Chapter 8 #3
She could see him shrug in the light from the dashboard. “I don’t care. I mean, I know you’re doing it, so I’m not sure what difference it makes if you’re across town or on the other side of the wall.”
“Okay. I just didn’t want you to be weirded out. After we have the picnic and everybody knows what’s going on, it’ll be a lot easier for us to be together. But until then, we’re just going to have to play it by ear.”
It got quiet in the car until Hadley said, “Mom, you know, I’m not really that mad about Kyle. I’m mad about the phone, but not about Kyle. I think he likes us, doesn’t he?”
“He does. He’ll grow to love you because you’re mine.
But I can tell you this. If Kyle tells you to do something, it’ll be because he truly thinks that it’s best for you.
He’s not on some kind of power trip. It wasn’t the phone that bothered him.
It was the way you were treating me. He won’t tolerate that sort of thing, and for that, I appreciate him. ”
In a few minutes, the quiet in the car slipped into the occasional snore, and she knew they’d fallen asleep.
It had been a long day, but a good one. Of all the things that had happened, the one that stood out in her mind had been the way Kyle had taken charge when the kids got out of hand.
God, she needed someone who’d step in like that!
If that was the kind of man he was, she was going to finally have some help.
He didn’t just love her—he’d made her life a better place to live, and they’d only slept together once. If that was what she could expect, she couldn’t wait to see how the relationship grew. She didn’t just love him. She respected him. And that made all the difference.
Kyle couldn’t believe he’d thought of it. It would be perfect. “Do you still have it?”
“Yeah. Haven’t used it in a couple of years. The kids hate it.”
“Could I borrow it for a weekend?”
Keith laughed. “Where are you going?”
“No. I mean here. Could you bring it over and show me everything?”
“Sure. When?”
“Whenever it’s good for you.”
“How ’bout tomorrow evening?”
“Perfect! You’re a lifesaver, brother.”
That made Keith laugh again. “I have no idea what you’re up to, but I can’t wait to find out!”
By the end of the next evening, everything was in place. When Kyle called Gina and told her what he’d done, she laughed. “Oh my god! They’re going to hate this!”
“No. I don’t think so. I’m not going to tell you why, but I think they’re going to love it.”
He heard her let out a deep sigh. “I hope you’re right.”
“Trust me on this one. The way I present it, they’ll be thrilled.”
“Well, okay then. I guess we’ll see.”
“Yep,” Kyle said as he kicked back and dropped his feet onto the coffee table. “We’ll see.”
The plan was for Gina to bring the kids on Friday night, stay the night, and go to work on Saturday, leaving them with Kyle.
The idea made her very nervous. This was a prime opportunity for Briley and Hadley to act so poorly that Kyle would tell her it was over when she got back that evening.
By the time she left the co-op on Friday evening, her stomach was rolling and she had a headache behind her eyes that just wouldn’t quit.
Kyle said he’d take them all for pizza before the ball game once they got there, so she drove straight to his house.
While they hadn’t been enthusiastic about spending the weekend on the farm, they also hadn’t been nasty about it.
She was sure they were wondering how it was going to work out.
Boy, were they going to have a huge surprise!
They pulled up in front of the house and Briley was the first one to notice it and say something. “Wow! Look at that. It’s huge!”
“Mom, are we going somewhere in it?”
“Nope.” She threw her truck into park and grinned. “That, my children, is your apartment for the weekend.”
“Cool!” Hadley yelled and jumped out of the truck’s back seat. “This is so awesome! Briley, it’s like we have our own place!”
“We’re staying there?”
“Yep. Go have a look. I’m sure the door’s not locked.” She watched her kids run toward the huge diesel-pusher RV, throw the door open, and climb in.
“They look kinda excited,” she heard Kyle say behind her.
“Yeah. They do. I can’t believe you pulled this off. When you said a camper, I thought it was going to be a little trailer.”
“Nope. This is my brother and sister-in-law’s RV. Their kids are older now and don’t like going out in it, so they’re hoping they’ll get to use it a lot more when the kids are grown. In the meantime, it’s just sitting in their yard, so here it is.”
Gina didn’t even see Hadley until she ran right straight into Kyle and threw her arms around his neck. “Oh, god, this is so great! Thank you!”
“I stocked the refrigerator and freezer. Look in there—breakfast bowls, frozen pizza, those little pizza roll things, chips, drinks, lunch meat, bread, cheese, and condiments. The whole enchilada. I want you guys to have a good time, just kick back, and relax. Oh, and there’s Wi-Fi in there.
I’ll give you the password and you can use it while you’re here. ”
“And you can have your phone for the weekend,” Gina said, reaching into her purse and pulling Hadley’s phone out.
“Oh my god! Thank you! Thank you, Mom! Thank you, Kyle!”
“Had! You’ve gotta see this! The fridge is full!” Briley yelled from the RV’s doorway. They watched as she ran back toward him and disappeared into the behemoth’s interior.
Kyle draped his arm over Gina’s shoulder. “Well, looks like I scored high with this one.”
“Brilliant, baby!” She tipped her head to rest it on his shoulder. “This is gonna be so great.”
“The only other problem we’ll have is with Myla wanting to be with them.”
Gina hadn’t thought of that. “Oh. They won’t want that.”
“Got that covered too. I’ve got a few things you can do with Myla, mom-like things, that she’ll love, and it’ll give you time to be together.
” He rubbed the space between her shoulder blades and she felt all the stress of the week melt away.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry.
If you’ll go get Myla and tell her to get her shoes on and get ready to go, I’ll get those two and we’ll go to the pizza place. ”
“Sounds good to me.” Gina headed into the house, but before she stepped inside, she looked back at the man walking across the lawn. He was tall and muscular, and his shoulders were strong and wide. And there was one thing she could definitely say about Kyle Miller.
He was confident in his abilities, and he made her feel confident in them too.
When she was with him, she felt comfortable and safe.
That was a vast difference from her past relationship.
Kyle would never intentionally hurt her, and she could trust him with her kids.
God, she could barely wait until they could meet with both families.
That would let them be free in their relationship and move forward.
If there was ever anyone she’d want to move forward with, it would be Kyle Miller.
It had taken everything Kyle had to keep from laughing at Hadley and Briley. They’d been so excited about staying in the RV that Briley hadn’t even wanted to go to the ball game. And that had been fine with him.
The house was finally quiet, and when she’d asked, he’d gladly passed Myla’s bedtime ritual to Gina. “Is she asleep?”
Gina nodded. “Yeah. I read her a story and she was yawning by the time I was finished.” Her hands slipped around his waist and she leaned in to kiss his collarbone. “What else needs to be done before we turn in?”
“I’m going out to the RV to check on the kids—mostly to remind them to lock the doors and stay in there until morning. They don’t need to be outside roaming around in the night. They’d be perfectly safe, but they don’t know the property and they could get turned around.”
“Yeah. That would be bad. I’m getting in the shower. I should be out by the time you come back in.”
Kyle wrapped his arms around her, kissed her, and gave her ass a playful slap. “Be back in a flash.”
As he walked to the back door, he pulled his tee on, then slipped his feet into some shoes sitting there. The lights were on in the RV, and he could hear music coming from somewhere inside. He gave a couple of raps on the door. “Who is it?” he heard Hadley call out.
“It’s just me. I was coming to check on you guys.” The door opened and she looked down at him from the top of the RV’s steps. “Everything okay? Need anything?”
“Yeah, everything’s fine, and I think we’ve got everything we need.” She grinned and rolled her eyes. “More than we need, actually. You really stocked this thing!”
“I tried. Can I come in for a minute?”
“Sure.”
He climbed the steps and closed the door behind him.
Briley was in one of the recliners, feet up and reading.
They had the fireplace going, which was funny, seeing as how it was pretty damn warm outside, and the big TV was up from its storage space in the cabinet.
“I see you found the TV and figured out how to use it.”
“Yeah, and thanks for the password for the Wi-Fi. This thing is awesome. I mean, two real bedrooms and all this space? And a nice kitchen? It’s pretty amazing,” Briley said as he put down his book. “I really like it. Is it yours?”
“Nah. It belongs to my brother, Keith, and his wife. They’re not using it, so I asked and he didn’t have a problem with it. Now, if you trash it, that’ll be another story,” he said with a laugh.
Hadley shook her head. “Oh, no, sir. We’ll take good care of it.”
“I know. So I wanted to talk to the two of you for a minute, just you and me. Is that okay?”
“Sure.” Briley put the leg rest down on the recliner and sat up straight. “What’s up?”
“I just wanted you to know that, even though you don’t know me very well yet, if I can do anything to help you at any time, all you have to do is say so. If it’s something I can do, I will. I want to be there for your mom, and that includes the two of you.”
Hadley bobbed her head. “Thanks. I won’t forget.”
“I won’t either,” her brother added.