“I don’t think Melanie appreciated it,” she said, sulking. “I think she wanted you all to herself.”
His mouth turned up into a half-smile. “That’s why I’m glad you came. She needs to understand that I’m with you now.”
His words changed her mood one-hundred and eighty degrees, going from sullen to soaring in nothing flat. “Really?”
He looked at her with surprise. “Of course. Haven’t I made it clear that I want to be with you?”
“Uh, not exactly.”
“Well, then that was my failure.”
“What about Avery? And, you know, the adoption.”
“To be honest, I’m still kind of wrestling with that.”
“What does that mean, exactly?”
Kyle watched Avery for a moment, then turned to Jessica. “It means I’m not sure that adopting her is the right thing to do after all.”
Jessica’s eyebrows rose. “You’re full of surprises tonight, Mr. Judd.”
He grinned. “Got to keep you guessing.”
“Have you told Melanie about your doubts?”
He grimaced. “Not yet. I need to decide for sure first.”
“Okay.” This was massive, huge progress, and Jessica kept her expression neutral. No reason to gloat that she was winning.
He was quiet for a minute. “I wonder if Melanie was able to fall asleep. Maybe I should check on her.”
Jessica leapt up from the couch. “Let me.”
He smiled. “Okay.”
Jessica went in the direction Melanie had gone, and a moment later she heard soft snoring coming from a room at the end of the hall. Just for good measure, she crept to her room and peeked inside. Melanie was sprawled out on the bed, her face in her pillow. As Jessica watched her, she almost felt pity for the woman. She so obviously wanted Kyle, but he had decided to be with Jessica.
A silly grin bloomed on her face, and she savored the feeling of knowing Kyle wanted her. After a moment she turned and tiptoed back into the living room, then snuggled with Kyle until Avery demanded his attention again. An hour later he’d managed to get Avery to go to sleep, and after placing her in her crib, and with Jessica following, he went into Melanie’s room and woke her to tell her that he was leaving.
“Already?” she said in a sleep-filled voice.
“Avery fell asleep,” he said. “I put her in her crib.”
Jessica stood in the doorway, out of Melanie’s line of sight.
“You’re such a good father,” Melanie said, yawning. “I knew you wouldn’t abandon her.”
Jessica saw Kyle stiffen, and she wanted to stride over to Melanie and slap her for laying that at his feet. Instead she said in a loud voice, “I think it’s time we go, sweetheart.”
Melanie jerked around, her eyes meeting Jessica’s, then she stammered, “I . . . I didn’t see you there.”
“Clearly,” Jessica said, then she walked over to Kyle and linked her arm through his, and gently tugged him toward the door.
“Thanks for your help,” Melanie called after them.
Chapter Twenty One
They let themselves out of the house, then climbed into the truck, neither one of them speaking. After driving for five minutes, Jessica couldn’t hold it in any longer. “I can’t believe she said that to you.”
“What?” He glanced at her.
“About you not abandoning Avery.” She tried to control her temper. “It’s no wonder you feel so guilty about moving on.” Seething with anger, she took a breath before continuing. “Does she say that kind of thing to you often?”
He stared forward as his lips compressed. “She may have said it before.”
Squeezing her hands into fists to keep from shouting, Jessica said, “She’s manipulating you, Kyle. You know that, right?”
He sighed in obvious frustration, then looked at her. “I guess she is. I don’t know, okay?”
“I guess when you’re the one being manipulated, it’s harder to tell.” She shook her head and looked out her window, then faced the front.
His gaze was back on the road. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” He glanced at her. “This is something I have to work out with Melanie.”
Jessica had more she wanted to say, but she pressed her lips together to keep the words from pushing their way out of her mouth. They rode the rest of the way to Ellen’s house in silence, but when they arrived, Kyle walked Jessica to the front door.
“I’m sorry the evening didn’t go quite as we’d planned,” he said as he faced her.
Her voice showed resignation. “It’s not your fault.” Even though spending time with Avery at Melanie’s house had been the furthest thing from her mind when Kyle had picked her up earlier that evening, she was glad she’d been able to show Melanie that Kyle was with her now. And now that she knew the way Melanie was trying to manipulate Kyle into adopting Avery, she was better prepared to help him understand that he wasn’t a bad person for moving on.
“I’ll make it up to you tomorrow, okay?” He smiled as he ran his fingers along her jawline.
His touch left a trail of fire on her skin, and she closed her eyes as she pressed her face into his palm. His hand slid to the back of her neck, and she tilted her face to receive his kiss. They clung to each other as their kiss deepened, and after several moments they separated and gazed into each other’s eyes.
“The evening didn’t end so badly after all,” Kyle said, smiling.
“I was with you, and that’s all that matters.” Her mouth quirked into a smile. “But don’t take that to mean I’m eager to babysit again.”
He laughed. “No. I don’t expect you to.” He paused. “I’ll come by tomorrow about ten, okay?”
“Sounds good.”
At breakfast the next morning, Jessica told Ellen about her date with Kyle the night before.
“She really said that?” Ellen asked after Jessica told her Melanie’s parting comment.
“Yes. So now I totally understand why he feels how he does. I mean, on top of his own father experiences, Melanie is laying a guilt-trip on him that if he doesn’t adopt Avery, he’ll be abandoning her.”
“That’s just wrong.”
“I know, and I pointed out to Kyle that she’s manipulating him, but I’m not sure that he realized that.”
“You made him aware of it, Jessica. Now it’s up to him to do something about it.”
“You’re right, but I just hope he does something about it soon.”
“What are you two doing today?”
Jessica smiled. “I don’t know. He didn’t tell me.”
“Well, I’m sure you’ll have a good time.”
At ten o’clock sharp, Kyle knocked on the door, and Jessica greeted him with a smile. He looked over her clothes—jeans and a blouse—and said, “That could work.”
“Work for what?”
A lazy smile lifted the corners of his mouth. “You’ll have to wait and see.” His smile grew. “But shorts might work better.”
Excited about her mystery date, she smiled in return, and noticed he was wearing shorts and a t-shirt. “Okay. Give me a sec.”
A few minutes later they drove away from Ellen’s house.
“How about a hint?” Jessica said.
“Scoot closer,” he said as he put his arm on the back of the seat.
Eager to comply, she moved into the middle of the bench seat and rested her head on his shoulder. She lifted her head and looked at him. “A hint?”
He laughed. “Okay. Propelled by feet.”
“Oh, that’s too easy. Bicycle riding.”
“Nope.” He looked pleased with himself.
“What? Okay.” She thought about what else it could be. “Using your feet. Hiking.”
He laughed. “Wrong again.”
“Maybe propelled by animal feet? Horseback riding?”
“That sounds like fun.” He glanced at her. “But wrong again.”
“Ohh. I give up.”
He
wrapped his right arm around her shoulders. “You’ll just have to wait. We’ll be there in a little while.”
Content to wait, she leaned against him, her heart brimming with love. Twenty minutes later they pulled into a parking lot near a lake. Jessica sat up straight, her gaze sweeping the area. “Paddle boats!” she shouted.
Kyle laughed. “Bingo.”
“What a good idea. That will be fun.” She smiled at him. “I’m glad you had me change into shorts.”
They climbed out of his truck and he grabbed a small backpack from the back seat, then tossed it over his shoulders. Pointing to a row of paddle boats, he said, “Let’s pick one out.”
A few minutes later they’d put on life vests and Jessica had climbed into the paddle boat. Kyle set the backpack into a compartment and closed the lid, then climbed into the other seat.
“Ready?” he asked, grinning.
“Yes.”
They set off on the calm blue water.
“What did you bring in the backpack?”
“A picnic lunch,” he said.
She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “Did you bring the blanket?”
He laughed. “Yes.”
“Where are you going to put it?” She laughed. “I mean, I don’t think it would work very well to spread it out on the water.”
He smiled as if he had a secret. “There’s more to this date than just paddle boating.”
“Oh yeah?”
He nodded. “Yep.”
Ten minutes later her legs were getting sore. “I guess my legs aren’t quite used to this.”
“You can stop for a bit.”
She looked at his legs as he continued pedaling, and when she saw the flex of his muscles, she felt a flutter in her stomach. “What about you?”
“I’m okay.”
She pulled her gaze away from his thighs, and looked around. “Today is a nice day to be outside.”
“I know. It’s perfect out here.”
“Where are we headed, anyway?”
“There’s a place up ahead where we can get out and take a short hike.”
She looked at him. “Have you been there before?”
He seemed to hesitate. “Yeah.”
With Melanie? She wanted to ask, but decided that it wasn’t important. “Then I guess you know where we’re going.”
He smiled, like he was relieved she hadn’t asked the obvious. “Yes, I do.”
Fifteen minutes later they docked their boat and Kyle helped Jessica climb out. After collecting his backpack from the compartment, he took Jessica’s hand and they started walking up a hill.
“There aren’t that many people around,” he said, “So hopefully no one will show up with a leg wound.”
She laughed. “Yeah, that was really weird, wasn’t it?” Thinking about the man who had interrupted their make-out session the Saturday before, and the comment he’d made about Douglas Harrington having nasty friends, made her think about seeing his son at the dance club the night before. “Did you see Trey Harrington when we were dancing last night?”
“Yeah,” Kyle said. “Why?”
“I just thought he glared at me when he saw me.”
Kyle gently squeezed her hand. “Do you want me to talk to him?”
The idea made her panic a little. “I . . . uh . . . what would you say?”
“I would tell him to stop glaring at my girlfriend.”
That made her smile. “So I’m officially your girlfriend?”
He chuckled. “You sure got distracted easily.”
She stopped walking, which forced him to stop. “Nice way to avoid my question.”
Grinning, he said, “Which one? The Trey Harrington one or the girlfriend one?”
Moving to face him, she laughed. “The girlfriend one.”
“Oh, that one.”
“Yes.” She stared at him. “So?”
“So, what?”
Her eyebrows rose in question.
In an apparent attempt to hold back a smile, his lips twitched. “I think of you as my girlfriend.”
That was the first time he’d said that to her—not counting years before when they’d dated—and it somehow felt like a confirmation of her own feelings. They were together now. He was hers. A smile lit up her face and she threw her arms around his neck.
His arms wound around her waist and he pulled her against him. “Mmm. I like this.”
“Me too,” she murmured against his shoulder.
“Maybe we should have our picnic right here,” he said.
She laughed. “On the hillside? I think our food would roll away.”
“You’re right. We’d better keep going.” He pulled back enough so that he could kiss her, and she accepted his kiss happily. Then he took her hand and they continued on.
Jessica’s steps felt light—like she was walking on a cloud. It was true that he’d told her he loved her many times, but she knew he also had strong feelings for Melanie, so the fact that he was committing to her as her boyfriend was a big step in their relationship. A step that thrilled her.
They hiked for another twenty minutes before they reached a level area surrounded by trees.
“This is it,” Kyle said as he led her off the path and to a more secluded area.
She slowly turned in a circle. “It’s beautiful here.”
Kyle laid out the blanket, then set out the food. “Are you hungry?”
She sat on the blanket, tucking her legs underneath her, then picked up a sandwich and took a bite. “Mmm. This is just as good as the ones you made last week.”
“I think next week it will be your turn to bring the food.”
“That’s fair.”
“Good, ‘cause I’m tired of slaving over a cold cutting board.”
Jessica laughed, then took another bite. They ate in companionable silence for a few minutes.
“So,” Kyle said, breaking the quiet. “I’ve come to a decision.”
The bread she was chewing stuck to the roof of her suddenly dry mouth, and she drank a mouthful of water to wash it down. “Okay.”
“Last night I hardly slept as I tried to figure out what I should do about adopting Avery. But I thought about what you said—you know, about Melanie trying to manipulate me—and I think you’re right. I think that’s what she’s doing. Trying to make me feel guilty if I don’t stay in their lives.” He paused. “That I’m abandoning Avery.” He made air quotes as he spoke.
Jessica focused on breathing. She knew his decision could still go either way, and she felt pressure beginning to build in her forehead as her anxiety grew.
“The more I thought about it, the angrier I became.” He gazed at her. “I don’t know if I ever told you how I never met my birth father . . .”
Jessica shook her head.
“Well, that’s a story for another time, but I think Melanie somehow knew how I’d felt abandoned, and she played on that.” He sighed. “But I really do love that little girl.”
Jessica froze, certain he was going to say that even after Melanie’s manipulations, he’d decided to adopt Avery.
“But,” he finally said. “I can’t adopt her. It just doesn’t feel like the right thing to do.”
Jessica’s breath came out in a rush, and she replayed his last words in her head to convince herself that he’d really said them.
Kyle’s shoulders slumped, like he’d just released a great weight. “It will be hard, but I know in the long run it will be better for everyone if I distance myself from them.”
She wanted to leap up and scream for joy, but she held herself in place, her hands gripping the edge of the picnic blanket. Then she pictured little Avery’s face the night before when she’d seen Kyle—how happy she’d been, how she’d called him Daddy—and knew it would be heart breaking for the little girl to have Kyle out of her life. For a moment she even thought about trying to change his mind, but she caught herself before the words left her mouth.
“Aren’t you
going to say anything?” he asked. “This is what you wanted me to do, right?”
It all seemed so complicated, and she didn’t want to have any influence on his decision. It had to be his decision. One hundred percent. “You have to do what you believe is best.”
“Uh huh. So you’d be okay with me saying that even with those arguments, that I’ve decided to adopt her after all?”
Jessica’s heart pounded. “Look, you know I truly believe that in the long run it would be best for everyone if you let Melanie and Avery live their lives, and you live yours.” She paused. “But I also feel bad for Avery.”
His eyes were downcast. “Yeah. Me, too. On all that.”
She scooted over to him, then put her hands on either side of his face, forcing him to look at her. “I love you. No matter what. Okay?”
His sadness seemed to lift as he gazed at her. “Knowing that is what helped me finally decide. I love you, Jess, and maybe one day we’ll get married and have a family of our own.”
Elation swept over her, making her nearly breathless. He did want to get married.
He reached up and took her hands in his. “And one day I’m sure Melanie will get married too. And that man can be Avery’s father. That’s how it should be.” He looked down, then back at her face. “But that man isn’t me.” A sad smile played across his face. “At one time it might have been, but now that you’re back in my life, it’s you I want. It’s always been you. I just thought I’d lost you when I let you go all those years ago.”
“Well, I’m still here.” Her voice was soft.
He stroked her face. “Yes, you are.” He pulled her against him then, and kissed her with a passion she hadn’t felt from him before. Her arms went around his neck and she lost herself in his kiss.
A few moments later they heard voices as a group of people passed on the nearby path, and they separated. Jessica smiled, a little embarrassed to be kissing in public like that, but the people didn’t seem to notice them. “I guess we should finish eating,” she said, smiling.
Kyle smiled in return, and picked up his sandwich.
After they packed up from their picnic, they walked back to their paddle boat and began the trip back. They took their time, in no hurry to end their date.
“I need to tell Melanie my decision,” Kyle said as they drew closer to the dock.
Second Chances (sequel to Over You) Page 17