Page 88 of Hero for the Holidays

Landry had booked them into a fancy restaurant for lunch, and she enjoyed watching Lila give him pointers on what to order, since he wasn’t familiar with the type of cuisine, and she said that it was her favorite. And only then did she remember the way he looked last night.

Shirtless in the hot tub.

It was a very shallow thing to notice. There were so many other things about Landry that were attractive, if she was going to lean into noticing what was attractive about him, and not try to be above such things. His abs should be theleastinteresting thing about him.

He was a good dad. He was protective. He had written a beautiful statement for Lila in the courthouse.

Buthis abs, though.

And hischest.

He was everything that a woman could ever want.

He had been the boy that her fifteen-year-old heart had raced for, and now he was exactly the man that her twenty-nine-year-old self wanted to climb like a tree.

And it could not happen. They had just said vows, not to each other, but to Lila. To a judge and a caseworker. They had just pledged themselves to making this family. It had to be bigger than attraction.

Bigger than abs.

Landry professed each new Thai dish they tried his favorite. The sun streamed through the window putting a halo of gold around Lila and Landry. Fia couldn’t actually remember the last time she’d had so much fun.

Except that she could. Riding in Landry’s truck when they were teenagers, blasting the radio. Kissing each other while they drove, even though it wasn’t safe.

Memories tinged with gold and magic.

It was with him.

It was always with him.

They went to the zoo and walked around until Fia’s legs were about to fall off. Lila screeched and cooed over every animal. But somehow and most especially, the prairie dogs and the naked mole rats.

Fia was left questioning why anyone could possibly be that impressed with a rodent.

Especially a naked one. You couldn’t even scratch it behind the ears.

She did not relate.

But she didn’t say that.

They left with so much memorabilia from the gift shop, Fia wasn’t sure how they were going to fit in the car.

And a balloon. A very giant balloon. She blamed that one on Landry, who was clearly trying to recapture something with such a frivolous purchase. She couldn’t blame him.

They’d missed a lot.

But today they were working to make up for it.

They got into the car and drove back to the hotel. They were all exhausted and starving again in spite of their giant lunch because of all the walking they’d done.

“What if I order a pizza and some bottles of soda, and we rent a movie from this antiquated pay-per-view system?” Landry asked.

“Sounds good,” said Lila happily.

Watching a movie in Landry’s hotel room might’ve been illicit when they were teenagers, but tonight they were going to have a teenager with them.

So it shouldn’t make her feel all intense.

“Yes, sure. Lila, why don’t we go to the pool while we wait for the pizza?”

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