The Path To Us: A Single Parent Romance

by Jennifer Van Wyk

  With her in my lap, pressing her delectable ass right against me, I can’t stop myself from getting hard. She feels it and wiggles on top of me until she’s straddling my lap, gyrating and grinding against me.

  “Keep doing that and I’m going to make some incredibly irresponsible choices right here in your backyard where anyone could see or hear.”

  “I don’t care.”

  “I do. Because as I told you last night, I don’t share, and that includes anyone seeing any part of you that you told me last night was mine.”

  “Wow. Who knew you’d be so alpha.”

  I give her an incredulous look because, really? Like she didn’t know. I’ve been protective of her most of our lives. She wrinkles her nose and twists her lips as if to say, oops, my bad. But I remind her of the bigger reason why we can’t have our wicked way with each other right here. “But, especially since Zoey could walk out here any moment.”

  “Damn.”

  “Forgot you had a daughter sleeping inside the house for a second, did you?”

  “No,” she says, grinning. “I just forgot that she has the ability to get herself out of bed and has eyes that can see and a brain that can compute those things that she sees.”

  “Last night I made you practically shout in a new language when I made you come. Now my dick is making you forget normal life all together. Wow, I’m pretty magical.”

  Addy rolls her gorgeous eyes and slides off my lap, unfortunately. But it’s necessary. I wasn’t joking when I said I was about to take her right here and now. I didn’t think my want for her could get stronger but it has. That taste of her sparked something within me and now I’m ravenous for her. It took me over an hour to fall asleep last night without her in my arms after having her for the first time.

  “You’re so cocky.”

  “You just felt that so yeah, I think we both know I’m cocky.” I wink and she takes a deep breath.

  “What have I gotten myself into?”

  “A lifetime.”

  She sucks in a breath and tears instantly flood her eyes.

  “You like that.”

  Her hair slips over her shoulders when she shakes her head. “No. I love that.”

  “Not as much as I do.”

  “I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree on that one.” She takes a sip of her coffee and over the rim of her cup, she says, “We’re gushing.”

  “Yeah. And it’s not going to be the last time, either. I don’t give a fuck if I sound like a pussy. I spent too many years not telling you how I feel and I have a lot of making up to do.”

  “I’m okay with that.”

  We hear Zoey holler for us and Addy moves to stand. I capture her hand and pull her down, kissing her lips. “I want to tell her as soon as you think she can handle it but not a second before. She’s our priority.”

  “And here I didn’t think I could want you more,” she says, kissing me with her other hand on my cheek.

  She leaves me wanting her, looking at me over her shoulder before she slides the patio door open to give Zoey her morning love. Hearing them first thing in the morning, having that to wake up to and start my day to is a gift that I hope I never take for granted. Together, they’re everything I need in life. Nothing else matters. Not owning the new to me but old farmhouse. Not being a partner in Grant’s business.

  If someone told me I’d work at a gas station pumping gas for people for the rest of my life but I got to lay my head down at night next to Addy and wake up the same, I’d tell them to sign me up.

  This feeling, it isn’t out of nowhere. It was a gradual love that built over time, and maybe that’s why it feels so intense and strong.

  Through the open door, I hear Addy ask, “Want to tell Beau good morning?”

  “Uh huh,” comes Zoey’s sleepy voice. She could not be any cuter. I’m so gone for both of them.

  I quickly rearrange myself so I don’t scar my niece for life. I know she’ll want to sit on my lap and having a hard dick isn’t going to work in that situation.

  Zoey shuffles outside, carrying her donkey with her hair similar to that of her mother’s. Wild, crazy, long.

  Without asking, she climbs onto my lap and Addy and I grin at each other.

  This, right here, is my perfect. And it might be moving fast, but the only thing that could make it more perfect would be to have my ring on Addy’s finger and eventually my baby growing in her stomach.

  “What’s the plan for today, Squirt?” I ask, wondering if I can convince them both to come with me to see the new house.

  “I want to go swimming. Daddy was teaching me before he went to heaven and I want to keep learning.”

  Well, if that isn’t a punch to the gut.

  “We took down Daddy’s pool, though, remember?”

  “What about the big pool then? The one the other kids go to with the slides and jumping board.”

  “Jumping board?” Addy asks, smiling. “You mean diving board?”

  “I’m not going to dive from the board, Mommy,” she says in a tone that’s more like “duh, Mom, what do you think?”. “I’m gonna jump off it.”

  “Oh, really?”

  “Uh huh. Can we? I like that pool.”

  “It is super fun. I bet we can do that. I’ll need to check in at the shop this morning, though.”

  “And Beau, too?”

  I can’t think of anything that sounds quite as awful as going to the public pool in town where all the moms (and dads, too, though for the most part the male species isn’t quite as astute when it comes to recognizing two people who are spending time together as more than just friends — and I can say that because I have a penis so I know) can gossip about why I’m there with my late brother’s daughter and her mom. Not that I’m not allowed to spend time with them in public, but I know tongues will be wagging in a different way. And I could give a shit less if everyone in the world knows that Addy’s mine and I’m hers, but I’m not sure if she’s there yet. Never mind the fact, that it will be almost impossible to keep my eyes or hands off Addy in a swimsuit. But still… “Of course. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

  “Really?” she asks, huge smile on her face and if it wasn’t for the awful morning breath that’s coming out of her mouth, I’d be in heaven knowing that I put that smile there. How can someone as cute and little as Zoey wake up with breath that smells like she’s been eating skunk butt all night? And I know she brushed her teeth last night because I witnessed it.

  “How about we eat breakfast and maybe brush our teeth first, though?”

  Addy bursts out laughing and Zoey giggles, too, but I’m sure she has no idea why she’s doing it.

  “So. Breakfast?”

  “Breakfast,” I agree.

  “Can you make sausage sticks, Mommy?”

  I furrow my brow and look at Addy for clarification. “She means sausage links.”

  “They’re sticks, Mommy.”

  I love her argumentative spirit. Usually, anyway. But especially when she’s right in a cute way because she’s five years old and they have a whole different kind of language. “That they are, Squirt.” I look to Addy. “I’ll make them if you have them.”

  “I do have some but I can make them.”

  Zoey jumps off my lap. “We can make them together! Just like a family!”

  Addy inhales sharply and I go stock still. A family. “Sounds great,” I say, emotion clogging my throat. When did I become so sensitive and emotional? Is that why Chris seemed to change a little over the past few years? Softened as a result of becoming a father and loving it when she was happy and content?

  The three of us, and Macaroni who’d come out to do his business and had been wandering around the backyard sniffing the grass then basking in the sun, go inside and get to work in the kitchen. Well, truthfully, Addy gets to work in the kitchen while I set Zoey on the counter and she and I share a banana. I lean against the counter next to her and use a knife to cut off bites.

&nbs
p; One for her.

  One for me.

  Repeat, repeat, repeat until it’s all gone.

  I refill my coffee and pour Zoey some milk and grab a couple containers of yogurt and a spoon. Zoey refuses to eat yogurt or pudding, hating the texture of it so I don’t even try to get her to eat anything. The last few nights her appetite does seem to be improving, but I’m not about to force more into her than she’s ready for.

  “Mommy says you eat a lot,” Zoey says, giggling.

  “I’m a growing boy.”

  “Huh uh. You’re already big.”

  I tickle her tummy and she wiggles around. “You trying to say something?”

  She shakes her head, still giggling.

  I tear the foil top off one of the yogurts and finish it in about five bites, Zoey’s eyes wide as she watches. “You eat fast.”

  Addy laughs from her place at the stove. “He’s like a vacuum, sucking it in, right, Zoey?”

  She wrinkles her nose like she’s disgusted with me, only making me laugh harder.

  “Daddy ate super fast, too. He always said if he didn’t eat fast, you and Unca Max would eat his food so he had to learn to finish his meal fast.”

  “Your daddy was right. We would have. You snooze you lose,” I joke.

  Her eyes get huge. “He said the same fing! You snooze you lose!”

  “We said it a lot when we were growing up.”

  “You ate a lot, too,” she says, matter-of-factly. “Otherwise you’d be wittle like me. But you ate too much so you got big.” Her arms spread wide on either side of her, her stuffed donkey now sitting next to her on the counter.

  “Is that what your daddy told you?”

  She nods. “Uh huh! He said you would eat and eat and eat so if I wanted to get to be big like you I had to eat and eat and eat.”

  “Then you’d better eat and eat and eat, huh?”

  “I bet that’d make Daddy happy to see me eat lots.”

  “It would. But not too much. He wouldn’t want you to get sick.”

  A smile takes over her face that’s almost breathtaking. It’s sweet and innocent and so much like Chris that I don’t want the moment to end. Sometimes I look at her and all I see is a miniature version of Addy but there’s so much of Chris in her, too.

  I look up to see Addy staring at Zoey with an odd expression on her face. She quickly clears it up before plating the sausage links and setting it on the table along with some croissants I’d picked up the day before at the grocery store.

  Fuck, that was scary. I still can’t believe that happened just last night. Less than twelve hours ago I was afraid I was going to lose her then I was tasting her for the first time. No wonder I feel a little emotional today. A lot of shit has happened in a short amount of time.

  I help Zoey down and she takes a seat at the table, saying a prayer quickly before diving in for a couple sausage links. While she’s busy, I pull Addy aside.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.”

  I give her a look and she rolls her eyes. “Fine,” she huffs. “That’s the first time she’s mentioned Chris since he died without it being sad. She was sharing a memory. A happy one.”

  “That’s a good thing,” I remind her.

  She nods her agreement. “It is, but you need to know, it’s because of you.”

  “Me? No, Addy, she’s just…”

  “She’s not just anything, Beau. You’re helping her to heal. By being here and being present in her life and showing her that Chris might be gone and that is going to be hard for the rest of our lives but that doesn’t mean we can’t still have a lot of good. And a lot of that good is because of you.”

  A lot of that good is because of you.

  Does she want me to start crying right here and now? Aside from when Chris died, I’m not typically a crier but hearing her tell me that Zoey’s heart is beginning to heal and it’s partly because of me? Yeah. That’ll bring any man to his knees in thanks that he’s been given the goodness he’s been given.

  When I don’t respond, she continues to drive the point home. “And don’t think I am saying that you’re taking his place, because no one can. But you’re filling that void and not making it weird for her or uncomfortable. Because you love her and she feels it and sees it in the way you are with her. So her mentioning Chris in casual conversation and being ready to go to the pool because she wants to continue something he started and even eating more and for the most part sleeping better… that’s thanks to you being you.”

  “Have I told you today that I love you?”

  Even as her eyes grow soft, they still look fierce. “Have I told you today I love you?” comes her response.

  “I think you just did in that speech you gave that almost made me start to weep right here in your kitchen while your baby girl is eating sausage sticks and hopefully killing off whatever animal died in her mouth while she slept last night.”

  A laugh bubbles out of Addy and she covers her mouth, looking over at Zoey out of the corner of her eye. “It’s really awful, isn’t it? I’m a little concerned that there’s something wrong with her.”

  I shake my head and smile. “I’m sure we can ask her dentist.”

  She whispers, “We.”

  I lick my lips and glance at Zoey quickly to make sure she’s still doing okay only to catch her watching us and trying to sneak a little piece of sausage to Macaroni. “Did I overstep?”

  “No. It’s just that…”

  “We did it backward, huh? I love you before dating and kissing and wooing.”

  She laughs and bites her lip. “Wooing? Are we eighty?”

  “Modern men woo their women and if they don’t it’s a shame.”

  “Oh, is it?”

  I nod and move to the table, sitting next to Zoey and taking a bite of the sausage she has in her hand.

  “Unca Beau! Dat was mine!”

  “Sorry, Squirt. Remember what your dad taught you? You gotta eat quickly if you don’t want me stealing it away. I eat a lot and never ever get full.”

  She harrumphs and shoots me a glare that would be frightening if it wasn’t on the face of a five-year-old trying to look tough.

  I hold up my hands in surrender before stabbing my fork into my own piece then holding it up to her. “Want a bite of mine since I took from yours?”

  She shakes her head smiling before finishing the last of hers. “I’m not as big as you. I’m already full.” When she admits that she’s full, she almost looks pathetic with how upset it makes her.

  I nudge her shoulder. “Sounds like it’s a good thing I took a bite of yours then, huh?”

  She glares again and my lips twitch, finishing another sausage link.

  “Can you finish your milk, at least? That’s really what made me this big. I drank my milk with every meal.”

  She looks at me while drinking, leaving a little white milk mustache above her upper lip.

  “Wanna go somewhere with me this morning while Mommy has to go to work like a boring adult?”

  Addy gasps. “Hey!”

  Completely ignoring her mother, Zoey nods excitedly, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. “Uh huh! I do! Where are we going?”

  “Well, it’s a surprise.” To me, too, because I have no idea what we’re going to do but I know that Addy needs to go to the shop for a while today and I want to spend some time with Zoey rather than her go to my parents’ house.

  She actually rolls her eyes and looks beyond annoyed when she says irritably, “But how will I know what to wear?”

  Unfortunately for Addy, she’d just taken a large drink of her coffee which didn’t stay in her mouth when she blew it all over the kitchen floor.

  “Yucky. Why did you spit out your coffee?”

  “Yeah, Mommy. Why’d you spit out your coffee? That’s not very ladylike of you.”

  She pulls a whatever face as she wipes her shirt and when Zoey and I look at each other, we both laugh loudly.

  “
You’re funny, Mommy.”

  “Even when you don’t mean to be,” I murmur, grinning.

  Addy tosses the towel at me and I catch it swiftly.

  “Tsk tsk such hostility,” I tease.

  This morning I thought that just having them in my arms was perfect but I realize now that maybe there’s more than one version of that. Because laughing over sausage sticks and Addy practically blowing coffee out of her nose while Zoey and I plan to spend the day together is another version of perfect.

  While Addy gets ready for work, Zoey and I lounge together on the couch — after she brushed her teeth, of course — watching Tom and Jerry. It gives me time to think of what we can do together to kill time this morning before we go to the dreaded pool this afternoon.

  Addy kisses Zoey goodbye then nods toward the door to the garage since Zoey’s distracted by Jerry chasing Tom through the house.

  I follow behind her, with her hand in mine and my eyes glued to her ass.

  When we get to the door, we push through it and then I spin her around, pinning her against the door and I don’t hesitate to kiss her. She opens her mouth and my tongue slides in, tasting the mint from the toothpaste she just used to brush her teeth.

  I can feel the vibration of her moan and it’s almost as sexy as last night when she removed my fingers from inside her, replaced them with her own, then proceeded to use her wetness to rub on my dick and get me off. Just thinking about it has the potential to get me hard again.

  With one hand pressed against the metal of the door and the other slid around her waist, I show her that I’d not mind one bit if she arched her back and gave me a little more of her. I smile against her lips and she gets the point. Her breasts graze my chest and it’s still not enough. My gut tells me that even when I’m finally inside her we still won’t be close enough.

  She threads her fingers into my hair and know I shouldn’t deepen the kiss because Zoey’s right inside and Addy needs to go to work but I can’t seem to get control of myself enough to step back and give her space. As it is I’m going to have to calm myself down before walking back into the house so I’m not sporting a hard-on. That’s a fight I didn’t think I’d ever have to battle against myself twice before nine in the morning so as not to freak out my niece.