Clearly, Lauren’s being in a relationship wasn’t going to be the emotional upheaval we’d all feared.
I could give it some time—a short time—before dropping the Lex bomb on him. The more I thought about it, the more confident I felt. Lex wasn’t new. There was no awkward get-to-know-her stage where we’d all hold our breath, hoping he liked her. There would be no adjustment at all for him, except I’d be making pancakes for three instead of two on the weekends when I had him.
All technicalities and loopholes aside, I did owe it to Lauren, however, to talk to her about things before officially telling Jack. And hell, maybe if Lauren knew, Lex wouldn’t have a soapbox to stand on anymore.
So, on Friday afternoon, as I walked Jack up to Lauren’s front door, I had a few things we needed to discuss.
“Hey, buddy!” she cooed, squatting down to give him a hug. “Did you have a fun week with Dad?”
“We played football yesterday!”
Lauren’s gaze immediately bounced to mine. The football debate was one we’d been having for a while. She thought he was too young and the sport was too dangerous. And I’d vowed to let it go until he was old enough to feel passionate about it.
“Flag football. Father/son pick-up game at the ballpark.”
Momentarily appeased, she said, “Oh, that sounds fun.”
“What’s for dinner?” Jack asked.
“Actually, Mark and I were thinking we could go out. Maybe hit the arcade afterward?”
“Yes!” Jack exclaimed. “Sorry, Mom, I hate to embarrass your boyfriend, but Mark is going down on the basketball game.”
“I’ll be sure to warn him. Now, go warm up your arm. He’ll be here in a few.”
“Sweet.” He turned and threw his arms around my waist. “Bye, Dad. Love you.”
“Love you too, bud. I’ll see you in a few days.”
He nodded and then he was gone.
“See ya, Hud.” Lauren gave me an arm squeeze and started to follow after him.
“Hey, can we talk for a second?”
She paused and eyed me curiously. “Sure, what’s up?” Fully stepping out onto the front porch, she shut the door behind her.
“First, I’m thinking about getting Jack a dog. It’ll live at my place, so I’m not really asking you to do anything. I just wanted to let you know.”
“Oh, he’ll love that. He’s been driving me crazy about some pug he saw on TV.”
“Same.” I shoved a hand into my pocket and rocked onto my toes. “Another thing. Lex and I are together now. I know we agreed to talk about things before introducing someone to Jack, but that seems pretty useless in this case. Though, if you want the three of us, or I guess the four of us now with Mark involved, to sit down and talk things out, I’m game. Just let me know and we’ll set something up.”
“Okay,” she said flatly.
“Okay?” I drawled. This was Lauren, so I hadn’t expected her to freak out or anything. But it was pretty fucking big news for our little crew that Lex and I were a thing now. I’d at least expected her to be surprised. “You do realize I mean together together. Like looking at a future together together. Having bedroom relations together together.”
She tilted her head to the side. “I assumed sex was included in being together together, yes.”
I narrowed my eyes; something wasn’t right. “Did Lex already tell you about us?”
She laughed. “Um, no. It’s been a long time since Alexis and I sat around swapping stories about boys. But come on, Hudson. We all kinda saw this coming. Actually, I owe Cal a hundred bucks. I thought it would take at least six months after the wedding before you two hooked up.”
I planted my hands on my hips. “I’m sorry. What?”
She rolled her eyes. “You two have always been close. Honestly, with the way you reacted after Brenden died, I thought maybe you’d secretly been in love with her for a while.”
I scoffed. “What do you mean the way I reacted? We were friends. We all rallied around her after that.”
She shook her head. “Not like you though. It’s been, like, six years and you still rarely leave her side. It doesn’t matter what’s happening or where you are—if Lex calls or texts, everything else shuts down for you. You hate Huey’s. The beer is warm and the wings are shit. But every Thursday, you prance in there with a smile on your face because you know she’ll always be there sitting across from you.”