Page 10 of Holiday Loss

Unsure of how Jessica wanted to answer that particular question and not wanting to overstep, Donovan looked to her.

“Woo is a grown-up word that means a man wants to go on a date with a woman,” Jessica said in a tone that made the whole thing sound boring.

It worked.

Freddie shrugged. “Oh.” His gaze moved back to the dessert. “Mom, I’m hungry.”

“Dinner first before you feast on all this sugar,” Jessica told her son in a mom voice he recognized from his childhood. It was the tone that meant business, and Freddie knew it too because he shouldered his backpack and headed for the front door.

Watching her son, Jessica fiddled with the keys in her hand, clearly nervous.

Donovan kind of liked knowing she was nervous, too, at least he wasn't the only one.

This whole wooing thing was hard, and he hadn't even gotten on the field yet.

“Umm, did you want to come in and …” Jessica paused, blew out a breath. “Have some dessert with us?”

Score.

Relief hit Donovan hard.

Finally, he was starting to make some progress, taking that first step onto the field.

“I'd love to, but I'm not sure you're ready for that yet. I want to take you out, green eyes, want to get to know you, and your son. But I want you to want it as badly as I do.”

Mindful of the fact that little eyes were watching, Donovan leaned down and touched a kiss to her forehead before turning and walking back to his car. Walking away was hard, but it was the right move.

For now.

But as soon as Jessica was willing to give him a chance, he was jumping all in.

Chapter

Seven

December 11th

7:03 A.M.

“Mom, are you really going to let Donovan woo you?”

The question, asked so innocently by her seven-year-old son, caught Jessica completely off-guard.

Last night, she’d been expecting Freddie to ask about Donovan, about the flowers, the Lego, the box full of more desserts than either of them could eat, even though she’d given them both a small dinner so they could fill up on sweet treats. But last night he hadn't been interested in talking about anything other than his day at school, some YouTube video he and his friends were all nutty over, and the soccer game next weekend where they were taking on a team they’d never beaten and had determined this would be the first.

Now it seemed he was ready to ask about their future.

Jessica was painfully aware that whatever choice she made she wasn't just impacting her own life but her son’s as well.

That made knowing what she was supposed to do that much harder.

If it was only her heart on the line, then maybe—maybe—she would be able to take that risk, but getting her little boy hurt would scare her off men for the rest of her life.

Grabbing both their plates, she sat down at the kitchen table opposite her son, she needed to be able to gauge his reactions to this conversation. Just because Freddie was a mature kid who hardly ever caused her much trouble didn't mean she wanted to parade a man into his life without knowing there was going to be a happy ending.

Only there was no way for her to know how things would work out if she gave Donovan a chance.

Maybe she’d fall in love and have the perfect family life she’d always dreamed of, but maybe she wouldn't.

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