Vulnerable [Suncoast Society] (Suncoast Society #29)(48)

“Thank you for coming over on such short notice. I’m really sorry to inconvenience you like this.”

“No, hey, seriously. Me and the peanut, that’s no inconvenience.”

“I-N-C-O-N-V-E-N-I-E-N-C-E.” Laurel spelled the word out entirely, and correctly. “Inconvenience.” Eva looked shocked as Laurel grinned up at Jesse.

“Good one, peanut,” he said.

“Mommy, did you hear me spell inconvenience?”

Eva nodded. “Yes, I did. That was very good.”

Leo had encouraged Jesse to find something special to do with Laurel that could be their thing. Lucky for him, she enjoyed spelling.

Eva led Jesse inside and showed him where everything was. “She usually eats about seven. There are leftovers in the fridge. She can go swimming if she wants to before dinner but only if she finishes her math homework first.” Eva said the last part focused at Laurel. “And, obviously, only if you’re out there with her.”

She grabbed her purse and knelt down to hug Laurel. “Behave yourself, okay? Daddy will come by later and spend the night and take you to school in the morning.” She stood and offered Jesse one last handshake. “Hello, good-bye, sorry. Thank you again.”

“Hey, no problem.”

“It’s not an inconvenience, Mommy,” Laurel said with the eye roll Jesse was becoming all too familiar with. “He’s family.”

All that was missing was the duh.

Eva smiled, but Jesse thought it looked strained. “You’re right. He is family.”

Once they were alone, he headed for the couch. “Get your homework, peanut.” He turned off the TV. “You want to go swimming, you heard your mom.”

She grabbed her homework and bounced onto the couch next to him. “Are you doing homework, too, Uncle Jesse?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Okay.”

And that was that.

When Leo arrived a little after eight, looking exhausted and with an overnight bag slung over his shoulder, Jesse felt the urge to pull him into his arms but settled for a quick peck on the lips.

“Did you eat?” Jesse asked him.

“No, I’ve been scrambling.”

“I’ll make you something.”

“Sorry about this.”

Jesse stopped him and waited until Leo met his gaze. “Dude,” he quietly said, “it’s okay.” He smiled. “Besides, this is something I’ll be doing on a regular basis if we’re living together, right? And moving day’s next week.”

He’d told Leo he’d give him a decision by that Friday.

Okay, so he was a few days early.

Leo’s smile slowly widened. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” he softly said. Eva had been showing signs lately of backing off her challenges and delays with the divorce. If she didn’t blow her gasket tonight, then moving in together probably wouldn’t trigger her, either.

Jesse suspected there was a subtext he wasn’t privy to, but if it was something he was supposed to know, he knew Leo would tell him.

Meanwhile, he was irretrievably in love with Leo and with Laurel. He wouldn’t mind it at all if she would one day call him her stepdad instead of “Uncle. Jesse.”

He wouldn’t mind it at all.





Chapter Eighteen


Typhoon Laurel started their Saturday morning off with an unexpected twist. While they were getting their leftover sushi breakfast ready, she spoke up.

“Can we ask Mommy to come to Mote with us today?”

Leo and Jesse both froze, Jesse looking up at Leo, to him, waiting for the judgment call. In the six weeks they’d been living together, it was a look Leo now knew all too well. Something between panic and terror.

Yes, Jesse was starting to take more of a decisive stand with Laurel but he still desperately feared overstepping his bounds with her no matter how much Leo told him he wanted Jesse to take an active parenting role.

And Leo loved the man even more for his caution. Everything Jesse did proved he wanted to put Laurel first in their lives, too. Including he never, not once, complained when they had to make last-minute changes to their plans because of Eva or Laurel.

Everything Jesse did also proved his love and devotion to Laurel, and she seemed to be equally enamored of him.

Eva hadn’t mentioned anything to Leo about it, and hadn’t brought up any other boyfriends of her own, so Leo was going to keep working on the assumption that Eva was okay with this new status quo and wasn’t going to try to make their lives miserable.

When Laurel started first grade, Leo had even added Jesse to Laurel’s school records as someone approved for making emergency decisions, or for picking her up, if Leo and Eva weren’t available.

Leo took a deep breath and opted for the adult decision. “Why don’t you call Mommy before it gets too late and ask her, sweetheart?” He pulled his phone out of his pocket, unlocked it, and handed it to her. “We’ll be there around ten, if she wants to meet us out front. She won’t have to pay for her ticket that way.”

“Thank you, Daddy.” Laurel pulled up her mom’s number and dialed.

Leo glanced at Jesse and mouthed, “Sorry.”

Jesse smiled and shrugged, then leaned in to whisper in his ear. “It’s okay, Sir. It’ll make her happy.”