Page 39 of A Daddy for Christmas 3: Nova
It hadn’t taken me long to see how much he lit up when we did an activity together, no matter what it was. Hopscotch in the sand, lazily blowing bubbles from our beach chairs, and even impromptu three a.m. baking sessions brought him nothing but joy, even as he ate a whole cookie’s worth of cookie doughbefore placing the rest of them on the sheet. We’d grabbed several packages on our first trip to the grocery store. Freshly baked midnight snacks were becoming a threat I eagerly looked forward to, along with his grinning face as he broke them in half to dunk in his milk.
Funny, but I’d known I was lonely before I’d met him; I’d just never realized how much.
“Ohh, game break, I love this song,” he declared as he hopped out of his seat and held his hand out to me.
I’d never danced to “My Sharona” before tonight, but between the fun, easy beat and the way he bounced and rocked side to side, snapping his fingers and making his hair fly as he shook his head, I had a blast trying to keep up with him.
That wasn’t the first spontaneous dance he’d broken into since he arrived. It had happened in the kitchen on more than one occasion already, and he even wound up doing some seated dancing in the truck when something came on that he loved. The more it sunk in for him that I didn’t find it silly or distracting, the more frequently he gave in to the impulses when they hit him. Something told me that Nova was a truly spontaneous soul who’d been stifled for way too long. My new mission in life was to nurture it back to the surface.
The next song was a slow one, so I gathered him in my arms and swayed with him toJust Breathe, an old Pearl Jam song. The words had never resonated with me as clearly as they did tonight, when it felt like Vedder was singing about me and the way I just wanted to hold him and breathe and appreciate that the universe had finally sent me someone who made it feel like the world was made of magic when he was in my arms.
“Nova,” I muttered, caressing his cheek as I gazed down into those warm eyes of his. “The brightest spot in my life. I am going to love sharing a future with you.”
“Even when I’m begging you to play naked twister with me?” he asked, flicking out his tongue.
Growling I lunged, just enough to draw aneepfrom him as he retracted it, just before my lips landed on his. He giggled into the kiss, still swaying with me to the song, another magical moment between us.
May they never stop.
“Yes,” I replied when we finally broke the kiss, “most especially when you’re begging to play naked twister, though we are going to have a hell of a time trying to spin the spinner when we’ve both got our hands on a spot.”
“Naa, we’ll be okay; you’re thinking old-school twister. They’ve got digital spinners now.”
“Really? Guess folks really do think of everything.”
“Someone had to, especially for that, unless they wanted to invite a third party into the room just to spin the spinner for them while they got all hot and bothered trying to wiggle and twist around their very naked partner.”
“For shame, putting a whole class of voyeurs out of a job,” I replied.
His jaw dropped while his eyes widened a fraction, and yeah, I knew how silly it sounded to say what I’d said, but he laughed once the words sunk in, and we finished the rest of the song giggling together.
“That’s so awesome; I love that it’s never going to be boring with you,” he said.
“I’ll keep things interesting; you can count on that.”
“See, when you say it like that, it gets to be both a threat and a warning,” Nova replied. “I love that for me. I love that for us both. I loveyou, Daddy. To the depths of the ocean and back.”
“Which is just how far I’d go if I ever lost you,” I told him as I brushed another kiss across his lips. “I love you too, sassy boy. Automated twister spinners and all.”
Even as the song faded, we swayed to the rhythm of the surf lapping against the shore, the rolling cadence wrapping us in a constantly changing beat.
Just like the life I looked forward to sharing with him.