Right Under My Nose

by Parker, Ali

  Holden

  As I stirred the next morning, I had a smile on my face. I turned in bed, facing Autumn, her hair splayed wildly over the pillow, her clothes from the night before tossed on the floor next to us. She looked gorgeous fast asleep, so peaceful, her usual animated expression quiet and still for a change. I ran my hand down her bare back where she had tossed aside the covers early in the morning, and her eyes fluttered open and she looked at me.

  “Hey,” she greeted me sleepily, her voice a little croaky. “You okay?”

  “Sure am,” I assured her, and I laid my head back down on the pillow so I could look her in the eye. The night before had been perfect, totally, utterly perfect, and getting to wake up beside her like this was the cherry on top. I knew we wouldn’t be able to do this a lot—I didn’t want to dump Hunter on Raymond and Olivia a couple of times a week—so I savored the moment while I could, the intimacy of coming back to the real world to find one of my favorite people there next to me.

  “Mmm.” She wriggled against the sheets as I continued to trace my fingers over her back. “That feels nice.”

  “Don’t tempt me,” I warned her, and she giggled, flicking her eyes open and meeting my gaze.

  “Spent from last night?”

  “I don’t think we have time this morning before I have to go pick up Hunter.” I made a face. “But trust me, I want to.”

  “Well, save it for next time, huh?” she suggested, pushing herself upright. She was utterly naked, and the sight of her stripped bare like that was more intimate than sexy, knowing she felt comfortable enough not to hide from me.

  “Do we have time to make some breakfast before we go?” She pushed her closed fist into her stomach. “I’m pretty hungry.”

  “Well, you did work up one hell of an appetite last night,” I teased her gently, and she shot me a look.

  “Hey, don’t strain something patting yourself on the back,” she fired back, grinning and stretching.

  We both got dressed and headed to the kitchen to make ourselves something to eat. Nothing major, just some fruit and toast and yogurt, but once again, it felt so nice to be able to share the simplicity of an act like this with her. It felt as though it had always been this way, as though she had always been around like this was some Sunday morning tradition we’d been carrying on for years.

  “What do you want to do today?” she asked casually, and I glanced at her in surprise. I’d assumed she would want to head home, given that I was going to pick up Hunter.

  “I have to go collect Hunter after this,” I told her, “from Raymond’s place. But you could come along if you want. Raymond and Olivia would love to meet you.”

  “Olivia’s the one who set you up with me, right?” she asked. “I suppose I owe her a thank-you, at least.”

  “Oh, trust me, they haven’t let me forget they were the ones who stuck us in the same room together.” I rolled my eyes playfully.

  “I’d love to come with you if that’s all right,” she suggested hopefully. “Maybe I could spend the day with the two of you? Get to know Hunter a little better?”

  “That would be awesome.” I nodded. “I mean, maybe I’m a little biased, but I think he’s great company.”

  “Yeah, he’s a good kid,” she agreed, taking a bite of her toast.

  “I’m sure he’d love to spend the day with you,” I said. “He’s been enjoying your after-school clubs so much. I think he might even have a little crush on you.”

  “Well, can you blame him?” Autumn gestured playfully to herself, and I gave her the once-over, taking the opportunity once more to check out the outrageously beautiful woman I was currently dating.

  “I think I can give him a pass on this one.” I grinned. She chuckled, and we finished up breakfast and finished getting ready, heading out across town to Raymond’s place to pick up Hunter.

  “So how do you and Raymond know each other?” she asked as we drove, her window down an inch so her hair was flailing wildly around her face. She didn’t seem to care. And why should she?

  “We went to college together,” I explained. “We got close then, but he was one of the only ones who stuck around after Hunter was born. Most of the rest of the people I knew around that time didn’t seem to know what the fuck to do with a baby, so they avoided me, but he was there through all of it. He helped me with the business when things got going, and he’s had a kid of his own, so now I’m the one helping him where I can.”

  “That’s sweet.” Autumn smiled, turning her head to absorb the cool air pouring in through the window. “Girl or boy?”

  “Girl. Sasha,” I replied. “She’s a cute little thing too.”

  “Well, I look forward to meeting her,” she remarked, and my mind drifted back to the conversation I’d had with Raymond at the coffee shop recently. Did she want any kids of her own, or would Hunter be enough for her? I eyed her for a moment, considering how cute her beautiful red hair would look in little tufts on a baby’s head.

  We arrived at the house, and I headed to the door, not even landing a knock on it before Olivia pulled it open. She beamed at the both of us, her eyes sliding over to Autumn at once and taking her in.

  “You must be the famous Autumn!” she exclaimed, and she stepped aside to let her in. “Come in, come in. Raymond’s feeding the baby, and Hunter’s upstairs getting ready to go.”

  “Good to meet you too.” Autumn smiled back at her, a little nervous, and I took her hand and squeezed it as we headed through to the living room. These two were my best friends, no doubt about it, so no wonder she was feeling a little anxious about making a good impression.

  “Oh, hello!” Raymond cocked his head at Autumn as he spotted her entering the living room. Sasha was in his arms, awake but quiet, and Autumn’s eyes practically bugged out of her head as soon as she laid eyes on her.

  “Hi.” She nodded to Raymond and then turned her attention to Sasha, squeezing her little hands into fists in his arms. “This must be Sasha. Holden was telling me you guys had a baby recently, but I didn’t realize how little she was!”

  “Yeah, she’s a tiny thing.” Raymond looked down at her lovingly. “You want to hold her? She’s pretty calm right now. She just got fed, so she won’t cause much of a fuss.”

  “Sure.” Autumn reached out for her, and Raymond carefully deposited the baby into her arms. At once, Autumn cradled her close to her chest, and Raymond shot me a meaningful look, clearly thinking about our conversation as well. I ignored it. Yeah, Autumn looked cute with a baby in her arms, but that didn’t mean I was looking to get her pregnant in the next five minutes.

  “You’re an elementary school teacher, right?” Olivia asked as she bustled into the living room with some coffee for all of us.

  “Yeah, that’s right. For about five years now. I love it and can’t imagine doing anything else.”

  “I can hardly manage one kid, let alone a whole class of them,” Olivia said. “I don’t know how you do it.”

  “Hey, there’s a reason we have to go through so much training,” Autumn answered, getting a laugh from Olivia.

  “I suppose you’re right,” she agreed. “We’ve been learning on the job.”

  “Well, she’s gorgeous.” Autumn cooed at Sasha. “You’ve clearly been doing a good job.”

  “And I suppose you’d know,” Raymond said.

  “Yep, you officially have my seal of approval.” Autumn grinned at him. “Here, take her back before I try to steal her.”

  Raymond eased Sasha out of her arms, and Autumn reached out to touch her little hand. I was so glad they were getting on well. Autumn was totally charming in her own specific way, and I’d had no reason to think they wouldn’t get on well. Still, it was a relief that she seemed to get along with all the important people in my life. I could already imagine taking care of Sasha for an evening with her. That could be fun.

  “You have any kids, Autumn?” Olivia asked. Anyone listening in might have assumed it was a casual question, b
ut I knew her well enough to guess she and Raymond had been discussing the same thing Raymond had with me earlier. I wanted to leap in and shut the conversation down, but it would have seemed so obvious that I didn’t want to talk about it. I left it, hoping it would fizzle out quickly enough.

  “Uh, no.” She shook her head. “Just the ones I’m teaching.”

  “You ever think about having them?” Raymond asked, and Olivia tucked her arm through her husband’s, the two of them watching Autumn expectantly. A pair of interrogation-bots, here to make my day that much more awkward.

  “Uh…” Autumn trailed off, and she shot a look at me, begging me to jump in and remove her from this conversation. I tried to catch Raymond’s eye and let him know I didn’t want to talk about this, but his attention was focused squarely on Autumn, pretending I wasn’t even in the room.

  Thank goodness, Hunter came bounding down the stairs and into the living room at that moment. He glanced around, and his face lit up when he saw Autumn standing there.

  “Miss Becks!” he exclaimed happily. “I didn’t know you were going to be here.”

  “Well, here I am.” Autumn spread her arms wide, throwing in some jazz hands that made Hunter laugh. I silently thanked the gods that I wasn’t going to have to stall that awkward conversation any further. My son had excellent timing, even if he had no idea of it yet.

  “We’ll finish our coffee and get going.” I clapped my hands together. “We’re spending the day together, right, Autumn?”

  “If that’s okay with Hunter.” She glanced at my son, who nodding enthusiastically at once.

  “Of course, it is!” he agreed, and he stayed on his feet as the rest of us sat down to drink our coffees, obviously ready to go right then and there. I waved him over to my side, and he leaned against my chair, staring at Autumn with a smile on his face so big, it looked set to split his face in two.

  The conversation turned to what they had been up to the night before, and I thanked my lucky stars I wasn’t going to get stuck talking about Autumn’s prospects for kids in the future. We had barely been on a handful of dates, and I had a feeling pushing that on her so quickly was going to freak her out. She wanted to spend more time with Hunter and get to know the two of us better. That was all I wanted and all I needed for the time being. Sure, those were the kinds of questions we were going to have to think about at some point, and I knew that. But for right now, I wanted to enjoy dating once more, having a woman I adored by my side, and the future could wait. As long as Autumn was close to me, nothing else mattered.

  39

  Autumn

  With my hand tucked happily into Holden’s, I headed out the door and to the car waiting outside. Hunter hopped into the back seat, practically dancing where he sat, and Holden turned around to face him.

  “So what do you feel like doing today, buddy?” he asked. “Autumn’s going to come with us, so make sure it’s something cool.”

  Hunter opened and closed his mouth, overwhelmed by all the options surrounding what he was going to get me to do today. I grinned at him.

  “Where’s the most fun place in the city?” I asked him, and he beamed at once.

  “Freddie’s!” he replied excitedly.

  I turned to Holden and raised my eyebrows. “And where might that be?”

  “A place down by the pier,” he explained, shaking his head with a smile on his face, as though that’s precisely what he’d expected his son to say. “Lots of games and junk food.”

  “Sounds great.” I turned to smile at Hunter, whose face lit up as soon as he met my gaze.

  “How about we hit the science museum as well?” Holden suggested as he pulled the car out of the driveway. “Then we can at least pretend we’re doing something educational.”

  “Yeah!” Hunter squealed excitedly from behind us. It was about the most animated I’d seen him in the whole time I’d known him, and it was distinctly adorable to see him expressing so much excitement about something like this.

  “Lead on.” I waved my hand and leaned back in my seat, as Holden drove us across town to the science museum. I rolled my window down and let the cool air blow in, enjoying the way it bathed my face and the calmness it brought me. But I was excited too—maybe not quite as much as Hunter, but I was getting to spend the day with the two of them together. It was an extension of our date in the best way. I couldn’t imagine how this could get any better.

  “Come on, I want to show you the bird exhibit!” Hunter exclaimed as he climbed out of the car, and he grabbed my hand and hurried me into the large, modern building that housed the science museum. I glanced over my shoulder at Holden, who waved me ahead.

  “I’ll pay for the tickets. You go on ahead,” he told me. I grinned and let Hunter lead me into the building.

  “They have all these bird skeletons,” Hunter explained to me enthusiastically. “They’re so cool. I love them.”

  “That sounds very interesting,” I agreed, as he paused for a moment to figure out where he wanted to take me. He ducked off down one corridor, and I hurried to keep up with him, and just like that, the day had begun.

  I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the science museum. I had never much been one for the nerdier side of things, but they had everything set up to make sure it was accessible to even complete dunces like me. Hunter clearly loved it there, bouncing between exhibits and pointing out details to me that I might have otherwise missed. Holden caught up with us within a few minutes, knowing exactly where his son would have taken me on my first trip, and I watched as the two of them admired a deconstructed motorcycle. I loved Holden when he was with his son, loved the way they interacted, how utterly Holden gave himself over to whatever it was his son was excited about. He was an amazing father, one of the best I’d ever seen. Though perhaps I was a little on the biased side.

  We went around what felt like every exhibit in the place until my legs were aching, and my stomach was growling.

  “Freddie’s?” I suggested, and Holden shrugged, a smile on his face.

  “If you want to put away fifty pounds of terrible food, sure,” he agreed.

  “The food isn’t terrible!” Hunter protested, and Holden held his hands up.

  “Well, we’ll have to get Autumn’s vote on that one.” He winked at Hunter and then turned to glance around the foyer. “I’m going to grab a bottle of water for the ride. I’ll be back in a minute.”

  “Sure thing.” I waved him off and sank down gratefully into the stone seat behind me. My feet were sore, and I needed to get the weight off of them. I wasn’t used to standing up for such a long time. Damn, I needed to hit the gym.

  “Are you having a good time?” I asked Hunter, and he nodded excitedly.

  “I still think I like the birds best,” he told me. “But the cars are cool too.”

  “Any of them catch your eye?” I remarked. “For when you’re old enough to have one of your own?”

  “All of them,” he blurted out at once, and I couldn’t help laughing. It was awesome seeing him so enthusiastic, so passionate, so engaged. But as he stared up at me, I could see something else lurking behind his eyes, a question, a concern. I had worked with kids long enough to know when they were holding something back from me, and the last thing I wanted was for Hunter to feel as though he couldn’t say whatever he needed to say.

  “What’s up?” I prompted him, and he twisted his mouth up and shook his head.

  “I don’t know if I should ask it.”

  “Come on, it’s okay,” I assured him. “What’s bothering you?”

  He took a deep breath and then finally came out with it.

  “Do you know my mom?”

  I fell silent for a moment. That wasn’t the question I had been prepared for, although I supposed I should have expected it. Here I was, a woman in his life, someone dating his dad when he’d never had anyone fulfill that role before. Of course, he was going to have questions.

  I shook my head at last, glancing over at Hol
den and wondering how long he was going to be. I didn’t want to come out with anything he didn’t approve of, but I couldn’t deflect the question, especially not after pressing it out of Hunter.

  “No, I don’t,” I replied.

  “Neither do I,” he said with a sigh. “I’ve never met her. And my dad…”

  He looked over at Holden, and a brief flash of sadness passed over his face. I wanted to give him a big hug, but kids could pick up on when you were feeling emotional, and I didn’t want him to think this was a huge deal.

  “He never talks about her either.” He shook his head. “I don’t know why. But I know I’m not supposed to bring her up.”

  I fell silent. I didn’t know how to respond to that. Hunter was old enough to have noticed he didn’t have a mother around when a lot of the kids his age did and to start having questions about it. But it wasn’t as simple as that when it came to explaining why. This woman, Hunter’s mother, had hurt Holden badly, and bringing her up would be a painful memory for him, no matter how much his son needed to hear the truth about her.

  Before I could say another word to him, thankfully, Holden turned up next to us, swigging from a bottle of water.

  “Everything all right?” he asked, seeming to notice the odd atmosphere between us. “What were you two talking about?”

  “Nothing,” Hunter replied quickly, shaking his head, and he gave me a quick look to indicate that I should agree with him.

  “Nothing important,” I said with a nod. I got to my feet. “Are we ready to go? I’m starving. And I want to see the most fun place in the city!”

  With that, the conversation seemed to be behind us—well, behind Hunter, at least, as he got to his feet and skipped to the exit. Holden and I followed behind, and I wondered if I should tell Holden what his son had been asking me. But he had already been through enough, with everything that was happening with me, and I didn’t want to stress him out more. Raising kids was a trial at the best of times, and I wanted today to be fun for all of us.