Page 94 of Crazy Love

I’m still flying high when we get home. It was a Sunday afternoon game, so there’s still time in the day to hang out. We walk inside and Winnie practically skips through the door, her curls bouncing as she pauses to hang her backpack on the hook. I watch her flop onto the carpet, reaching for the basket of coloring books and markers that Addy bought for her. She starts coloring without hesitation, her tongue peeking out at the corner of her mouth in concentration.

I sit down next to her, legs crossed. “Hey, Winnie?”

She looks up at me, her big eyes trusting. Her cheeks are rosier and more filled out than when she first came.

“Do you like it here?” I ask. “With us?” My voice feels too thick, like it’s stuck in a well.

She nods without hesitation. “I love it,” she says.

My throat tightens as her answer hits me square in the chest. My eyes burn and I swallow hard, trying to keep it together. “Yeah? That makes me really happy.”

She nods again, like it’s an obvious deduction, and gets lost in her coloring book again.

Later that night, when the kids are asleep and Addy and I have made up for some lost time this week by having sex in the shower and the bed afterward, she lies with her head on my chest, our fingers laced together. She fits against me, like she’s always belonged here.

“Addy?” I say quietly, in case she’s already asleep.

“Yeah?”

“I know all of this has gotten way bigger than when we started.” My thumb runs over her knuckles. “But where are you with things?”

She swallows hard. I feel her tense against me before her shoulders relax again. “It’s been really hard and challenging, and I’m more exhausted than I’ve ever been.” She pulls back just enough to look at me, and her eyes are big and honest and absolutely gorgeous. “But, Penn…” Her voice shakes a little. “I’m kind of loving this life we’re creating together.”

I freeze.

“Really?” My voice cracks and my heart slams against my ribs.

She gives me that smile that always levels me. “Really.” And then she says, “What do you think about us committing to this long-term? You and me…and we try to adopt both of them?”

I swear I stop breathing.

The old me would have run. Hell, I would’ve never been here in the first place.

But this me, the one who’s won a game and done homework at the kitchen table all in the same day, the one who’s learning how to French braid hair even though I still suck…I want this more than I can explain.

“I…” My chest feels too full. “I’m kind of loving this life we’re creating together too.”

Her eyes gleam in the moonlight.

“And…” My throat works as I lift her hand to my mouth and kiss her fingers. “I’m kind of really loving you.”

Her breath stutters, and she launches herself at me, her arms tight around my neck as I bury my face in her shoulder.

“Me too,” she whispers. “Me too.”

“I love you,” I tell her.

“I love you too, Penn.”

I hold her tighter against me, feeling like maybe this is the life I was meant to have all along.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

GOLDEN BOY

ADELINE

“Are you ready for yourgoldenbirthday party?” I ask Sam at breakfast.

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