“I can go with either,” he shrugged. “What do you like?”
“Uh, I don’t really know wine. I usually pick out a bottle that’s about ten bucks.”
“White or red?”
“Either one. Whichever one has an interesting label.”
He shook his head with a soft chuckle. “That’s certainly one way to pick a good wine.”
“It works for me, at least.” Rosalinda finally tore herself away after another kiss, her lips lingering against his for what felt like an eternity. Her kisses were needy and hot and he intensified that heat a thousand times over. “I need to stop this.”
“I will do my best not to drag you back to the bed with me,” he said, smiling as he let her go. “But I really want to.”
“I have to go get Dom,” she sighed, and she backed up towards the door a few steps before turning around and making her way out of the room. “I’m sorry. I’d love to stay longer.”
“I’ll see you in a few minutes. It’s fine. It’s going to be perfect, I promise.”
“I’m trusting you.”
“Good.” Nick watched her as she made her way down to the parking lot, and Rosalinda could see him staring out the window. She turned to wave for a second before getting in the car and racing over to her brother’s house to pick up her son. She didn’t stick around to talk much, to the surprise of her sister-in-law. But she didn’t bother explaining.
She knew that there would be a call later about it, but for the moment, she just wanted to get home and hoped that Nick was in the same hurry that she was.
Sure enough, he was waiting when they pulled into the driveway of the house, walking up as she climbed out of the car. “Your neighbors were starting to look a little worried.”
“They’re good neighbors. Strange guys hanging around the house tend to get an extra look or two.”
“They certainly did that.” Nick helped their son out of the car. It occurred to Rosalinda that Dominick still didn’t know who Nick was. Rosalinda frowned slightly, thinking about the conversation that they were going to have to have at some point. It wasn’t going to be easy, but it had to happen. Dom deserved to know who his real father was. And Nick deserved a chance to be that dad. The only thing stopping it was her own hesitance about the kind of drama that it was going to bring into her life.
Dominick bounced up and down. “Nick! You came!”
“Weren’t you expecting me?”
“I didn’t think I’d ever see you again!” The kid grinned broadly. “I thought you moved or something.”
“What would make you think that?” Nick laughed as Rosalinda opened the door up for them.
“You were gone for so long. I thought that you and Mom had a fight or something.”
“That wouldn’t keep me away.”
“I’m glad you’re back,” the kid said happily. He rushed inside the small house, tossing his backpack on the chair nearest to the door.
“That’s not where that goes,” Rosalinda called out.
“But Mom!” Dom shouted.
“Put it up on the hook,” Rosalinda scolded him gently. “Just take care of it.”
“Fine,” the boy said with an eye roll.
Nick was smirking as Rosalinda shook her finger at the little guy. “Behave. We have company.”
“Nick is company?”
“Don’t sass me.”
“Sorry, Mom.”
“Better. Apology accepted.”
The kid walked up to the bag and picked it up to hang it up on the hooks a few more feet into the room. Nick was happy to see the little family get along so well, even if they dealt with a minor issue that most kids probably had.
The three of them sat down on the couch, enjoying themselves until Rosalinda had to get her son ready for bed. The kid was excited, so he wasn’t going to bed easily. He wanted to stay up and spend more time with Nick. Nick just watched Rosalinda with a smile.
“Aren’t you going to help?”
“Do you want me to?” Nick picked himself up.
“Tell him you’re not going anywhere, and that you’ll see him again.”
Nick nodded. “I’ll be around. I don’t plan on disappearing on you, kid.”
Dominick frowned. “Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.”
“What if you get in a fight with Mom again?”
Nick shook his head. “Adults can fight and still get along. It’s going to be just fine.”
“Are you sure?”
Nick squatted down in front of the kid. “It’s going to fine. Go to bed before you get in trouble. If you end up grounded, we’re going to have a lot less fun.”
Dom slumped. “Fine. I’m going to bed.”
Rosalinda ruffled her son’s hair. “Good kid. Let me tuck you in.”
“Sure.” The young man dragged his feet all the way to his bedroom. He wasn’t happy about it, but Rosalinda got him into bed quickly enough, and was soon back out with Nick.
She settled onto the couch right next to the blond man and leaned against his shoulder. His arm draped around her and pulled her in close to his body. “This is what I’ve been wanting all night.” There was a soft smile on Rosalinda’s face.
“That’s good to know.” The wine sat untouched on the counter in the kitchen. Neither of them even got up the energy to open it as they simply enjoyed each other’s company.
They just loved being in love. They reveled in the closeness that they had somehow managed to find after it had been lost so many years before. Rosalinda was in awe of how naturally it seemed to come back every time she was near him, but a part of her still seemed to wonder if it was all just wishful thinking or not.
She refused to let herself think like that. There was something more important to think about, and he was sitting right there next to her. “Do you want to spend the night?”
“I would love to.” Nick glanced down at where her head rested on his shoulder. “There’s nothing that I would rather do.”
“That’s the best thing you could have said.”
“I try my best.” His arm tightened around her shoulders. This was perfection. The kind of world that she couldn’t imagine not living in every single night, especially now that she had it. It didn’t look like she was going to lose it.
24
Sleeping In
Nick stretched awake before Rosalinda. The woman must have been exhausted. Sleeping in had never really been her style, especially considering he could hear Dominick walking around in another room. He was awake before his mother for once.
Nick slowly climbed out of the bed and padded to the bedroom door. “Crap. Pants.” He caught himself and pulled on a pair of pajama pants that he had brought with him the night before.
Before he went back to the door, he grabbed his phone off the nightstand. After what had happened last time, he didn’t want Rosalinda to see a bunch of random messages from Janice again.
He opened the door finally and walked out to see Dom in the kitchen climbing up on a chair. “What’s wrong, kid?”
“Breakfast,” Dom said, turning around to look at Nick.
“Why don’t you let me get that for you?” Nick reached up into the cabinet for the cereal. “Get the milk.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Your mom seems tired. Why don’t we stay quiet and let her sleep in? I bet she would love that.”
Dom nodded. “Mom works really hard. She needs to get more sleep. That’s what my auntie says.”
“That she does.” Nick quickly produced two bowls of cereal. “Where do you guys eat?”
“Table!”
Nick held a finger to his lips. “Quiet time.”
“Right.” The kid led the way to the table and sat down in what must have been his normal seat.
“So, how have you been?” Nick asked, looking up from his own bowl of cereal.
“Pretty good,” Dom said.
“School?”
“My teacher is great.”
Nick smiled softly. “From the sound of your voice, your mother asks you about this all the time.”
“Every day.”
“Is she a good mom?”
“The best,” Dom nodded. “My friend’s mom said she’s amazing because she’s Mom and Dad.”
“Does she do both?”
“I guess so. I mean, dads do different things than moms, right?”
Nick thought about that for a moment. “Not good dads. Good dads and moms will both do anything for their kids.”
The seven-year-old thought about that for a long moment. “That makes sense.”
“Does it?”
“Yeah. Kinda does,” Dom agreed.
“What grade are you in?”
“Second,” the kid explained.
Nick was already privy to that information, but he was trying to make conversation. “Do you do well in school?”
“Yeah. I get good grades. My teacher is really nice, too. Super nice. She’s really good.”
“Is she?”
“He. His name is Mr. Echoes.”
“That’s a neat name,” Nick said
Dominick seemed to be stalling for something. “Can I ask you a question?”
“What’s the question?”
The boy shook his head, hesitating. “Mom said I shouldn’t ask you these questions.”
Nick frowned. “I won’t tell her.”
“You won’t?”
“Not unless there’s something that puts you in danger. Then I have to tell your mom.” Nick wasn’t going to lie to the kid. If it was something that his mother needed to hear, she would hear it. And he didn’t have a gentler way to say it. “I’m not going to keep any secrets about you deciding to play with matches or touch a hot stove or anything.”
“It’s not about that,” The seven-year-old insisted. “I promise.”
“Then what is it?”
“Are you going to be my dad?”
Nick froze. “I really don’t know how to answer that.”
“Why not?”
“There are some things that your mother and I have to discuss very carefully. I can’t make that decision on my own.”
“What do you mean?”
Nick sighed. “I just. This should be a question for both of us to answer together. And especially your mother. Not just me.”
“Oh. Well, do you want to be?”
Nick paused for a second, then nodded.
Dominick smiled. “That’s good. Lots of kids at school get new daddies. I hoped that I was going to get one.”
“That’s a big question to ask, though.” Nick sighed. “And it’s a hard one for adults to answer. You’ve got to give us time. We’re still kind of figuring stuff out.”
“How long until the stuff gets figured out?”
“I really don’t know,” Nick admitted. “It’s kinda new for the both of us, too.”
“I thought you all knew all this stuff. You’re adults.”
“I’m an adult, but adults don’t always have everything figured out. That takes a lot of time.”
“Does it?”
“Yeah. You’ll understand it.”
Nick’s phone buzzed, and he pulled it out of his pocket. He cursed mentally, having to carefully stop himself from saying the words aloud in front of the kid.
“Who is it?”
“Just a friend.”
He checked the message, which was from Janice. Is there someone new? she asked.
He groaned. She hadn’t messaged him since the last conversation that they had shared. Does it matter?
I just want to know who’s keeping you from coming home.
Dom tried to peek over at the phone in his hand. Nick kept it shielded with his cereal bowl. “Is it important?”
“Not really,” Nick said. His heart was pounding nearly out of his chest, but he was trying to play it cool. Nothing good would come from panicking the boy. He looked back down at his phone to see that another message had come in. I’m sorry, she had typed. I just want you to come back home.
I’m not coming back to you. I’m happy here, he typed in response.
“So, Dominick,” Nick said, turning back to his son. “What do you like to do for fun?”
“I got a Switch and a DS.”
“Any good games for them?” Nick encouraged Dominick to go and get his games, letting the kid go on and on about a racing game that let you throw things at your opponents. While the boy was gone, he went back to the messages.
Janice had answered in the meantime. Who is she?
That’s none of your business.
It is my business. You’re my husband.
We’re not married anymore. You need to let me go.
I don’t have to do that. He could see the look of defiance on Janice’s face in his mind’s eye. It wasn’t a good look on her.
The truth was that this looked nothing like her at all. Janice was generally a rational woman. He had never seen her behave like this before. Is there something wrong? I thought you were happy to move on. We just weren’t suited for each other.
I realized that I was wrong, Janice replied. Why don’t you talk to me about it? I’m sure this can all be worked out.
I’m not coming back to you, Janice.
Why not?
Nick glanced up. Dominick was busy showing him all about the game, even the point of putting into the handheld device to teach him how to play it. It wouldn’t take very long at all for the kid to get distracted by it. He let Dominick get started again, and only checked his phone when the boy was paying attention to the screen in front of him.
It was a good thing. Janice wasn’t letting up on him. We belong together, she’d said.
You and I both know that isn’t true.
It’s this other woman, isn’t it?
That doesn’t matter. We didn’t work.
Who is she?
That’s none of your business. Don’t make me block your number.
The messages stopped after that, and he was able to focus on what the kid was showing him until Rosalinda finally climbed out of bed, yawning. “You two are up early.”
Dominick beat Nick to the response. “We were letting you sleep.”
“What do you want for breakfast?” Rosalinda asked, walking into the kitchen.
“Nick made me a bowl of cereal.”
She laughed. “Did he now?”
“Yeah. I hope you don’t mind,” Nick replied with a smile.
“Not at all. Thank you.” She poured herself some cereal too, and sat down at the table with the boys. “This is a great morning.”
“You got to sleep in, of course, it was,” Nick laughed. “You’re doing great.”
“You could have woken me up.”
“Now why would I do something like that?” He shook his head. “You deserve to sleep in at least one morning.”
His phone started buzzing again, prompting Nick to turn the ringer off.
“What’s that?” Rosalinda asked.
“Just old trouble cropping up.”
“Is it always like this?”
“No, not always.”
Rosalinda reached for his phone and he handed it over. She quickly started to scroll through the messages. After a few moments, her face contorted into a strange frown. “It’s almost like she knows when you’re here?”
“Who knows?” Dominick spoke up.
“It doesn’t matter,” Rosalinda spoke quickly. “Just someone that Nick knows.”
“Does she?” Nick reached back for his phone, then started to frantically scroll through the messages. It was almost as if she knew where he was at any given moment. The messages seemed to grow in intensity depending on where he was at any given time. “Damn it.”
“What does she do for a living?”
“She works with surveillance devices. She actually develops them.”
Rosalinda’s eyes got big. “You should replace your phone.”
He nodded. “Yeah. I probably should.
And get a whole new number and everything.”
“Why don’t you go do that now?”
His phone kept lighting up from messages, but he didn’t even bother to look at them. “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he agreed.
“You don’t have to come back right away.”
“I don’t mind at all. In fact, I’d prefer it.” He smiled. “I’d like to spend the day with you guys.”
“I’d like that, Mom. Can that happen?” Dominick spoke up.
Rosalinda was grinning. “I would like that too. Sure. Maybe we can do something fun?”
“The zoo?”
“Uh, how about next week?” Nick said, after thinking about it. “I’m not sure how long this is going to take.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve got to get a whole new phone,” Nick smiled. “That could take some time at the store, but don’t worry about it. I think I’m due for an upgrade.”
“Another movie night?”
“Sure. We can do that tonight.”
Rosalinda grinned. “I’ll make lasagna for it.”
“I love lasagna,” said Dominick happily. Rosalinda grinned as her son got excited, starting to jump up and down while he sang about lasagna.
“What a coincidence, I do too!” Nick agreed.
25
Zoo Adventure
Rosalinda hefted her small backpack over her shoulder. It had been a long day already; it was the Saturday after Nick had replaced his phone. In that time, he hadn’t received a single message from Janice, and they were enjoying their day out looking at all the animals at the zoo. Dominick was happily leading them to cage after cage.
They had packed up early that morning to head forty miles south to El Paso. The zoo there was one of the largest in the region, possibly the country, and it was always a nice distraction from the day to day grind of work and school.
Rosalinda kept a membership, and they came several times each year. It was one of Dominick’s favorite things to do.
“He’s having fun, isn’t he?” Nick observed, drawing her attention from the monkey cage.
“He always has fun at the zoo. He’s extra happy today because you’re here with him.”
“That’s really nice of you,” Nick grinned.
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