Waiting for Willa (Big Sky, #3)(67)

“Is that what you want?” I ask him.

“Well, yeah. I mean, I know I have another dad, but I just think it would be cool to have you as my dad.”

He knows how to reach in and tear my heart to smithereens. I cup his face and smile at him. “Yes, you can call me Dad. Nothing could make me happier than that.”

“Cool.” He smiles at his mom, then scowls when he sees her tears. “See? I didn’t want to make you sad.”

“You didn’t.” She laughs and swipes at the wetness on her cheeks. “These are tears of happiness. I think that calling Max Dad is really great.”

“I have one more question,” Alex says.

“Okay,” Willa says.

“Can we have a baby?”

***

“Is our wedding going to be like Aunt Jenna and Uncle Christian’s?” Alex asks the next night as he sets the table for dinner. He’s started using aunt and uncle when referring to my siblings and their spouses now that we’re getting married. Alex might be the most excited of all of us.

“No way,” Willa says, shaking her head as she sets mashed potatoes on the table. “I do not want to get married in the snow.”

“Where would you like to get married?” I ask her, burying my nose in her neck.

“Maybe the beach?” she says. “I know a great resort in California.”

“You don’t want to get married here, with all of your friends and family?” Alex asks with a frown.

“We’ll fly them all there, if that’s what your mom wants,” I reply. “But there’s still time to talk about it.”

“In the meantime,” Willa says as we sit down, “we are doing something new tonight.”

“Pot roast is new?” Alex asks. The kid makes me smile.

“Listen to me, please,” Willa says, and Alex makes the motion of zipping his lips shut and throwing away the key. “From here on out, Thursday nights are date nights. Dad date nights.”

“Every Thursday,” I continue when Alex frowns, “we will talk about your dad, and you can ask about him, too. We’ll tell stories, look at pictures, and eat some of his favorite foods. Sometimes, we’ll have others over who knew him, and sometimes, like tonight, it’ll just be us.”

“Wow,” Alex says. “That’s kind of cool.”

“Pot roast with mashed potatoes was his favorite home-cooked meal,” Willa says as she dishes up Alex’s plate. “With extra gravy.”

“I want extra gravy,” Alex says. “What other foods did he like?”

“He loved pizza with Canadian bacon and pineapple,” I say, thinking about it.

“I don’t like that,” Alex says. “What else?”

“Remember that burger place that used to be just outside of town?” Willa asks. “He loved that place.”

“One time, when we were in high school, Cary and I went to that burger joint, and he hit on the waitress.”

“I didn’t know that,” Willa says.

“Well, she turned him down flat. But as we were leaving, she gave me her number and asked me to give it to him. She was shy.”

“Did he call her?” Alex asks with a grin.

“He did. And they went out on a date. I think it was his very first date ever, but he was so nervous, he threw up on his way there. He had to stand her up and go home to clean his car.”

“That’s horrible,” Willa says, her face horrified. “Poor Cary.”

“He ended up doing all right,” I remind her with a raised brow, and she laughs with a nod.

“That’s true.”

“What else did you used to do with my dad?” Alex asks as he shoves mashed potatoes into his mouth, then slips a piece of meat down to Rocky.

“When we were really young, like about your age, we would go camping.”

“Alone?” Alex’s eyes widen in surprise.

“Yeah, just the two of us. My dad would drive us up the road a bit from their old house where there was a campground, and we’d pitch a tent and roast hot dogs on the fire that one of the other campers would make for us.”

“Good God, don’t even think about doing that,” Willa says to Alex, rubbing her fingers over her forehead. “Maybe this was a bad idea.”

“No way, this is awesome,” Alex says with a laugh. “Can you take me camping?”

“I don’t see why not. Oh, this one time, we were down at the river fishing, and your dad caught a fish that was at least five pounds.”

“No way,” Alex says with excitement. “My dad liked to fish?”

“It was his favorite thing,” I confirm. “And he was good at it, too. I always thought it was a little boring, honestly.”

“I’d like to fish.”

“Maybe Papa will take you this summer,” Willa says. “Papa taught your dad, you know.”

“Papa’s good at lots of things,” Alex says with a nod. “He’ll totally take me. He said he’d teach me how to play baseball, too.”

“Your dad was an all-state baseball player,” Willa says. “Max and I used to go to every single one of his games to cheer him on.”