Vulnerable [Suncoast Society] (Suncoast Society #29)(49)

Leo couldn’t hide his smile. Yes, Jesse was very careful in front of Laurel. Still, it made Leo happy to hear Jesse call him that.

Especially knowing that Jesse was also willing to put Laurel and her needs first.

He couldn’t ask for a better stepdad for his daughter than Jesse.

Leo kissed him. “Love you, boy,” he whispered.

Jesse’s wide grin was all the answer he needed as Laurel let out a happy squeal.

“Thank you, Mommy! We’ll see you there.” Laurel ended the call and brought the phone back to Leo. “Thank you, Daddy! She said she’ll meet us there at ten.”

“Good.” He slipped his phone back into his pocket. He really needed to change the ICE settings on his phone. He’d added Jesse, but he hadn’t gotten around to changing Eva’s listing yet, since Laurel used his phone to call Eva.

Maybe now that Laurel was okay with Jesse in his life, he could change it to just say ICE-Eva instead of ICE-Wife. He’d tried to make little changes, incremental ones when possible, to avoid slamming Laurel with too much change all at once.

Like at home. When he’d first decided to leave Eva, he’d started sleeping in the guest room, and did that for a couple of weeks until he found an apartment he could afford that wasn’t in a crappy neighborhood. Then he took Laurel with him to look at apartments so she could see them and be part of it.

So far, they’d avoided massive meltdowns.

His pragmatic little girl never failed to amaze him, but it saddened him that at her age she could already relate her experience in a positive way compared to the parents of some of her classmates.

On the other hand, his own parents should have gotten divorced years earlier than they had. They’d both been miserable and he had easily seen it, glad to escape to school every day to get away from their silent, simmering resentment toward each other.

And he wouldn’t even think about Eva’s parents.





Jesse knew he needed to keep his mouth shut. This was about Laurel, not him. Anything he could do to get along with Eva meant they would all have an easier time of things. Every time he saw the woman, he was careful to be pleasant to her, friendly.

She still seemed reserved around him, but Leo assured Jesse that was how she acted with nearly everyone.

He’d have to take Leo’s word for it.

When they arrived at Mote, she was waiting for them. As the morning wore on, Eva seemed to loosen up a little but Jesse still sensed tension from her. And maybe more than a little sadness.

When Eva took Laurel to the bathroom before they went to eat lunch, Jesse turned to Leo. “Is Eva all right?”

He shrugged. “As all right as she usually is. This is normal her around people she doesn’t know very well. Don’t take it personally.”

“You sure?”

“I’m sure.” He hugged Jesse. “You’re doing great, and Laurel is happy, so that’s all that matters.”

“Okay.”

Leo had to use the bathroom after they’d grabbed food at the café, leaving Jesse to try to carry on a conversation with Eva.

“Have you been here a lot?” he asked.

“Just a few times. This is Leo’s thing with her. And sometimes I have to work weekends, depending on my shift.”

“Oh.”

“Thanks again, by the way, for all your help with her,” Eva said. “It’s great having someone I can trust who I can call to help care for her.”

“Yeah, I guess having her grandparents living up in Tampa is a pain.”

Eva frowned. “Yeah,” she said.

He thought he might have stepped in something, but he wasn’t sure what and gave up trying to figure it out.

By the time they ended their afternoon and Eva had left, Jesse exchanged a glance with Leo over the car roof after getting Laurel belted in.

Jesse shrugged. Leo shrugged back.

He would try not to worry about it. Life was good, his guy was better, and he got to help raise an adorable and precocious little girl who might or might not be on her way to poisoning Gotham’s water supply at some future date.

He was hoping for not, but that remained to be seen. Supervillains could be tricky as hell to pin down in their early years.





Chapter Nineteen


It was Sunday night, and Leo was driving Laurel to Eva’s because he had an early welding job to do Monday morning. Eva had Monday off and could take Laurel to school.

“I had a lot of fun this weekend, Daddy.”

He glanced in the rearview mirror. “I had fun, too, sweetheart.”

“Thank you for letting me invite Mommy with us to Mote.”

“You’re very welcome, sweetheart.”

“Is it okay for me to say I love Uncle Jesse?”

It took every last ounce of willpower Leo had not to burst into happy tears. “It’s very okay for you to say that, sweetheart. I love Uncle Jesse, too.”

“Are you gonna get married?”

“Maybe. That’s still something to decide in the future.”

“Okay.” There was a moment of contemplation on her part. He could see it in her face and waited her out. “Will I still get to be your flower girl?”

“Of course you will. Who else would?”

“Okay.” Another pause. “Do you think Mommy will be mad at me if I love Uncle Jesse, too?”