Right With Me - Stacey Lewis Page 0,68

she comes barreling over to me and throws herself into my arms. Her arms wrap around my neck and her arms around my waist.

“Where have you been?”

Her head lifts from where she shoved it in my neck, and she looks down at me in question. “What do you mean? I left school after my last conference and came here to wait for you. I figured you’d probably be a while since, you know, it was Tabitha.”

“I went back to your room after I talked Tabitha out of going to complain to the principal and you weren’t there. That fucked with my head, Hails. Don’t ever do that to me again. I thought you would never speak to me again.”

This isn’t a conversation we should be having in the hallway for everyone to hear, so I make my way over to my door and struggle to get the keys out of my pocket with the way Hailey is clinging to me. Once I get the door open, I walk over and sit on the couch. The position is reminiscent of the first night she let me touch her in her apartment. That was after some drama too. I hope our lives aren’t destined to be full of drama. I hate that shit.

Hailey picks up the conversation like it never stopped in the hall. “Mitchell.” Her hands come up to cup my cheeks, forcing my eyes to stay on hers. They’re soft and warm, so looking at them is not a hardship. “I wouldn’t stop talking to you just because your ex-wife is a bitch.”

“Yeah?”

She kisses me quickly. “Yes. Besides, we should have known better than to dry hump on my desk in the middle of an elementary school.”

“I don’t remember any humping. Maybe we should recreate it to be sure.”

Her eyes roll and she blows out an exasperated breath. “You know what I mean.”

“I love you.” The words are out before I consciously know I’m going to say them and Hailey freezes above me, eyes wide and her mouth dropped open in shock. I lean forward and kiss said open mouth before dropping back so I’m almost lying on the couch. Her body follows so she’s practically lying on top of me, and trust me, that’s not a problem.

Her eyes are darting back and forth from one of mine to the other like she’s not sure I know what I just said. I do. Believe me, I do. “You love me?” she whispers, like saying it out loud will make me take it back.

“I love you,” I confirm.

Her mouth breaks into a huge smile and she laughs, kissing me at the same time.

“I love you too. So freaking much.”

Now I have to laugh because she sounds like the teenager she definitely is not when she says it. I take over the kiss, wanting to lose myself in her and forget the last hour even happened. Besides, pretty soon I’ll have to go get my kids from my parents and she’ll have to go get Connor from daycare. Might as well take advantage of the alone time while we have it.

With that thought in mind, I throw her onto her back on the couch, covering her with my body. “Let me show you just how much I love you.”

Epilogue

Eight months later

Mitchell

It’s amazing the difference only a few months makes. If someone told me a year ago that my life would change the way it has in such a short amount of time, I would’ve told them they were crazy.

Hailey’s sitting at the breakfast bar in my apartment helping Connor finish cutting his pancakes so he can eat. We have plans this morning, plans that mean all three kids will be going to my sister’s house in a few minutes. I need him to hurry up, not take a year to eat like he does sometimes.

Forty-five minutes later, all three kids are gone and Hailey and I are in my truck, headed to look at the first of three houses we found online. Yes, that’s right. We’re looking at houses… to purchase together. I’m tired of her sleeping on the other side of the complex some nights. I want her in bed with me every night, not just some of them.

She’s picked three houses she wants to look at, but I’m pretty sure the first one is going to be the one she picks. The other two are very modern and upscale looking inside, and that’s just not Hailey. It’s not either of