Page 24 of I Still Do

“Now that is an excellent idea.” Dare’s eyes twinkled. “I guess Zac’s been asking to go outside and have a snowball fight. Flynn says none of them slept well and hinted that, if I took him outside, I could get some good uncle-nephew bonding time and the rest of them could catch a nap. Subtle, right?” He didn’t look like he minded at all. “I don’t suppose you two would like to join me in playing the doting aunt and uncle here in a while.”

A snowball fight would help break up the afternoon. “I’m game.”

“Sweet! Cora?”

Grey stepped in for her. “She’s never been a huge fan of snow, Dare. She’d probably rather stay inside.”

She gave him a sharp look as though she didn’t appreciate him answering for her. “No, it’s fine. I’ll come out for a little while at least.” She almost sounded enthusiastic. “Everyone should participate in a snowball fight at least once in their life, right?”

Now that Grey thought about it, they never did have much snow while he and Cora were married. She’d never been in a snowball fight? This was the weekend to change that.

Mom came in then. “I’ll have to turn my cell phone on long enough to get some pictures and a video. This is going to be fun.” She chuckled as she chose a donut for herself.

Cora glanced at Grey. “I think I’ll go see what’s going on in the living room. If I don’t sit down while I eat, I’m going to drop it. Then I’ll have to be forced to eat this bear claw right off the floor because it’snotgoing to waste.”

Grey watched her leave the room before finally turning his attention back to his donut.

“Sorry if I interrupted something when I came in.” Dare looked contrite with a dash of concern thrown in. His comment had Mom’s attention.

She lowered her voice. “I know this wasn’t the easiest situation for either of you, but I admire you both for sticking it out and doing it with a lot more grace than you could have. Your grandpa would be proud of you.”

“Thanks, Mom. It’s been harder—and easier—than I thought it’d be. Seeing her again like this.”

“Why easier?” Mom took a bite of her chocolate donut and nodded approvingly.

Grey pulled a bar stool over for her to sit on and Dare followed with two more so they could join her. Grey wasn’t sure he wanted to talk about this. He glanced through the kitchen door to make sure no one was close enough to overhear their conversation.

“We were good friends before we got married, but we lost a lot of that by the time the divorce came through. I guess I didn’t expect some of that friendship to still be intact when I saw her again.”

“So, what is making it harder?”

Grey had to think about that for several moments. “I guess it makes it harder to remember why we called it quits in the first place.” There. He’d said it.

Cora had asked him if they gave up too easily. If she’d posed the same question to him back then, he would’ve told her “no” without hesitation. But now? He didn’t know. Which bothered him just as much, because if there was even a possibility that they’d walked away from something that could’ve been fixed… The thought turned his stomach. He balled his napkin, along with the last bite of his donut, and threw it in the trash. “Did you know she and I both live in the DFW area now?”

Mom nodded. “Yep.”

“I didn’t realize she talked to you on a regular basis.” He paused, waiting for Mom to say something. When she didn’t, Grey finally asked, “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“For the same reason I didn’t say anything to her, either. Grey, your relationship and history are between the two of you. I decided years ago to stay out of it. At the same time, I care about both of you. Enough that I never wanted to choose between you, so I didn’t.”

There wasn’t a thing Grey could say to that. He respected her for keeping out of their relationship, and he was glad she’d stayed in contact with Cora. “Thanks, Mom.”

“Are you kidding? It was as much for me as it was for her.” She stood and gave Grey a hug “You’d better go warm up by the fire before you’re outside freezing your tush off.”

Grey chuckled. “That’s probably not a half-bad idea.”

Chapter Ten

Grey learned something new about his nephew: He was ruthless. It didn’t matter that Grey was taking it easy on the little guy and making sure he didn’t hit the kid in the face with a snowball, because Zac certainly wasn’t worried about the opposite. And Zac had some crazy good aim for a four-year-old.

Grey ducked behind a tree and took the glove off his right hand. He used his little finger to try and dig the snow out of his ear. Laughter floated through the air, drawing his attention to Cora who had also taken refuge behind a nearby tree. “Oh, you think that’s funny, do you?”

She snorted then slapped a hand over her mouth. Her eyes were wide with humor as she nodded.

He loved seeing her like this, with her nose and cheeks red from the cold and her eyes sparkling. It was as though the snow had scrubbed the rough ending of their marriage right out of the history books.

It didn’t matter how cold it got out here, Grey had every intention of milking this snow fight for all it was worth. He hadn’t been paying enough attention and got another snowball in the back of the head. He turned to find Dare grinning and giving Cora a thumbs up. Nice. He tossed Cora a mischievous smile before making a “T” with both of his hands.

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