break coming in a few weeks. That might be a good time.”
Going to the kitchen, I snatch the paper calendar off the corkboard I keep by the back door. Flipping the top sheet over, I hand the planner to Chloe. “It’s up to date. If you want to find a time in October that works for you, we can schedule a basement campout.”
Chloe opens her phone, her gaze going between her phone and the paper on her lap. “What do you want to do on our fun night in, Finn?”
Whatever night Chloe picks, we better have a proper date before then. I never imagined having to date again, but especially not with a kid who hogs all my girlfriend’s time. A sinking feeling in my gut tells me our alone time is going to be harder than ever to come by.
Good thing Finn goes to bed at nine.