Diamonds Are Forever - Brooke St. James Page 0,48

lady said you had a good day," Drew said.

"Yes, but Johnathan raced me, and then we both had to get in trouble at recess, but I wasn't the one who even asked to race." Mac paused before adding, "But I still beat him."

"Why would Johnathan even try to race you? You are way too fast for him." Drew shook his head a little, looking completely serious like he just couldn't understand it.

"I know," Mac said, letting out a little laugh.

For the last four months, Drew had been making himself take things slowly with Lucy. He had been hooked on her since that night at his dad's birthday. He knew he had to have her after he saw her calm his nephew. He needed her presence in his life, and there was just no way he was going to let her slip away.

But Drew had been extremely patient.

He had wanted to marry her that first night, he had wanted to marry her when she met him in New York, and he had wanted to marry her about a hundred other times since. He wanted to marry her every day. There was never a day that went by that he didn't want to marry her.

He had been patient, though, and given himself plenty of space and time to back out. They were spending a lot of time together, but they hadn't even made anything official with family and friends. Drew was living in Galveston and only going home to Houston every once in a while, so his family had only met Lucy and Mac a few times.

Drew had been honest with them and told them about Lucy having a son. They weren't upset about it, but they also thought it was a fling that wouldn't last. They assumed he was just spending time with her while he was staying in Galveston to study for the bar.

Drew knew it wasn't a fling, but he didn't argue with them about it. He had been patient all this time. He had given himself enough time to change his mind. But he just kept being certain that Lucy was the one.

This situation where he was nearly jumping out of his skin to validate Mac with that teacher really put him over the top.

He figured he was done being patient.

He drove home with Mac in the backseat, thinking about everything. He was supposed to take Mac to the hardware store to drop him off with Lucy's dad, but instead he pulled into a gas station.

"Whatcha doin'?" Mac asked. He had been pretty quiet, but he spoke up when he saw that Drew was making an unplanned stop.

"I was going to ask if you wanted to go to the beach with me. You could come back to my house for a little while, and we could meet up with Pap and Nana later for dinner. What do you think? If you want to come with me, I'll just call the store and tell them."

Mac didn't answer with words. He just nodded and stiffened-out excitedly.

Drew parked by the payphone in the front of the gas station, and within a minute he had called the hardware store and made arrangements with Lucy's dad. Afterward, the boys went inside to get provisions for a walk on the beach. Just the essentials—some chocolate milk, and some chips and candy. Drew also splurged for two cans of shredded beef jerky, which Mac had never seen and would definitely love.

Chapter 18

Drew

It was too cold to swim, but that didn't stop the boys from taking off their shoes so they could dip their toes in the water at the shore. They left their snacks by the house and went walking on the beach.

Mac was constantly hunting something—shells, ocean creatures, birds. He was just always on the lookout to see what he could find, and usually he would try to chase or capture whatever it was. Mac never did anything halfway.

Drew watched him, feeling proud. He wanted to be an influence in Mac's life. He wanted Mac to be able to call him 'Dad' without a teacher saying anything about it. He wanted to be Mac's dad. It wasn't just so he could have Lucy. He loved the boy as well.

Mac had gone up the shore a little way, and he stooped down to look at something, after which he turned around and sprinted back to Drew. "They got a dead jelly fish up there," Mac announced, breathing so heavily from the sprinting that he bent