Right With Me - Stacey Lewis Page 0,44

pretty flush covers her cheeks. “I want more with you too.”

“Good. Then eat with us. It won’t be anything fancy, but I promise it won’t kill you either.”

I wink, and she laughs. “Okay, but only because you promised. Can I bring anything?”

“Just yourself.”

Biting down on her bottom lip, she’s suddenly apprehensive. “But…”

I want to know what she’s thinking, but I hope whatever it is doesn’t deter her from coming over. Getting to spend time with her, to build the relationship I want to have, is hard when we both have jobs and children to take care of. “But… what?”

“What are your kids going to think?”

She sounds genuinely worried, but she doesn’t have any reason to. “They’re going to think we have company for dinner.” Maybe I’m being deliberately obtuse, but why would they care if she comes over for dinner?

The scathing look she gives me would scald all the skin off my body if it was possible. “Oh, do you have women over for dinner so much they won’t even notice? If that’s the case, I think I’ll pass.”

Now she’s the one being ridiculous. “No, that’s not what I meant. Hailey,” I sigh, running a hand through my too-long hair. “It’s not like me being on a date would be detrimental to them, and you’re not some stranger either.” I’m not explaining this right. I know I’m not, but I don’t know how to make her understand. “I want a relationship with you.”

“I want that too.”

Well, that’s good to hear. “Good. But, in order to have that relationship, we have to spend time together. Both alone and with our kids. We can’t have any kind of relationship if they aren’t involved at all.” Laying it out in a way I know she won’t misunderstand or misconstrue, I tell her, “I’m not looking for a hookup.”

Hailey sighs. “I’m not either, Mitchell, but I don’t want to upset your children. You haven’t been divorced that long, and kids don’t understand grown-up situations.”

“That’s true, but Hailey, you have to remember, Tabitha and I weren’t together for a while before we made it legal. The kids are used to seeing us as separate. I promise you have nothing to worry about.”

She still looks unsure, but she finally agrees to come and I send up a prayer of thanks. I need her to see just how good we can be together.

Chapter 22

Hailey

I’m nervous about going to Mitchell’s for dinner. I don’t think he even considered what his kids would think about me showing up. Evie, I’m sure will be thrilled that her teacher is there, but Ben is older, and I’m sure seeing his dad with someone who isn’t his mom won’t be easy for him.

No matter how many times Mitchell tried to convince me it was fine, I can’t bring myself to believe it. It can’t be that easy.

It’s time for us to head over and Connor is excited to go see Evie again. I’m pretty sure he has a little crush on her after playing with her this afternoon. Playing with other kids is his favorite thing to do, and makes me regret sometimes not having a little brother or sister for him to play with. With the way things ended, it’s better that we didn’t. Being the single parent of one child is hard enough. I don’t know how Mitchell does it with two, though he does have some help from his ex.

We’re just about to leave for Mitchell’s when my cell phone rings. Connor’s trying to get out the front door, so I don’t look before I answer. “Hello?”

The voice on the other end makes my blood run cold. “Hello, Hailey.”

I can’t say anything at first. My mouth opens, closes, and then does it again. Swallowing hard I try to get rid of the sudden lump in my throat before croaking out his name. “Seth?” My head is reeling because there aren’t very many reasons for him to be calling me. I haven’t heard from him since the day our divorce became final. After a few seconds spent internally freaking out, I finally manage to ask, “What do you want?”

“Am I interrupting something?” I can imagine the way he’s looking at the phone, one eyebrow raised with a scowl on his face because I’m not jumping to do whatever it is he wants.

“Not interrupting, but I have somewhere to be soon so I need to get moving.” I struggle to keep my temper in check. The way he acts like I’m