23
Noah
“Paris is an absolute dream, isn’t it?” Mom says to Mia. “I’m so glad we’re all here. I bet you’re all inspired, aren’t you? You certainly look like you’ve got all sorts running through your mind.”
“I know, I love it.” Mia’s cheeks flush with happiness. “It’s absolutely amazing here. I want to be here all the time.
It’s like one of those dream come true holidays, isn’t it? I just want to paint all the time. And the art galleries that we’ve been to are incredible. I love them so much. They are something else!”
“When are we going back to the tower?” my son interrupts.
Alex bounces up and down on Mia’s lap, having taken to her better than expected. After everything that had happened with Hayley, I was so scared to introduce them to one another, but as it turns out it’s gone really well. He asks about her often when she’s not around, sometimes I think he even prefers her to me, which is awesome.
He now has another positive female role model in his life which is everything. Especially with his mother’s trial looming over our heads. It will come and go soon and she’ll be locked up for a very long time.
This works out brilliantly for me because I want to ask Mia to move in with me. She’s around a lot anyway so it won’t be too much of a huge step, but I want her to be more officially mine.
“We can go back to the Eifel Tower tomorrow, if you want?”
“Yeah! I want to go back to the top again. It was scary up there but fun too.”
“Anything you want, sweetheart.” Mia hugs him tight, loving Alex just as much as he does her. To think I thought she would reject me because of him. I was an idiot. “We can spend as long as you want up there.”
It’s moments like these when I realize just how important family is to me. It’s everything and I want to put more into it. I want to have lots of vacations like this, it’s like a dream.
I’m so glad I finally took a step back from the gym and let Josh take control of the day shifts. I still go in now and again to keep an eye on things and to work out but it’s all running just fine without me. Sure, he was quite immature and it was a big step to give him that responsibility, but he’s grown into himself and he’s done me proud. I know now that I can trust him with absolutely everything.
Everything has worked out nothing like I expected, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t perfect.
“Hey, Alex, why don’t me and you go for a walk?” Mom asks him tactfully. “Leave Mia and Daddy to their coffee and we can come and find them later on. I’m sure they want a little peaceful moment to herself.”
“Yeah! Thank you, Grandma. I’m finished eating.” He dropped the croissant, done with it now.
“Me too. Let’s take a look at those nice little stores down there, shall we?”
He bounds away, gripping onto her hand down the Camps Elysees like he belongs here. Me and Mia giggle like crazy as he skips off, happy for him to enjoy himself so much. He really is enjoying this holiday.
“And, are you enjoying yourself?” I ask her with a smile. “You’re glad you came?”
“I wouldn’t change this for anything in the world. It’s been the best experience ever. Thank you so much for bringing me here, honestly, I’m having the best time, Europe is amazing, I want to see it all.”
“Like I said, you deserve it, after everything you went through with me. You should have run!”
“I know, but apparently I’m a crazy person so I decided to stay… thank goodness.”
She slides her hands across the table and I take them. As I touch her skin I still get bolts of electricity racing through me. None of the passion between us seems to dull at all, it doesn’t matter how much time passes.
“So, what are you thinking now?” I ask her with a playful smirk. “We have some time alone.”
“Ooh, we could go for a lovely walk, or we could visit a nice store, or we could…”
“Our hotel is just around the corner.” I wiggle my eyebrows playfully at her, a cheeky suggestion running through my mind. “We could have some time alone. Mom won’t be back for ages.”
“Ooh, you are bad, aren’t you?” she pinches me playfully. “I don’t know what to do with you.”
“You love it and you know it.” I laugh as she bolts upright. “I knew you’d love it.”
“I think you know me too well now. I’m not longer a mystery to you. That’s a problem…”