Right With Me - Stacey Lewis Page 0,42
standing so close our chests almost touch when we breathe. “Can she play with us, Daddy?”
“I don’t know, Evie. Ms. Lucas might have things she needs to do today. You already see her just about every day anyway.” I’m hoping she agrees to stick around, at least for a few minutes. I want to be around her, to breathe her in, even if it’s just for a few minutes.
Her head lifts, but her attention is more on Evie than me. “I can for a few minutes.” She looks down at her phone and twists her lips to one side. “My mom will be bringing my little boy home soon.”
This excites Evie even more. “Awesome!” she squeals, bouncing up and down on her toes. “I can play with him and you.” She’s so excited she can’t contain herself and she starts running around in circles around us.
Hailey covers her mouth so her giggles aren’t obvious and I want to pull her into my embrace when I see her eyes sparkling with mirth. Even though I know I shouldn’t, once I’m sure Evie has gone back to the swings I lean forward and whisper in her ear, “I’d like to play with you too.” It’s more forward than I’ve been up to this point. A week without being able to touch her or even have a real conversation with her has me desperate to stake my claim before someone else tries to.
Red crawls from the top of her chest up to her cheeks and seeing her blush at my words makes my dick twitch in my jeans. If it wasn’t for Evie and Ben, plus her mom coming with her son soon, I’d drag her up to my apartment and show her just how that blush makes me feel.
“Mitch,” she hisses, and I think it might be the first time she’s shortened my name into a nickname. It makes me happier than is sane, but I grin down at her anyway. “There are children nearby.” Her eyes dart around the almost empty playground guiltily, like she’s afraid someone might have heard me say dirty things to her. She’s too adorable for words.
Now I do step closer and pull her into my side. It makes speaking directly into her ear easier. And, it has the added benefits of allowing me to both touch and smell her. “I’ve missed you this week, Hails. It’s been hard not being able to come see you or talk to you very much. A couple of minutes when I’m picking up Evie and Ben just doesn’t cut it.”
The smile she gives me after telling her this makes the fact that saying it at all has me feeling like the biggest pussy easier to swallow. “You’re so sweet.” She relaxes further into my side and I hold her tighter.
“Only with you.” Yeah, I’ll admit, it sounds like a line, but it’s not. I gave up trying to be sweet to Tabitha long before our marriage finally ended. Being this way with Hailey is natural though.
I want to hold her longer, but she moves away from me when a car pulls into the lot. It must be her mom with her boy. Watching as she runs across to greet them, I can’t help but wish Tab was like that with our kids. Instead, she acts like they’re an inconvenience, only to be trotted out when they can benefit her in some way. It’s about the same way she treated me, though at least with me, she had some use for me or we wouldn’t even have the two kids. And that would be a tragedy.
Hailey’s quick to get her son out of the car and after saying what I’m sure is goodbye to her mom, she walks with him over to us. She’s holding him instead of letting him walk, and I can see him squirming to be released. Evie waits impatiently for them to step back up onto the rubber mats that make up the playground floor, but as soon as Hailey puts her son down, she runs right over to introduce herself.
I walk over too, after giving Hailey a minute to get Evie and Connor acquainted and when she sees me, Evie smiles brightly. “Look, Daddy. Isn’t he cute?”
“He is,” I tell her, crouching down so I’m eye level with her and closer to Connor. He looks up at me like I’m an interesting object he doesn’t understand, sticking his fingers in his mouth and grinning toothily up