Page 82 of The Perfect Spiral
Adam sauntered over to me, leaning his hands on the couch and bending over me slightly. “Can I lie down with you, Alex?”
I smiled up at him, lifting my arm and the blanket to let him snuggle in. “Of course, sweetie.”
Adam’s back was against my front, his head propped up on my arm. We lay there, watching the movie with the others in the room. Every now and then, Adam would squirm and laugh at something funny on the screen. He was so adorable, my heart was melting.
“Why are you so cute, Adam?” I asked, unable to contain my affection. He giggled at me, his face lighting up with a huge smile. I couldn’t help but smile back. He was such a breath of fresh air.
As we continued to watch the movie, I noticed Adam making faces at someone. Curious, I followed his gaze and found myself locking eyes with Knox.
I should’ve known. He was such a big kid himself. I saw him smile at me before turning his attention back to Adam, sticking out his tongue in a playful gesture. Adam responded in kind.
They continued their little game for a while, distracting me from the movie.
“Are you two going to keep messing around or watch the movie?” I asked, tickling Adam and making him squirm with laughter.
“Don’t be jealous, baby doll,” Knox retorted.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” I rolled my eyes and turned my attention back to the screen. We watched the movie a while longer until more people started to fill the room, and we had to sit up to make space on the sofa.
Adam sat on my lap, the blanket still wrapped around us. I still couldn’t shake off the chill. I wrapped my arms around Adam aswe watched the movie, feeling someone’s gaze on me from time to time.
I refused to look around to see who it was. It could’ve been just my paranoia. Every now and then, Adam would rest his head against mine, and I would kiss the crown of his head.
I had a lot of love for this little boy. He was going to be a heartbreaker when he grew up.
“He adores you,” Mila, Adam’s mom and Knox’s eldest brother’s wife, whispered to me. I snuggled Adam closer to me.
“I adore him. He’s such a good kid! You’re so lucky to have him. I have all the time in the world for this little guy,” I said, smiling at her.
“He’s always talking about you, Al. I swear, he’s got a little crush on you. He looks forward to seeing you so much, he even cried when we had to leave Savannah after Thanksgiving.”
“Really? That’s so sweet. I miss him too. He’s such a joy to be around. I miss him the most out of everyone. If you’re ever in California, let me know. I’d be thrilled to babysit him and take him to the beach with me.”
“We might just take you up on that offer. We could use some alone time every now and then,” she said, smirking over at Adam who was watching her every move. He returned her smirk, as if he knew exactly what we were talking about.
“He’s always around Knox because Knox is always over here, and around you. So in a way, he uses his uncle as an excuse to see you,” she said, laughing. This caused Adam to turn his head around at me and his mom.
“You’re a smart kid, you know that?” He smiled at us and then turned his attention back to the movie.
“He adores you too,” she said, her gaze fixed on Noah playingwith Eden, who was sitting on top of Knox and Kyle.
“Yeah, I know. Noah is my blood. I absolutely adore that kid. He’s super shy but such a cutie pie. They’ll both be little heartbreakers when they’re older,” I said, beaming at her.
She shook her head. “No, I didn’t mean Noah,” she said, giving me a knowing look.
Rolling my eyes at her, I turned my focus back to the screen. “He doesn’t, he never has and never will. You were there when we were in high school, he was so rude to me.”
“You’re so blind, Al. He one hundred percent does. Ever heard of the saying, when guys are mean to girls it’s usually because they like them?”
“The key words there are usually. He’s an exception, Mila. That one percent. The rare case. The outlier. However, you want to put it.”
“You keep telling yourself that, girl. But everyone can see it. Well, maybe not Kyle. But everyone else can.”
“Nothing will ever happen between us. I can assure you, Mila, we’re not each other’s type.”
She shook her head with a laugh and let it go. I was thankful she didn’t continue the conversation. I couldn’t stop myself from looking over at Knox messing around with Eden, who was sitting back on the chair.
He was waving her dolls above her, with her trying to reach up to them. She gave him the puppy eyes that I knew he would give in to, and he handed her back her dolls.
