Page 68 of Surprised By Love

“Sure, but nothing extravagant. Do you have the ingredients for a Caesar Salad? I think Caesar would be perfect with pasta.” I grin, thinking of our first date.

“You bet.” Josh smiles and collects a head of romaine lettuce, a brick of Parmesan cheese and a bottle of dressing from the fridge and places it on the island. Then he heads to the cupboard and grabs the croutons and bacon bits, passing them to me. “The bowl and the cheese grater are in the cupboard over there,” he says, pointing to a door on the island in front of where I’m standing.

“Perfect.”

A few minutes later, the dinner’s ready and placed at the dining room table.

“You didn’t have to use the good stuff for us,” I say, looking at the beautiful display. There are white plates set with all the utensils neatly placed on top of baby blue cloth napkins. The spaghetti with meatballs, Caesar salad, and garlic bread with cheese are centre stage. Everything looks and smells amazing.

“It’s not a problem,” Josh says. “We don’t have company over for dinner often. I thought it would be fun to go all out.”

I grin. “Well, thank you. It looks amazing.”

We help the kids get washed up and everyone takes their seats at the table. I smile as I listen to the kids talk about winter break.

“I can’t wait,” Emily says, beaming. “We’re going to have so much fun. We can go tobogganing, skating and build snowmen. The Santa Claus parade is so much fun, we can go together. They throw us candy and then Santa is there and we can tell him what we want for Christmas.”

Josh chuckles and looks up at me, shaking his head, and I smile back, a warm feeling spreading through me. This. Right here is what I pictured my life to be when I had a husband and kids. Not being a single mom with one child. I had planned to have a big family, like my parents did. I swallow the lump in my throat and take a bite of my salad.

Josh turns his attention to his daughter. “We’ll have to see what Sam and Amelia’s plans are for the break, sweetie.”

“So.” I look at Jake and then Emily. “What are you guys going to ask Santa for?”

Josh looks at me and grins, his brows raise, as if telling me I’ve asked for it now.

“I want so many fings,” Jake says. This little guy is so freaking adorable, but he’s not a big talker. He seems to like to watch what’s going on around him. If I had to guess, he’s going to be a police officer like his dad. “I’m going to ask for Paw Patrol stuff and Hot Wheels and video games,” he says with a big grin on his face.

“That’s a lot of things. Have you been a good boy?”

He looks at Josh and asks, “have I?”

Josh laughs. “Yeah, buddy. You’ve been a really good boy.”

Jake looks over at me with the biggest smile on his face.

This kid. So freaking cute.

“I’ve been good too.” Emily chimes in. “I have good grades and I help daddy with Jake and I help Grammy all the time. Right daddy?”

Josh grins and I can tell he’s trying to hold in a laugh. “Yes, sweetie, you are a very good helper.”

Emily holds her head up high and nods, a grin on her face. “I’m going to ask for some barbies, some colouring stuff, and dress up stuff, games for my switch and…” She looks around as if she’s trying to think. “Oh. I want some more stuffies.”

“You’re asking for the same things as Amelia.” I say, looking at my daughter.

She nods her head frantically. “It’s true I want all those things, too.” She takes another bite of her spaghetti and turns to Josh after swallowing. “This is really good pasgetti. Best I ever had.” Her eyes go wide as she looks at me. “Oh. don’t tell Sloan I said that. I like his pasgetti too.”

I laugh. “I promise I won’t tell him.”

Before we know it, dinner is over and the kids are getting settled in for a movie. Jake is laying on the foam mats and Emily and Amelia are cuddling on the loveseat with a fleece blanket over them. They are so precious; it makes me long to have a family like this one day. I don’t want to jinx things, but I kind of want this family someday.

We voted during dinner, and we chose Home Alone one and two as the movies for tonight. Josh cues the first movie up on the television and we slip away to do the dishes while the kids watch the first movie.

Josh turns on the water and fills the sink. He turns towards me and I get caught staring at him. “What?” he asks.

“You have a dishwasher, but yet you wash them by hand?”

“I usually use the dishwasher, but when we use the good dinnerware, I wash them by hand.”

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