edge.
“I’m not leaving you here, not on your own. Not again.”
“When and where?” She took a deep breath and straightened her spine.
“Arizona. Tomorrow.” He massaged her neck. “We can stay here tonight and get an early start tomorrow morning.”
She fell back on the bed. “We should’ve stayed in New Mexico. I feel like we’re crisscrossing the Southwest.”
“We could’ve used that helicopter.”
“We could’ve used a lot of things.”
A few hours later as the sun began to go down over the park, Cade had never felt so tired in a good way. They’d stopped at a drugstore and bought a cheap rubber ball, some bottles of water and some chewy fruit snacks that he’d never eaten before in his life. He liked them.
They’d played with that ball every which way. Played catch, kicked it like a soccer ball, shot a few hoops and even used a stick to bat it. The way his chest swelled with pride the first time Gavin caught the ball nearly knocked him off his feet.
How could he ever leave this boy again? Or this woman?
Jenna collapsed beside him after chasing Gavin up and down the slide. “I’m glad you were here to play with him. I’m exhausted already.”
“Lightweight.” He snapped his fingers. “I could do another two rounds.”
She squeezed his biceps. “That’s because you’re a stud.”
“Daddy, come push me.” Gavin had scrambled onto a swing, his legs pumping the air above the sand.
Cade swallowed the ridiculous lump in his throat for about the fifth time that afternoon. Would he ever be able to hear that word from Gavin’s lips without getting choked up?
“One more time, bud, and then we break for pizza.”
As he struggled to his feet, Jenna mumbled, “Lightweight.”
When they finished at the park, they stopped at a pizza place and took a couple of pizzas back to the motel. This might almost feel normal if they weren’t all taking off tomorrow morning to get new identities.
Jenna plopped a slice of cheese pizza onto a paper plate for Gavin, sitting cross-legged in front of the TV, and shook her finger at him. “One cartoon while you eat, then bath and bedtime.”
“Can we go to the park tomorrow?”
She sucked a strand of cheese from her finger. “We’re driving again tomorrow, but we’ll have lots of time to go to the park—after.”
“And the swimming pool.”
“And a swimming pool.” Cade handed Gavin a bunch of napkins. “If you swim as good as you throw, you’re going to be winning all kinds of races.”
“Ah, don’t get too competitive there, Dad,” Jenna teased.
Cade stretched out on the floor next to Gavin and slid a piece of pepperoni pizza onto his own plate. “Maybe I’ll be one of those fathers who screams and yells on the sidelines and gets kicked out of my kid’s games.”
“I’ll keep you in line.” She nudged his foot with her own.
Jenna was kidding, but Cade hung on to her words with a pathetic desperation. Could she really teach him to be a good father? He’d had the worst of role models—a man who would sell out his own flesh and blood for a couple of bucks.
They finished eating and Cade joined Jenna at the edge of the tub to wash the pizza stains from Gavin’s face and scrub the dirt from beneath his fingernails. After one afternoon of hard play, Gavin seemed to accept him at his mother’s side.
That was the thing about kids—good parenting, bad parenting, they didn’t know the difference. Look at him. When he was a kid, he’d thought his father could do no wrong.
With Gavin toweled dry and snug in his pajamas, Jenna tucked him into the double bed on the other side of the nightstand from theirs. Then she cozied up to Cade, and all thoughts about how to be a good father flitted away. Now he wanted to be a good lover.
He slipped his arm around her shoulder and drew circles on the side of her breast with his thumb. She swiveled her hips toward him and threw one leg over his thigh. He slumped down, kissing the top of her head and edging his hand beneath the top of her pajamas. He flattened his hand against her belly, getting ready to make his next move.
Then the mattress dipped, and Gavin was wriggling his way between them.
Jenna smoothed her fingers across Gavin’s cheek. “Don’t you want to sleep in your own bed, honey bunny? Daddy and I will be right here in the bed next to yours.”
He burrowed deeper between them.