Chapter 30 #2
He smiled at this, and it grew as I teased, “No shock there, your uncle won’t even try pineapple on pizza.”
She screwed up her little nose. “Pineapple on pizza?”
I nodded, and she tapped her chin, giving this some thought. “What about pineapple ice cream!”
“Well, that sounds delicious. We could try that sometime.” I gulped and turned pink, having used the word sometime. That assumed there would be more time for sometime. And the trepidation I saw in Reed’s eyes this afternoon concerned me.
I stood, still peering down at Abigail, bursting at the seams with so much excitement—and sugar—that she could barely contain herself.
Reed patted her head. “Abbers, why don’t you go and change into your best monkey bar outfit, and we can walk to the park in a few minutes.
I need to talk to Cici privately, but then we can go. ”
Her lips twisted to the side. “Uncle Reed, secrets are not kind.”
His chuckle was barely audible. I took this one over, kneeling back down. “Abi, sometimes secrets are for surprises. Like the time we didn’t tell Ms. Karen that we made her a big birthday card. We kept it a surprise for her, right?”
She nodded her understanding, then squealed, “A surprise!” as she ran down the hall to her room. She was a ticking time bomb, so who knew how much time we had—or how much Reed was going to kill me for setting him up to surprise her with something. I mean, it could be anything, she was five.
“A surprise, huh?” He squinted at me, but there was humor there.
“Yep, an extra episode of Peppa, and you’ll knock her socks off.”
He accepted my idea with a brief shrug, and then the expression on his face changed, and I knew he’d turned serious. “Today was hard.” Stress rolled off him in waves as he rubbed at his hair. “My mom and that douchebag were there, and they were manipulative as always.”
I wasn’t relieved that his meeting had gone badly, or that this topic saved me from the boyfriend conversation, but something in my body settled. He was confiding in me. He still needed me.
I placed a hand on his chest, wanting to squeeze myself back into his arms, but I needed him to know he had my full attention.
His hand rested on top of mine. “They moved here. He made passive assumptions about my history of not staying in one place and with, um…” His hand made its way back behind his neck, rubbing the mess of curls at his nape. “Female company.”
I raised a brow at this but let him continue.
“Coincidentally, Daisy called, Brooke called, and then you called, all during the meeting, and that didn’t help his jabs.”
Shit, now I felt bad.
Clasping my chin with his finger, he said, “Cienna, I’m not placing blame.
” He released me and kissed my nose softly.
Then he rubbed his eyes and stared past my shoulder.
“They managed to get themselves visitation rights.” His lips pursed and his eyes glossed over.
Fuck. I could only imagine how hard that was for him.
I lifted both my arms from his chest and wrapped them around his neck, rubbing light circles on the soft skin.
“Starting this week, they get supervised visits. Only a few hours at first…” The pain in his eyes stabbed at my heart.
“But then the visits get longer each week, and if it’s going well, they will even get overnights.
” His gulp was slow and audible as he continued, his words rushing out faster, almost panicked.
“We meet again in eight weeks, and it feels like so long, so much time they’re allowed to invade, and—”
“Ta-da.” Abi posed in the entrance to the hallway, one hip out, one arm up, and Reed ran his hand across his mouth with a loud exhale.
Plastering on a sparkling smile, I stepped in Abi’s direction, shielding Reed from her attention for a moment. “Abigail Marsh! That is the most monkey bar-est glam outfit I’ve ever seen. And I’m a teacher, so I’ve seen lots of monkey bar royalty.”
She turned in the hallway, then strutted out, heading for Reed, and I could feel the panic vibrating from him.
Springing for her, I scooped her up, spinning her in the air, causing her to giggle and squeal in delight.
I set her down as my biceps burned, reminding me I was paying for a gym membership and hadn’t gone more than twice.
“Again, again,” she chanted. I picked her up again, repeating the circle, hoping her strawberry ice cream was fully digested. “Weeeee,” she sang, and I giggled too. When I set her back on her feet, she hugged my waist and lifted her head up to me. “I love you, Cici.”
My first instinct was to startle, having just endured all the trepidation with Jill. That woman would have a field day with those words.
Then that tense emotion melted into joy.
This brilliant, beautiful little human loved me.
And trusted me enough to lift her, spin her, hug her.
I squeezed her back, my words coming out with an emotion-filled choke, squeezing my throat.
“Aww, I love you too, sweetie.” Turning to Reed, I caught him watching us, and the look in his eyes changed from his earlier panic to something different. Something I couldn’t quite decipher.
He picked Abi up and ruffled her already messy curls. “You ready for the park?”
She nodded gleefully.
“Shoes, Ms. Monkey Bar. You need shoes.”
“Be right back,” she yelled as she ran to retrieve them.
Reed spun to me, pulling me into a hug. He placed a kiss on my lips. Slow, but still. “Thank you.”
Before he could pull away, I nuzzled his nose. “For what?”
“For being here. With me. With her.” Before I could return his kiss and tell him there was no place I’d rather be, Abi was a streak of rainbow and bouncing curls zooming down the hall and to the door.
Reed and I both took a step away from each other, but not before his whisper enticed my ear as he said, “Best girlfriend ever.”
Relieved and speechless, I followed them out the front door. Abi climbed on a scooter that sat on the front porch, then zipped down the driveway.
“Not too far ahead of us, Abbers. You know the drill.”
She turned and gave him a thumbs-up, then continued to speed down the sidewalk. She slowed a ways down, and Reed grabbed my hand as we walked several feet behind her.
He never let Abigail out of his sight as we continued to the park, still hand in hand. As much as I feared who would spot us, including Abi, I was relieved to have this contact with him, and I wished so badly that I could ease his pain.
Abigail quickly ditched her scooter near the playground and ran to the monkey bars.
She turned her attention back to us but didn’t seem to notice our hand-holding.
Reed gave my fingers a squeeze before letting go.
Then all of his attention was on Abigail for the next half hour.
Her number one supporter, he celebrated, whooped, and cheered on his niece, and it was clear that his approval was the most important thing to Abi.
I cozied up on a bench as a bystander, clapping occasionally, reveling in the joy of watching Reed as a parent.
He had no idea just how great he was. My blood boiled thinking about these people, his parents, trying to interject in this beautiful life he was working so hard to create for Abi. For both of them. Heartless.
As we walked back, Abi walked her scooter next to us.
Reed gave me the occasional look or brief touch, leaving me longing for more.
His proximity hummed through my body, an endless ache to caress and kiss the hurt away.
I wanted to use my lips, my body, my words to take his mind off his day, even if it was a short reprieve.
Back at his house, he sent Abigail to take a shower and wrapped his arms around my waist, saying, “I need you.” The prolonged heat I was holding washed over me, and I devoured his lips.
He gave me the same in return, then pulled me over to the couch.
He sighed and sat me next to him, and as much as I wanted to climb on his lap, my new favorite seat, I could feel his mood change from lust to somber.
“I have something big to ask, and if it’s too much, it’s okay to say no.” He cupped my hands in his, squeezing reassuringly. “I really mean that, you can say no.”
There were very few things I’d say no to when it came to Reed. This thought made me blush momentarily, but his mood told me this wasn’t that kind of request. “Of course, Reed. Whatever you need.”