Page 70 of Husband to Go

“I fully agree. As in, I could not agree more. I want to be with you too, sweetheart.”

“Good,” she smiles.

The air shimmers between us. It sounds so simple. It wasn’t easy getting here, but the two of us saying those words to one another and reaching this resolution is a huge breakthrough. Being here with her feels like the natural way of things. But then she pulls back, throwing me a serious look.

“But Tanner, I still want children. I’m not giving up on you when it comes to that,” she says in a soft voice.

I jolt back.

“What do you mean?” I ask.

She sighs and lowers her head.

“All that I’m saying is that I don’t want the kids/no kids thing to be a dealbreaker in our relationship. I think I still want children, and honestly, I think you might too.”

I stare at her.

“Sweetheart, I’m in my forties. I’ve had a long time to think about this.”

She shoots me a winsome smile and takes my hand.

“I know, Tanner, but people change. Even people in their forties. You’ll see.”

I stare hard at that graceful profile but then take a deep breath. My head feels like it’s going to float off my shoulders because so many things have happened that I can’t grapple with them all at once. But maybe she’s right. Old dogs do learn new tricks, and maybe I can be convinced.

The movie is still playing in the background, and we turn towards it, our hands intertwined. But then I pick up my carton of ice cream and offer Kylie some.

She giggles.

“Why, thank you.” She uses my spoon and scoops the mint into her mouth. She licks it absolutely clean. Watching her tongue swirl around the spoon turns me on.

I don’t want to ruin everything by jumping into sex too quickly. I know Kylie thought I was just using her for sex, and I was being very selfish in the beginning. But now, I want to cultivate anactualrelationship with her.

“Are you staring at me?” she asks without looking away from the T.V. screen.

“Sorry,” I apologize.

“Don’t be sorry. I like it when you look at me.”

“Yeah?”

“Mm-hm. I also like it when you touch me.” Jesus Christ, this girl is going to be the end of me.

“Do you want me to touch you?”

“Yes,” she says. I move closer to her, and I’m about to put my hands on that curvy body, but something in Kylie’s eyes tells me she has something else to say.

“Is everything okay, baby girl?”

“You know, we’ve never been on a real date. Do you realize that?” Hm, that hadn’t crossed my mind actually.

“Do you want to go on one?” I ask quizzically.

She bites her bottom lip, her face scrunched up a bit.

“Maybe.”

I nod.