God, I loved him.
I took his hand, and we walked together to the front of the suite where Emery was waiting.
“All right, champ, this is my girlfriend, Emery,” I said to Colton.
Colton stood very still and smiled up at Emery with the brilliance that only a child could have.
Then, I looked up in Emery’s big green eyes. “Emery, this is my son.”
“You’re very pretty,” he said with a Wright grin.
Emery laughed. “Why, thank you. It’s so nice to meet you. I’ve heard so much about you.”
“Dad said that you were going to be my new friend.”
“I would like that very much.”
“Are you going to come visit me at home?”
Emery smiled and looked up at me with a question in her eyes.
“Yes,” I answered for her. “She will most definitely be visiting you in New York. I’m going to bring her as often as I come to visit.”
“I’d like that,” Emery said as much to me as to Colton. “I’d like to spend all my time in your lives.”
We moved back into the living space and took a seat. I picked Colton up and planted him on my knee. Emery sat next to me, and I wrapped my other arm around her.
This was our life. It wasn’t perfect. It was far from easy. But it was ours. And I loved them both more than words for being a part of it.
Epilogue
Emery
Eight Months Later
“Heidi, have you seen my black pumps?” I called into the living room.
“Which ones?”
“The closed-toe ones. Roundish.”
She appeared in my bedroom a minute later, holding a pair of shoes in her hand. Curse of living with someone who could pretty much wear all the same sizes as me. Except jeans, because she was a giant compared to me.
“Gimme those.”
I put them on my feet and looked in the mirror at the knee-length black skirt and black top I was wearing with the heels. “How do I look?”
“I’d fuck you,” she said with a laugh.
“Oh God, I hope all the high school boys aren’t going to think that.”
“Um…hell yes, they are.”
At that moment, a knock came from the front door, and I groaned, trying not to think about high school boys wanting to fuck me. I’d had enough torture for one lifetime on that front. Before I even reached the front door, Jensen popped open the door with his key to the place.
“Hey, babe,” he said, giving me a kiss. “Are you really wearing that on your first day?”
“Why? Do I look like shit?” I asked, concerned.
“No, you look hot as fuck. Every kid in the place is going to want to bang their teacher.”
I groaned. “Ew. Should I go for flats?”
“Only if you change into the heels for me later.” He winked.
I plucked the shoes off my feet and shoved them into his hands. Then, I dashed back into my bedroom and slipped on a sensible pair of black flats. I grabbed the official-looking teacher bag that Jensen had gotten for me as a congratulations for landing my first high school teaching job.
I’d spent all last semester substitute teaching to build up hours for the certification that I needed to be able to be in the classroom. Then, I’d applied to what felt like a million jobs all over Lubbock, and somehow, against all odds, I had gotten a job teaching European history at my old high school. My life could not be more ironic.
“Come on, before you’re late to class,” Jensen joked, smacking my ass on the way out the door.
“See you later, Heidi!” I called.
“Have a good first day at school, darling!” she yelled back.
Jensen had the truck, which calmed my nerves. I couldn’t imagine driving the Mercedes or the flashier sports car he had recently purchased to Lubbock High School. Sure, there was some oil money at the school…and there had always been the Wright family, but I wasn’t part of that elite inner circle—or, at least, I kept telling myself that.
Because, when the billionaire CEO himself dropped me off in front of the school, I felt pretty inner circle.
Things with Jensen had been much smoother sailing since the post-holidays madness. I spent a couple of nights a week at his house. We flew to New York once a month to see Colton, and he started spending a weekend here every month. I knew Jensen wanted more time with him, but he also didn’t want to interfere with Colton’s schooling. Vanessa had mellowed out. I wasn’t sure if it was the large quantities of Xanax she was taking or what, but she stopped fighting us when we came into town. After eight months, she must have finally decided I wasn’t going anywhere. And I wasn’t.
“Thanks for dropping me off,” I said.
I was trying not to be nervous even though it was really my first official day teaching high school students. I’d been a TA in college and taught my own introductory history class, but for some reason, high school had felt more daunting than college. Maybe because I’d found out who I was in college, and I had been so scared of high school.
“Have a good first day,” he told me, leaning in and giving me a lingering kiss.
“Is anyone actually ready for their first day of high school?”
“You survived once before. You can probably make it a second time.”
“And with the right brother this time.”
“Ha-ha!” he said with a roll of his eyes. “I’d better be the right brother.”
“The one and only,” I whispered against his lips.
“Good. Now, get in there, and then later, we can enact all my naughty teacher fantasies.”
I blushed despite myself. It didn’t matter how much sex we’d had. I couldn’t seem to keep it together.
“God, I love you,” he said.
“I love you, too.”
I kissed him once more and then hopped out of the truck.
I adjusted my skirt and took in the world I was about to enter. I never thought that I’d be back. It was kind of cool to think that I could start over here. I entered the building with more optimism than I’d thought possible.