Love, Exes, and Ohs (Cactus Creek #4)(36)

Xoey chuckled. “Why don’t you have seconds? There’s plenty left.”

He sighed. “No, I’ll leave it for Blake. That kid eats as much as I do.”

That wasn’t too far from the truth. “It comes in waves though. Some weeks he’s a bottomless pit, and others, he finishes half a sandwich.”

“Sounds like you know them pretty well. How have I never heard about them?”

Xoey thought about that for a second. “I guess I don’t talk about ‘em much. They’ve been by Cactus Creek to visit me. Probably only twice since I’ve known you though. Actually, once a few months back, I do remember bringing Blake over to your gym while Darcy and Vivian were shopping, but you were out on an errand. The other time, I think we were just busy with some kid stuff at the town center.”

“Well, I’m glad I got to meet him today; he’s awesome. I hate that he’s going through this. His mom sounds pretty great.”

“She is. She’s probably one of the coolest women I know. She actually paints faces at carnivals and kids’ parties. And she’s also published a bunch of fun novelty cookbooks.”

“Yeah, Blake was telling me about some of her creations when he was getting ready for bed. You can tell he’s really close with his mom.” He shook his head sadly. “Broke my heart to watch him get the news from his aunt tonight. He was devastated.”

Xoey grabbed a pillow curled up on the futon next to Isaac. “Poor little guy was trying so hard to be brave. I even heard him comforting Vivian on the phone.”

“God, that’s one great kid.”

“His mom did a fantastic job raising him.”

Just then, soft footsteps padded down the hall toward them. “Xoey?”

“Hey B.W. what’re you doing up, bud? You okay?”

Blake shuffled his feet and stared down at the carpet. “I…I’ve never stayed in my room when mommy wasn’t here…”

Xoey felt her heart squeeze tight. “Well you know what? Since you don’t have school tomorrow, why don’t we all sleep out here tonight instead?”

“Really?”

“Yeah, it’ll be fun. We can get out the sleeping bags from the closet and throw some sheets over the chairs to make a tent. How’s that sound?”

“Awesome!”

“Okay, you go get the flashlights and your pillow and blanket. I’ll go get the rest of the stuff.”

Blake pivoted and sped off to his room.

“You’re really great with him,” commented Isaac, flipping the futon back up to the sitting incline before heading over to bring over some dining chairs.

Xoey smiled. “I was just channeling my inner Darcy.”

A half hour later, they’d tied four big sheets together to create a giant tent in the center of the living room with unzipped sleeping bags, comforters, quilts, and about twenty pillows of all shapes and sizes arranged under it to make a cloud-like fortress.

Xoey was just finishing up making them all ice cream sundaes when she heard Blake and Isaac do one last belly dive onto the pillows under the tent, before Isaac called an ‘old man time-out.’ While they were catching their breath, Isaac asked Blake what other stuff he liked to do for fun on the weekends.

“I help Mom with work sometimes. That’s super fun. We try out new foods and experiment with new recipes. My Aunt Vivian is always saying that isn’t a real job but I think it’s the coolest job ever. My friends do too. For show and tell, they always want to see pictures of the stuff me and Mom make. Oh! And for Valentine’s Day, Mom made my whole class giant rice krispie treats wrapped in foil so they looked like monster-sized chocolate kisses!”

Isaac chuckled. “Your mom is definitely the coolest.”

“Totally! She’s always doing fun stuff like scratching a secret message onto the skin of my banana in the morning so it shows by lunch time. And she always draws faces on my marshmallows before we put them in my hot cocoa. That’s my favorite.”

By the time Xoey returned to the living room with the sundaes, it was clear Isaac was nothing short of enamored.

After finishing their sundaes, Isaac and Blake announced they would clean up because Xoey did the cooking. They both leaned down to give her a kiss on the cheek before walking their sundae glasses over to the sink.

Suddenly, Xoey could see it.

House, kids, dog, matching wedding rings.

And most importantly, no phantom looks from her past muddying it all up.

The only ‘look’ making her heart race was right before her eyes, not ten feet away.

Coming from Isaac.

And it felt…right.





CHAPTER FIFTEEN



THE NEXT MORNING, with Blake buckled into the booster seat that Isaac had run out and bought late last night for the backseat of his truck—Xoey hadn’t even thought of that—they made their way to the hospital. Vivian had booked it straight over from the airport and called a half hour ago with news that Darcy was awake and stable.

Thank God.

The minute they got there, Blake raced his two little legs over and skidded to a stop at Darcy’s bed. Instead of barreling into her with his standard runaway train hug that he reserved only for his mom, he sat himself on the edge of her bed and carefully patted her arm, all the while watching her face with no small amount of worry.