Page 89 of Every Little Kiss
CHAPTER 17
Liv didn’t know how long they lay there, watching the stars and listening to each other breathe, but when she heard a ding come from inside the house, she looked up. “The pork?”
He traced her lower lip with his finger. “Sorry, cupcake. It was already burned when I went back inside, so I ordered pizza.”
Liv leaned up and kissed his chin. “I love pizza.”
“Good.” He stood, not concerned that he was on his back deck in all of his glory. “I’ll go get it.”
“You might want to get dressed before you answer the door,” she said, tossing his jeans at him—which he caught midair.
If the man got dressed, he waited until he was back in the house to do it, gifting her with an amazing view. Liv lay back and looked up at the sky, wondering when the stars had become so bright.
Right around the time she’d opened her eyes. And her heart.
This wasn’t just a relationship starting to bloom. This was love. At least the beginning stages of it.
Liv had loved before. Knew what the real thing felt like. And this thing between Ford and her had the potential to become the most real connection she’d ever had.
She was thinking about that when she heard her phone. She glanced at the screen and saw it was Carolyn. Telling herself that her mother-in-law had absolutely no clue that she was naked, she answered. “Hey, there, how’s Paxton?”
“He’s fine. We watchedThe Lone Ranger, and then he showed me his favorite Superman cartoon,” her mother-in-law said, but she didn’t sound fine.
“Did he talk to you?”
“No, but he did let me tuck him in. He wanted me to read him one of his comic books, and while there aren’t a whole lot of words in those things, he seemed to enjoy it.”
Liv bit back a smile. A story with few words for a boy of few words, read by a grandma without a shortage of words. “Sounds like a fun night.”
Carolyn paused again, so long that Liv’s stomach started to knot. Clutching the blanket to her chest, she sat up and cradled the phone closer. “Is everything okay?”
Liv heard a door open and close through the phone, then the sounds of Carolyn pacing. She was on her front porch. “Paxton brought that scrapbook of yours.”
Her heart took a stumble. She hadn’t considered that, for Carolyn, a living memory book of her deceased son might not bring the same kind of connection it brought to Liv and Paxton. “I am so sorry. If it upset you, that wasn’t my intent. Paxton was asking about Sam’s childhood pets, and I mentioned that you knew all about his dad when he was a boy. I think he was excited to show you his picture book.”
“It didn’t upset me,” Carolyn said, and Liv could hear the emotion thick in her voice. “It actually gave us something to talk about. Well, he didn’t talk, but he’d point to a picture and I’d tell him about it. It gave me a chance to share Sam with Paxton, and it didn’t feel like he was completely gone.” And the loving mother-in-law Liv remembered didn’t sound so far away either. “Thank you for giving me that.”
Hugging her knees, Liv rested her cheek on top of them and fought back happy tears. “I’m so happy, for you both.”
Liv looked out at the lake, a rippling dark mass with only the reflection of the moon visible, and opened herself up to every emotion she was feeling. Hope. Joy. Peace.
Lots of peace.
It washed through her, filling every empty space and swelling until her skin felt too tight to contain it all.
“After we watchedSuperman, I asked him about camp. He was so excited that he showed me some handshake he made up. I guess it means I’m in the club or something.”
Liv’s heart couldn’t get any fuller. “He showed it to you? Carolyn, that is huge.” She paused. “Why don’t you sound like that was huge?”
“Because he also showed me a picture of the dog who he is doing it with.”
“Bullseye?” Unable to remember if she’d seen him earlier, Liv looked behind her through the sliding glass door to see if she could find him. Paxton’s backpack wasn’t big enough to smuggle a sixty-pound dog, but Liv wouldn’t put it past her son to sneak a furry friend into his sleepover. “Please tell me he isn’t there?”
“No, but ...” Liv could practically hear Carolyn choosing her words. And the longer she took, the higher Liv’s heart rate rose. “He’s in the scrapbook.”
“I don’t understand.”
“He’s in the scrapbook, Liv,” Carolyn said gently. “In the article about Paxton’s rescue.”
