Page 46 of Twice in a Lifetime

The grin that split his face hit me right in the core. He really was the most beautiful man. “I’m holdin’ you to that, baby. See you later.”

“See you at home.”

He glanced back over his shoulder. “Love hearin’ you call it home too.”

I waited until he walked through the door and disappeared out of view of the windows before turning around, only now remembering I wasn’t alone, that a gaggle of nosy women had been standing behind me the entire time. However, the earlier humor was gone from their expressions, and they were looking at me with something I couldn’t quite place. That was, until Gretchen spoke.

“I really love this for you, B.”

Heather nodded in agreement. “You’re so sweet, and we know you’ve been through a really rough time, so seeing what we just saw... well, we’re so glad you’re happy.”

I’d always enjoyed the women I worked with, they were colorful and funny and told it like it was, but I didn’t realizeuntil then how much I’d grown to like them. In that moment, I stopped considering them co-workers and started thinking of them as friends. “Thank you,” I said past the lump of emotion in my throat. “That really means a lot. The past several months have been difficult, but you should know you guys made them a little bit easier.”

Diana rushed forward and wrapped her arms around me, squeezing to the point of crushing my lungs.

“Di?” I wheezed, struggling to pull in a breath. “You okay?”

“You’re the nicest person I’ve ever met. I’m really glad you’re happy, is all.”

“Well holy crap,” Gretchen started dramatically. “Who knew she had any feelings beyond arousal?”

She pulled away, shooting a killing look at Gretchen before batting the dampness from her eyes. “He looks like he knows how to lay pipe,” she added in typical Diana fashion, “and if there’s a woman who deserves a good railing, it’s you.”

Heather threw her arms up in defeat. “And there’s the real Di,” she grumbled as I tossed my head back and laughed, feeling a lightness I hadn’t felt in a really long time.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Rhodes

Iwas tucked somewhere between asleep and awake when I registered Blythe’s body tensing beside me, but I was slammed right into consciousness when I heard a little voice whisper, “See, I told you Mommy was in here.” That sounded like Adeline.

Another voice chimed in, asking, “Why do you think Mom’s sleepin’ in Rhodes’s bed?” That question came from Avett.

“Why isn’t he wearin’ a shirt?” the tiniest voice of all asked.

Perfect. All three of them were here, standing beside the bed their mother and I were lying in.

“’Cause boys don’t sleep in shirts, duh,” Avett said like he knew all there was to know when it came to being a boy.

He was right, though. I didn’t sleep in shirts. Before they moved in, I didn’t sleep in anything at all. But thank Christ I’d broken that habit and at least started wearing underwear. It was for reasons like this right here.

“But Daddy slept in a shirt,” Adeline pointed out. “Do you think it was ’cause his tummy was soft and fluffy, and he wantedto hide it like Ms. Deloris at the city pool, who always swam in a T-shirt?”

Blythe’s body began to tremble with suppressed laughter as we both struggled to keep up the ruse that we were asleep.

“Rhodes’s tummy isn’t soft and fluffy,” Adeline continued to point out. “It’s really bumpy.”

“Those are muscles,” Avett pointed out. “I’m gonna have muscles like that too when I get big.”

“Look,” Ainsley squeaked. “He got a drawin’ on his booby.”

I almost lost it with that one and had to bite down on the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing.

“It’s not a booby. It’s a pec,” Avett said with the kind of disgust that could only come from a big brother. “And that’s a tattoo.”

“What’s a tattoo?”

“It’s where they stab ink into your skin with a bunch of needles.”

---