“No.”
He put a hand to his chest and winced. “Oh, you’re breaking my heart.”
I laughed. “Oh, stop it.”
“I’ll at least take it as a good sign that you didn’t try to correct her.”
“Well, she just seemed so enamored with the idea of us as this little family that I didn’t want to shatter that illusion.”
“We do make a nice little group, don’t we?”
“Yes,” I said, happy that he said that.
“That was one of the reasons I was hesitant to date anyone—because I wasn’t sure how it would affect Declan. But he’s crazy about you. Almost as crazy about you as I am.”
“He’s a really great little kid.”
The thing was, I had never really envisioned myself being with someone who already had a kid. Having had my own stepparent growing up, I knew the challenges that could come up, though I sure as hell wouldn’t be trying to climb into bed with Declan when he was a teenager. Still, even though Bill and I had had a good relationship up until that point, there were difficulties.
Cole had a smile on his face. “I think I forgot to mention it to you, but the other day Declan was saying that he was thinking about asking if you’d be his mom.”
“He was? That’s so sweet.”
“It was sweet. A little sad, too. Well, he didn’t seem sad, so that’s good, but...we haven’t really talked about his mom. I know that it’s a topic that will come up eventually. He really is quite smitten with you, though.”
I thought back to my own childhood, the questions that I’d had about my father, questions that I just knew not to ask my mother. Why had he left? Did he love us? Did he ever think about us? Did he have a new family now? All things that Declan himself had probably wondered about his mom.
“He didn’t say anything to me about it yet,” I said.
“I’m certainly not trying to rush anything, but I guess that is something we should talk about,” Cole said.
“Me being his mom?”
“Well... yeah. Or just the fact that you’re dating someone who had a kid. I know you’re used to being around kids, and you’re great with them, but being a teacher is different.”
“It is. And you’re right—I think it is good to talk about this early on. A lot of people don’t; they just sort of let the chips fall where they do and then are surprised when there’s conflict later down the road. I don’t know what the future will be like, exactly, but if things work out between us, then of course I want to be a part of Declan’s life, in whatever capacity seems right.”
Cole smiled. “It makes me really happy to hear you say that.”
I smiled, too, and took another sip of my beer. I hadn’t really been thinking too far into the future, but as I sat there, I let myself imagine what it would be like to have this to come home to every night, to have Cole and Declan as part of my family. It would be nice; no, it would be more than nice.
“Oh, you know, I’ve been meaning to ask if you had plans tomorrow night. Ben’s on tap to babysit, so if you’re around, we should go out to dinner. It’d be nice to do something sans children. You know, like an actual date. Have we been on one of those yet?”
“I think so,” I said. “But either way, that sounds great.”
“Awesome. He said he’d be here around 6:30, so feel free to come by any time after that.”
I stifled a yawn with the back of my hand. Part of me wanted to stay there and maybe suggest we go curl up on the couch, but I was tired, and we’d had a long day outside, and I could tell that if we went inside and sat on the couch, I’d be asleep in about a minute. So I finished my beer, and then Cole walked me across the yard to my house. I did give him a long, lingering kiss before we said good night.
“Sweet dreams,” he said. “I’ll be thinking of you.”
I turned and walked inside, feeling like I was floating on air.
For our official date, I decided that I’d dress up a little. My closet wasn’t boasting a ton of fancy clothing, but I did have a form-fitting purple dress with black stripes that I thought looked pretty good. I fiddled around with my hair a little bit, too, wanting to do something with it since it was rather humid and I didn’t want it hanging down over the back of my neck.
I gathered my hair into a ponytail and then twisted it up the back of my head, securing it in place with an alligator clip. I regarded myself once in the mirror before I stepped out of the bathroom, and decided that I didn’t look too bad at all.
Ben was already there when I walked over to Cole’s. He came to the door when I knocked, and he made no effort to hide the fact that he liked my outfit very much. He let out a low whistle and then stepped back, holding the door open for me so I could step inside.