Love, Exes, and Ohs (Cactus Creek #4)(56)

Her eyes crinkled at the corners. “I heard. B.W. and his friends were talking nonstop about all the fun they had when I picked them up.”

“Also…” Isaac paused, still feeling his throat clog with emotions over the memory. “He called me his dad the other day. In an actual conversation. Not to me, but to a worker at the grocery store. He said that ‘he and his dad were looking for the charcoal.’”

Which of course had caused Isaac to crash the grocery cart into a display of boxed stuffing mix because he’d been too overcome to do anything but stare at his son.

Happiness flooded Xoey’s expression. “That’s so awesome. I love it.”

Hearing the one word that echoed in his head like his own heartbeat every time he saw her brought his emotions dangerously close to the surface. But he kept them banked. Kept himself from reaching for her.

Instead, he made conversation to keep her nearby for just a little while longer. “Hey, I always meant to ask, why B.W.?”

She shrugged. “You’ve seen his birth certificate.”

Yes, he had seen Blake’s birth certificate, and he’d stared at it for what seemed like forever when his name was finally added to it as Blake’s father. “No, I mean why B.W. and why did you choose Wesley as his middle name? Darcy mentioned the other week that after she’d asked you to choose Blake’s middle name, you’d been adamant on a ‘W’ name. Why?”

She hesitated for a beat before answering, “I picked a ‘W’ name because at first, I was going to give him the middle name ‘Mack.’ But then I realized that would make his initials ‘BM.’”

Isaac chuckled. “I’m sure Blake will appreciate that a lot in the years to come.”

Chewing on her lip, she gazed at him softly. “The reason why I went with a ‘W’ name is because for some reason, I thought about this photo I saw in your closet, well, in ‘Mack’s’ closet. It fell off the shelf when I reached for the Bears jersey.”

Instantly, he knew which photo she was talking about.

“It was a Halloween photo and the older boy was dressed as Batman while the younger one was dressed as—”

“Robin.” He nodded. “That was a photo of me and Cody.”

“While I was trying to think of a name, that photo kept flashing in my head. So I named him Wesley, so he could be B.W. for short, in tribute to the photo.”

He puzzled over that. “So B.W. stands for…Bruce Wayne?”

“No. ‘Boy Wonder.’ I named him after your little brother because you’d been looking at him with such love in the photo… I wanted that for our son. And for you.”

Two steps was all it took to have her in his arms.

Pulling her tight against his chest, his arms banded around her like steel straps. “I miss you so damn much, Xoey.”

Her arms wrapped around his waist, with nearly as much force. “I miss you too, Isaac. Every day.”

“Momma!” The sharp peal of laughter from across the park broke up the moment.

The both looked over at Blake, who was waving at Xoey from across the field, showing her how he could make Toby roll over.

“Momma?” he asked. That was new.

She smiled softly. “It was what I used to call my own mother. And since Blake already had a ‘mom.’ I picked ‘momma’ for him to call me. And he’s been calling me that ever since.”

Isaac cupped her face, and ran his thumb over her cheek. Wanting so damn much to kiss her now-smiling lips.

“Momma, momma, look!”

“I should go,” she said softly.

Xoey took a step back and he let her go.

“Bye, Isaac.”

“Goodbye, Xo.”





CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE


XOEY FROWNED WHEN she walked into a fully-packed Ocotillos…and found it almost completely silent.

“What’s up, guys?” She glanced over at her bartenders. “Everything okay?”

Abruptly, the room quieted even more and she wondered if they were under hostage attack. Or just being taken over by pod people.

“This isn’t a stick-up, honey,” came a deep, amused voice from behind her.

Blushing, Xoey realized she’d been raising both hands in the air slowly. Spinning around, she looked from Isaac to the small group of people behind him who she didn’t recognize at all. “What exactly is going on here?”

Oh lord, this wasn’t an intervention was it?

Isaac chuckled affectionately.

Oops. There she went again, wearing her sarcasm on her face.

He took another step forward and suddenly all the humor vanished from the situation. “Isaac—?

“Just give me ten minutes.”

Somehow feeling that her world would be spinning on its axis in that time, she hesitated. But the quietly intense, utterly patient look on his face soon prompted her nod in agreement.

“Sweetheart, I know you think that too much has happened in the last nearly ten years for us to be able to come back from that, but I want to show you a little of what this past decade has been like for me.”

She gave him another slight nod, eyes widening as he stepped back to point at the people behind him.

“The woman standing there with her husband is the first woman I dated after you and I had our one night. It was nearly six months later. She will be available for you to chat with after, wherein, she will inform you that I did practically nothing but talk about you the entire date. How I’d messed up. How I wished I could find you.”