The Redemption(24)

“Hi,” Dex says smiling at me. He’s holding a bouquet of flowers made up of lilacs, peonies, and miniature white roses. “These are for you.” Leaning in, he kisses me on the cheeks. “You look beautiful.”

“Thank you,” I reply, impressed by the romantic gesture and look away as I feel my cheeks heat.

Turning back to his touch, his hand rubbing my arm, I see he has come bearing more gifts. He whips out some Fun Dips for the kids, shaking them in the air. “Brought these too.”

“Yay!” The kids jump up and down in excitement, snatching them from his hands.

“That was nice,” I say, then turn to the kids. “You can have them after dinner. Not before.”

After a round of disappointed grumblings from them, Dex says, “No biggie.”

“I’ll let you deal with the sugar high later.” With a laugh, I turn and nod toward the kitchen. “Come on in. I need to check on the chicken.” But I stop and turn around abruptly. “Do you eat chicken? I don’t even know if you eat chicken.”

“I eat chicken.” Relieved, I start back to the kitchen, but he stops me and takes my pinky, and says, “It’s good to see you again.” Slowly tugging me closer, he wraps his arms around me and hugs me.

I relish the closeness as I wrap my arms around him. “It’s good to see you too. Thanks for coming over.” I hear him gulp and I gulp in response, but his arms around me feel too good to get hung up in the newness and unknown of what’s ahead for us. So I take a deep breath, breathing him in, and smile. “You smell good.”

“So do you. You smell like roasted chicken.” He chuckles.

Pushing off of him playfully, I say, “That’s because I’m roasting a chicken.”

“Cool.”

“Drink?”

“What are you having?”

I enter the kitchen, but sneak a peek back at him. He’s wearing a white T-shirt that highlights his tan arms, fitted around the muscles of his biceps. His jeans are a loose, but not baggy and he has on lace-up Vans. To top it off, I can tell he’s freshly showered, not just from inhaling his clean, manliness back in the living room, but his hair is shiny and kind of enviable. But it’s the devilish smile on his face and devious look in his eyes that makes me reply, “Wine. You? I have beer, cocktails, soda, water, milk?”

“Did you just offer me milk?”

“Yeah, it’s a popular beverage around here.”

He just continues smiling. “How about a soda?”

“Sure.”

I make our drinks and tend to dinner one more time before leading Dex outside where the boys are running around on the swings chasing each other. We sit in patio chairs and watch for a few minutes before CJ comes over, and says, “I member you.”

With a big smile that shows off Dex’s dimples, he says, “I member you too, big guy.”

“Why are you here?”

I lean forward, taking CJ by the arm and pull him in front of me. Holding him by the waist, I wiggle him. “Dex is here for dinner and to play with us.”

CJ’s eyes light up. “We like Marco Polo, but Mama doesn’t let us play much since we run into things and get boo-boos.”

“Ahh,” Dex responds. “I can understand. How about tag or hide-and-go-seek?”

“Hide seek,” my little guy says, jumping up in excitement. “Let’s play. Neil, Hide seek.”

Dex stands up, offering me a hand up. I take it, catching his eye on me as I stand. He looks out over the yard and announces, “I’m it. I’ll count to twenty and then I’m gonna come find you.” He turns to go to the door, pinching my side as he does. “Better hide fast. I’m coming for you.”

The words echo the ones he told me back in Boston before I left. And I like hearing them again.

As soon as he hides his face in his hands, the boys and I run for cover. The boys go for the bushes in the corners. They’re tiny and can hide in there easily. There aren’t many spots for me, so I run to the side of the house and squat down on the other side of the garden. I hear him announce, “Twenty. Ready or not, here I come,” and I don’t know what it is about this game, but butterflies fill my stomach as I sit in anticipation of being found and trying to make it back to home base untagged.

Peeking toward the corner of the house, waiting, I hear little joyful screams and Neil yell, “I’m safe!” That makes me smile. I know very well that Dex could catch him if he wanted. To my right, I see a Dandelion growing. Just as I reach for it, I’m grabbed, hand over my mouth as I scream, his other arm holding me to him. When he uncovers my mouth, his finger goes to his and he says, “Shhhhh.”

I slide up, my back against the wood, and he leans forward. With his arms on either side of my head and his chest barely touching mine, his breath warms me over as if the sun wasn’t doing a good enough job of it. “Square one is gonna be hard to do with you looking so edible.”

My breath is rough as I breathe in his words. “Square one?”

His eyes crinkle at the corners and being this close to him makes my knees weak. He’s so close, so close that I could kiss him. His nose runs along the side of my nose and his lips brush against mine. But he pulls back, and says, “Yes, remember? Square one.” Nodding his head, he smiles, knowing damn well I’d kiss him if I had the chance. “We’re starting back at square one.”