Page 60 of Under One Roof

But at about ten o’clock, I receive a text from Griffin. One single word:Thanks.

The next morning, I’m woken up bright and early by Logan and Grace stampeding down the steps to the basement, shouting about how we’re going to Hershey Park. According to their excited tail wags, it’s going to take about an hour and a half to get there, and I have to hurry up and get dressed so we can be there when it opens.

“Dad already made a plan how to hit all the roller coasters!” Grace practically screeches.

Logan picks up Cat so I don’t step on him. “My friends have gone and said it’s so fun! There’s a waterpark, too!”

“All right. All right. Let me get ready, and I’ll meet you upstairs in twenty minutes.”

They rush back up, both of them still going on and on about all the things they want to do and see, and I smile as I step into the shower, and I continue to as I brush my teeth and plait my hair into two braids.

When I make it upstairs in sneakers, denim shorts, a tank top, and a purse looped across my body, Griffin freezes mid-stride. His gaze roves over me, multiple times, and while I’m not wearing anything super revealing—maybe the shorts are a little short, but my Janis Joplin tank top isn’t, especially with my sports bra under it—he can’t seem to take his eyes off me.

“Something wrong?” I ask after a while, and he shakes his head as he rinses out his coffee cup. I would guess he’s the only homo sapiens male to always put his dishes in the dishwasher instead of near it.

“You’re hot,” he tells me like it’s a problem.

“I…thank you?”

“I’m old.”

I swat at him. “We’ve been over this already. I don’t care.”

“Well, I do,” he snaps then quiets because he obviously didn’t mean to. “I… You could have anybody. Somebody closer to your age. I’m…” He’s slow to meet my eyes, dragging them over the length of me like it pains him. “I’m going to be forty-three at the end of the year. I have two kids. You…” He starts to gesture toward the door but drops his hand. “Never mind.”

“No.” I leap at him, forcing him to keep going, linking my fingers with his. “Tell me. I want to know.”

“I want you to stay. I want to be with you, but you shouldn’t. You should go figure out what you want.”

I have a hard time fighting my smile and press his hands to my heart. “I don’t know what my future looks like, but I know I want you. I like that you’re a dad, that you’re going to be forty-three. I like that you take care of me and that you are a secure and thoughtful man. I know you think I should go out and have more experiences, but I don’t need them to know how I feel about you.”

He’s hopeful. His eyes are bright and wide open, almost like he’s allowing me to see everything he hides in himself. All his trepidation and worry. But I don’t want him to fear what he feels for me, and I definitely don’t want him to doubt what I feel about him.

He sucks in a breath, and when I think he’s going to speak, he doesn’t. Though, he does give me something just as good. Maybe better. Because he grins.

“I—”

Grace and Logan run into the kitchen, stopping me from telling him that I think I might be falling in love with him, and if they notice how close Griffin and I are standing or how we’re holding hands, they don’t mention it. All they do is yell about how they’ll be in the truck.

I laugh and tug him toward the garage. “Come on!”

He grabs his keys and wallet, and we head out the door.

The conversation on the ride is lively, the tension between Griffin and Logan evidently squashed, which makes me really happy. Even happier when Grace picks me as the person she wants to sit with on the first ride. Logan calls me for the second. Griffin tips his head to me then and deadpans, “Third.”

I giggle uncontrollably, my heart too full to contain it.

Hershey Park is bigger than I expected, with costumed candy people wandering around for pictures. The kids and I head right over to Kiss for a photo, which Griffin dutifully takes. For an uptight SEAL and fire captain, the guy can let loose when he wants to. He, of course, keeps us on a tight schedule, making sure we fit in as many rides as possible, constantly checking his watch and how far away the next attraction is, but he laughs and screams like the rest of us when we crest the top of every coaster. We don’t go to the water park, but we do ride the log flume then stand on the bridge to get soaked by the even bigger boat ride. We dry off at a table in the sun while eating a lunch that consists of chicken fingers, fries, pizza, popcorn, and blue cotton candy, at my request.

After, Logan challenges his dad to a basketball shootout that Griffin lets him win, and then we all lose a water gun race. But it’s a huge panda bear Griffin wins when he tosses a ball into a milk jug. He hands it right to Grace, who jumps up and down, barely able to hold on to the thing.

Without thinking, I curl my arm around Griffin’s waist, happiness flooding my veins, and lean my head against his chest. In response, he slings his arm around my shoulders in full view of the kids, who stare at us with matching head tilts.

“Is this okay?” Griffin asks, and Logan merely shrugs. Grace squints behind her glasses, making the same face her father does when he is seriously debating something. After a few moments, she nods and tries to hug me, but the panda gets in the way.

“Yeah. I’m okay with it.”

I kiss the top of her head. Griffin kisses the top of mine.

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