“Oh, god, don’t do that!” I stood up and slid my hands to his waist. “That would severely back fire on me. Can you imagine if we’re still together next fall? Then they’d really talk. I can only imagine those rumors.”
“We will be.” His voice was so serious that I had to look up at him. He stared at me intently, searching my eyes and my expression for something I didn’t know if I could give him. “Liz, this isn’t a fling. You know that, right?”
“I know you think that, but-”
He slid his fingertips along my cheek until he cupped my face with one of his big hands. “Liz, I know this isn’t a fling.” He dipped his head, bringing his lips only an inch from mine. “And you do too.”
My eyes fluttered closed when he kissed me. I couldn’t help it. This was the worst place for him to kiss me, but we were mostly alone in the hallway. The rest of the hustle and bustle had moved into the auditorium, ready for the play to start.
I had too many doubts to believe that Ben and I could be long term. Until he kissed me like this. His tongue swept across my bottom lip and then dipped into my mouth for a sweet taste. Our mouths pressed together in a sensual meeting that left me breathless and warm even though it was brief.
He pulled back and hit me with one of his intense looks. “Not a fling,” he reiterated.
I bit my lip, hoping to savor him for just a moment longer and shook my head at him. I couldn’t analyze his words or his kiss or the fact that he had just very publically kissed me. We might not have had a large audience, but we had enough. Word would spread.
I didn’t know how to feel and so I decided to think about it later. I wanted to enjoy my kids tonight, not obsess over potentially negative thoughts. And so I decided to enjoy this moment with him and not stress.
Well, until we turned toward the auditorium and found Katherine waiting for us near the doors. My stomach plummeted while I tried to read her gaze. Ben’s hand reached for mine and squeezed tightly, urging me to be brave… to be confident.
I tilted my chin and promised myself I would talk to Katherine about Ben… soon. If she brought it up.
She didn’t say a word to me or Ben as she led us to our seats. In fact, she didn’t say a word to me for the rest of the night.
I might have been able to suppress my concern of Blake and Abby’s friends’ parents finding out I was seeing someone now, but I could not ignore Katherine’s cold stare or icy behavior.
Luckily, there was enough going on to distract me. Blake played an amazing Poky Puppy. He remembered all of his lines and hammed it up to the audience. His dad would have been so very proud of him.
And Abby played her part as the sun exactly how I thought she would-grumpy. She snapped at the flowers and kicked a bone all the way across stage. She was awful. And it was so adorable I stood up at the end of the play and gave her a standing ovation. Mr. Hoya got exactly what he asked for. Abby’s dad would have been so very proud of her too.
Although you could never get me to say that out loud.
Chapter Twenty-Two
The school year ended in a blink of an eye and summer flipped by in lazy days of late mornings and reckless play. June was a month filled with outdoor barbeques where Ben would grill and I would fill the patio table with paper plates and corn on the cob. The kids loved to eat outside and it wasn’t too hot to enjoy the summer evenings.
Some nights Ben would watch the kids for me while I went for a run. They loved their Ben-time without me to take away his attention. And I loved my alone time.
On the weekends we would spend hours in Ben’s pool. With two of us it made watching the kids simple. Emma would join us whenever she didn’t have other plans.
Ben rarely spent a night away from us. And when he had to be away, it wasn’t just me that missed him. The kids wanted him with us, at our dinner table, in our house, a part of our lives.
The Fourth of July had been spent at the lake, where he supervised small fireworks and I managed s’mores. We invaded his parent’s cabin for the weekend and it was the first time I allowed him to sleep over.
Not that he did anything more than sleep. Still, that was a big step for me.
By the middle of July, I was already dreading the school year and simultaneously looking forward to the kids having a more structured life. Lucy couldn’t wait to go to kindergarten and Abby had settled down just enough that I thought maybe her second grade teacher might be able to survive the year.
With the right amount of prayer.
Before I thought too seriously about school though, I decided we needed a lot more days at the pool. Because it was Saturday, Ben could join me and the children could survive the day.
“No running!” I called after Abby and Blake as they raced around the side of the pool and fought to see who could make the bigger cannonball splash.
Lucy had her floaties on and had no trouble puttering around the length of the pool and Jace was enjoying his froggy inflatable that sat him upright near the shallow end. All children were safe for the moment.
It was a good day.
I spread my arms along the edge of the pool and let the baked cement warm my skin. I blinked up at the bright sun and soaked in these blissful few moments.
“We need another date,” Ben murmured, floating up to me. His firm torso was exposed for my viewing pleasure, the water crashed against his chest as he moved closer to me. My fingers twitched, desperate to run over his taut muscles.
“Why’s that?” I snuck a glance over his shoulder to make sure all of the children were safe… and also distracted. My fingers cut through the water until they brushed against his ribs.