“Naturally,” he said. “But all I’m trying to tell you is that I’m never, ever going to blame you for taking all the time you need.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“And that goes for sex stuff, life stuff, kids stuff, whatever.”
“I do want you to meet my kids,” I said softly. “They’d love your gardens. Would you give them a tour of your backyard?”
“You think they’d enjoy it?”
“They were fascinated by the Golden Goose gardens, so I know they will,” I said. “I don’t think they’ve ever even seen a greenhouse like yours, let alone been inside one.”
“Your kids have never been in a greenhouse?” he exclaimed. “I take it back. You’ve been a terrible father to those poor kids.”
I laughed. “They would be in heaven back there.”
Luke gave my thigh one more squeeze. “I’m going to let you sleep on the idea. And if you still want your kids to meet me and see my frankly incredible yard, let me know in a couple of days. Okay?”
“No, no,” I said. “Don’t let me sleep on it. What if I change my mind? I always second-guess everything.”
He shrugged. “Then I guess we’ll see, won’t we?”
Later that night, when I was back at my own house, I sent Luke a text message.
>>Cam: Still want my kids to meet you.
A few minutes later, my phone vibrated, and I was smiling before I even read it.
>>Luke: Glad to hear it. But it doesn’t count ‘til you’ve slept on it.
The next day, when I was finishing up a simple dinner of mac ‘n’ cheese and steamed broccoli for the kids, I slipped out my phone and shot him another message.
>>Cam: Did some soul searching today, and I’m checking deep within my heart for the truth… and... yep, still want my kids to meet you.
>>Luke: Roger that. :) Now tell me how you feel tomorrow.
I only waited until around noon the following day, growing impatient and wanting so badly to see him again.
>>Cam: I’ve been doing some thinking.
>>Luke: What’s up, cutie?
>>Cam: You were right about making me sleep on it.
>>Luke: Totally fine. There’s a reason I suggested it.
>>Cam: I slept on it. It helped me come to my decision. Yep, totally still want you guys to meet.
Luke called me, laughing out loud as I answered the phone.
“Okay,” he said. “You win. And I’m really excited to meet them, Cam.”
“I’m excited, too.”
Next Sunday, after Rachel dropped off the kids in the morning, my heart was already doing backflips in my chest.
“What are we doing today?” Dayna asked as she practiced her ballet pirouettes in the living room.
“Watching TV, eating dinner, and reading,” Cooper said, already sitting on the couch and kicking back with the remote.
“Actually, guys, we can do something a whole lot more fun than that today. You remember the gardens at the Golden Goose—”
“I love those gardens!” Dayna screamed. “It was like The Secret Garden. I think there was a secret passageway back there.”
She excitedly leapt onto the couch where Cooper pushed her away.
“Hey, be nice to your sister,” I said.
“We’re going to the Golden Goose Inn?” Chloe asked, her eyes already bright with excitement. “I wanted to draw them. I can do it on the iPad and now that I have that new app, it’s going to be so much better.”
“Well,” I said. “We can go back and visit the inn sometime. But believe it or not, I made friends with the guy who designed and planted the gardens there. The groundskeeper is named Luke, and he has an awesome yard of his own. With a greenhouse.”
“His house is green?” Dayna asked, swinging her legs off the side of the couch.
I smiled. “A greenhouse is a glass structure just for plants.”
“The characters in The Games of Autumn are always hanging out in a greenhouse,” Cooper said, talking about his favorite book. “Is it cool?”
“It’s very cool,” I said. “I thought we’d go over to Luke’s this afternoon for lunch and to explore the gardens there.”
“Nice,” Cooper said, already distracted by some cooking TV show he’d turned on.
“I’m going to draw it,” Chloe said again, pulling the iPad out from under the coffee table and firing it up. Dayna started asking her a bunch of questions about greenhouses, all of which Chloe answered with “I don’t know.”
It was just about the most resoundingly great response my kids could have to an idea. Often at least one of them would protest, saying that they’d rather just stay home or go somewhere much cooler.
It was really going to happen. All of them were interested.
I pulled out my phone, trying hard to contain my excitement. There was a new message from Luke, from about twenty minutes ago.
>>Luke: Please tell me this looks okay? I haven’t worn it in years, didn’t even know if it would fit.
Attached was a photo of him in a black collared long sleeve shirt and slate grey slacks on top of shiny black boots.