it.” He kissed the top of her head and pulled away, but his hands held her upper arms as he looked down at her. “I’ve missed out on so much. I don’t want to miss anything else.”
“That’s fair. I’m so sorry that you missed this.”
He shook his head. “It’s my own fault. I didn’t tell my staff to let your calls go through.”
There was a long pause, then he pulled her close again. For a long time, they just stood there, holding each other. Each of them thinking about what they’d lost.
“I’d better head home,” he sighed. She heard the regret in his tone.
“Yeah. I have some papers to grade.”
He pulled back and looked down at her. “Tomorrow?”
She smiled. “Yeah. Tomorrow.”
And then he was gone. Too quickly, the darkness swallowed him up. She lost track of him as he made his way to his car, then she saw the tail lights flash on. A moment later, Janus drove off and she stared after him until his tail lights disappeared.
With a sigh, she turned off the lights in the house, and let Herbie out one more time. Thankfully, he was too worn out to want to play, so he just did his business, then went back up the stairs, plunking down on Halley’s bed.
It didn’t take long to finish grading her class papers. Which meant she had too much time to think. As she got ready for bed that night, she thought about Janus and his touch, the way he looked at her. And the way she looked at him. There was nothing there. Not anymore. If she just happened to shiver at how it felt to be held in his arms again…well, that was normal. She hadn’t been with a man in five long years.
But goodness, she had never forgotten how it felt when he touched her!
Chapter 18
“In you go and put your book bags away on the hook!” Stevie announced to the kids as she pulled into the driveway. “I don’t want to see either of your bags on the floor. Herbie gets into them and you know what he does after that.”
She watched through the rearview mirror as the pair shared a glance, making identical grossed out faces. Herbie drooled when he got hold of book bags. Drooled inside the bag, outside the bag, gnawed on the straps and left the thing disgusting and slimy.
As soon as she put the car in park, the twins unsnapped their seat belts and bolted from the car. “Dad!” Halley yelled, throwing herself into Janus’ arms. Harrison was right behind her and did the same thing. Luckily, Janus anticipated this and was already kneeling, his arms open, ready to catch them.
Stevie watched, her heart aching. It was wonderful that they’d taken such a liking to Janus. She’d told them that he was their dad and both of her little loves had immediately accepted him into their family.
Something bumped the kitchen window. Stevie saw Herbie gazing out the window, desperate to be a part of the fun as well. “Down!” she snapped, pointing her finger towards the floor. Of course, Herbie completely ignored Stevie, staring longingly at Janus. And why not? Janus was the one who could throw the ball to the fence line. Herbie’s loyalty was absolute.
“Can you teach me to throw tonight, Dad?” Harrison asked, grabbing one of Janus’ hands. Halley came around to the other side and claimed his free hand. “No, he’s going to play soccer with me. He promised.”
“I can do both,” he assured the kids. He glanced over at Stevie. “But we need to check with Mom first. She might have plans for tonight. And it wouldn’t be kind to disappoint her plans, would it?”
Halley and Harrison both looked pleadingly over at Stevie. “Can we, Mom?”
Stevie didn’t have any special plans for the evening. In fact, it was Monday night, just a normal weekday night. Nothing special other than homework, dinner, walking Herbie, bath time, reading time and…then cleaning up the house, getting lunches ready and collapsing into her own bed for her five minutes of daily downtime.
“Why don’t you go inside, wash your hands, and start your homework?”
She watched their shining faces crumple as the normal routines were enforced. Stevie felt like a nag and sighed, rubbing her forehead.
Once they were inside, safely out of earshot, she turned to Janus. “Weeknights are a bit different than the weekends,” she warned him.
“I can handle it,” he promised.
She looked up at him, remembering the dream she’d had last