Page 59 of Keeping it Casual
I can’t breathe.
I swallow thickly, giving his hands a squeeze. I don’t think I’ve ever had the feeling inside me that I’ve got right now. Like I could burst with happiness.
“Did you just equate falling in love with me to boiling an amphibian?” I ask when I manage to find my voice. “Because I really have to think about how I feel about that comparison. I’m not sure it’s the most flattering thing. You know, if I’m going to come up with a metaphor about how I feel about falling in love with you in return, then I’d probably go for a slightly less slimy animal than a frog. I’m thinking something along the lines of a cute rabbit—”
Dustin leans forward, capturing my mouth in the sweetest kiss of my life. He swallows the rest of my words, which, on reflection, is probably a giftto humanity.
I kiss him back, my hand cupping his face. I will never get enough of kissing Dustin.
Luckily, it appears he feels the same.
So we kiss and kiss, sitting in a small rowboat in a thigh-deep man-made pond surrounded by twinkling LED lanterns.
And it’s more romantic than I ever imagined anything could be.
Chapter 15
Dustin
Jeremy King is now my boyfriend.
That fact is my excuse for all the random smiles I spontaneously break into during the next week. I’m a walking, talking, smiling machine.
The next weekend, there’s a food festival held at the high school, and Jeremy and I take Lachie and Lucy there. It’s our first time out together as an official couple.
The high school parking lot is full of food trucks with flags fluttering above each one. There are also tents on the school field, each housing a different stall selling everything from cupcakes to fried dumplings.
The aroma of hot dogs and barbecued meat tinges the air.
I can’t help continuing my theme of smiling as Lachie and Lucy walk a few steps ahead of us.
Lachie’s crutches clack against the concrete, but Lucy happily dances around him, talking a mile a minute.
Jeremy had been a little worried about how Lucy would handle the news he had a boyfriend, as I’m the first person he’s dated since Emily and he broke up. Lucy apparently had onlybeen concerned with lining up the next time we could all play soccer together in the park.
And Lachie? Lachie had given me a ‘well, duh,’ look when I told him one night at dinner that Jeremy and I are now officially in a relationship.
“I like Jeremy,” he’d said.
“So do I.”
“He’s a lot better suited to you than Robbie was.”
My eyebrows shot up. For some reason, I hadn’t expected Lachie to have an opinion on the suitability of my boyfriends.
I’d accepted that Steph was right. I couldn’t focus solely on Lachie, and being happy made me a better parent. But hearing his words made me realize I hadn’t stopped to contemplate how good it was for Lachie to see me in a healthy, happy relationship. How important it was to model what a successful partnership really looked like so he knew the type of relationships he should be aspiring to when he grew up.
I’d given my son a smile. “Yeah, he’s definitely better suited to me than Robbie was.”
I actually don’t think anyone could be better suited to me than Jeremy.
Jeremy and I stroll along, holding hands. This is the big difference between what Jeremy and I were before and being officially together. Now I get to touch him when we’re in public too. I’m definitely enjoying that benefit.
I’m trying to ignore all the knowing looks we get from the other residents of Mineral Creek. Because yeah, yeah, if I’d taken their advice in the beginning, we could have saved ourselves a bit of hassle.
But I wouldn’t change our destination for the world.
We line up to join the queue to get Lucy a smoothie. Only when the curly gray head in front of us turns around do I realize we’re right behind Joyce.
