Page 25

Twenty-Five

Henry

Jade slides her hand out of mine right before I open the door to Bodhi’s party room. I can’t say I blame her—it’s not as if we’re together—but damn, her hand felt good in mine. It felt as though it belonged.

Mack is still decorating which is crazy since we’re talking about a seven-year-old here.

“Have you ever thought about opening a party planning business?” Kyleigh asks him.

“Hey,” I say and shake my head. I’d be lost without Mack.

Kyleigh turns around. “Oh. Hi, guys.”

“Where’s the wicked witch of the Midwest?” Rowan asks, and Kyleigh slaps him in the stomach. “You know that only turns me on.”

Conor inhales a deep breath at Rowan’s remark to his sister but breaks the distance and comes over to us. “Hey Jade, nice of you to join us today.” He sticks out his hand, and she slides her hand into his.

“Hi, Conor.”

Tweetie waves from the snack table, where he and Rowan are eating as if they just got off a survival show where they were lost in the woods for a month. “Jade, my girl.”

Rowan wipes his hands on a napkin and comes over. “Hey, I’m the only one who hasn’t officially met you. I’m Rowan, Kyleigh’s man.”

Kyleigh beams behind him.

“Or otherwise known as the center for the Falcons, if you didn’t know, because if you didn’t, he’ll tell you.” Conor walks back over to Tweetie and grabs a juice box.

“Kyleigh’s man is just fine.” She walks up and wraps her arms around his waist, and he kisses the top of her head. “Hey, Jade. How is Eloise?”

Jade steps away from me, and she and Kyleigh go over to a table and talk about Eloise and her wedding.

Rowan leans in closer to me and says under his breath, “Maybe get her a drink.”

“Don’t act like I don’t know how to entertain my guest.” But the truth is that I was a little awestruck she’s here, celebrating Bodhi’s birthday with us.

“Well, you still haven’t gotten her a drink.”

I walk past him, nudging my shoulder against his, and head over to the drink table. All I can offer her is a juice box or a mini water bottle.

“No drinks for the adults, Mack?” I ask. “And centerpieces, seriously?”

“Sorry, let me go get the case of champagne,” he says dryly.

I pick up a juice box and a small bottle of water and walk toward Jade and Kyleigh.

“I’m so proud,” Tweetie says.

“He’s all grown up,” Conor adds.

I flip them off behind my back, and their laughter fills the room.

“Hey, Ky,” Rowan says from behind me as I’m about to approach.

She puts her finger in the air as she continues to listen to whatever Jade is saying.

“Ky!” Conor says louder and more urgently.

Smooth, guys. Thanks.

“Sorry, excuse me for a second, Jade.” She gets up from the table, sees me with the drinks, and fails miserably at hiding her smile, scurrying over to Rowan.

Jade moves to turn, but I go around her back and sit at the other side of the table so she’s not staring at my buddies.

“Water or apple juice?” I hold them up.

Her head tilts left and right, then she points at one and then the other. “Eeny, meeny, miney, moe.” Her finger stops on the water. “I kind of wanted the apple juice.”

I hand the apple juice to her and keep the water for myself.

“Kyleigh’s really nice,” she says, breaking the silence because that’s the Jade I love, always uncomfortable with silence.

“She is. What did you guys talk about?”

She shrugs, putting her straw in the juice box without the liquid squirting out of the top. “Eloise, how she got into making wedding dresses, her and Rowan.”

“All of that in such a short time?”

She laughs. “It’s an inherent female talent. You wouldn’t understand.”

“Yeah, well, if you were a man, you’d barely have to talk. You’d be surprised what you can get across with a grunt.”

She covers her mouth, almost spitting out her apple juice from laughing but swallowing it down at the last minute. My chest feels buoyant from the sound of her laughter.

“Don’t do that.” She playfully smacks my shoulder. “How many times do you have to be sprayed by my drinks to learn not to make me laugh when I take a sip?”

“Nothing beats the Mountain Dew time.” I shake my head, remembering how sticky my face and arms felt for the entire concert because we couldn’t find anything to wipe me off with.

“If I remember correctly, you shared it with me by rubbing your face all over mine.”

“Thank god for the rain.” A shiver runs up my spine as I remember her all muddy and having to undress in the car, then sitting next to me on the long drive home from the concert in only her panties and a shirt. Fuck, how did I ever have the willpower to keep my hands off her?

Her cheeks pinken, and I’m pretty sure she’s remembering the same thing I am. “You think the rain was a good thing, but you weren’t the one who slipped down a muddy hill on her ass.”

“It looked fun.”

“I had more fun when we got home that night.”

My dick twitches. Jade is leading me down a road I shouldn’t go down right now. Especially at my son’s birthday party. But I’ve never forgotten the shower we took when we got back to her apartment. Thankfully, her roommate had gone home for the weekend because we never made it to the actual bed.

“We should talk about something else,” I say, resituating myself on the bench.

“Yeah, sorry, um…”

We sit there, both trying to think of something to talk about that doesn’t include our past.

“This all looks amazing,” she says, glancing around the room.

“It’s all Mack’s doing.”

“That’s me!” Mack raises his hand, finishing off the tables with an array of glitter.

“I love it. You did a great job.” She smiles at him, and he puts his hand over his heart.

“Thank you. And I love the sweater. Your whole vibe of not trying too hard, but…”

“Bye, Mack,” I say.

He chuckles and huddles with the rest of the spectators on the other side of the room observing Jade and me.

“He’s not wrong. I think I tried on ten outfits today trying to look good while simultaneously looking like I didn’t try too hard.”

I chuckle. “I’m sure you looked just as great in the other nine outfits.” I sip my water to cool myself down from picturing her changing.

“I should go out and say hello to the kids.” She stands.

I don’t want her to go, but I’m not sure how to be around her and not flirt with her.

“Yeah, I’ll come check on Bodhi.”

We round the tables with five sets of eyes watching our every move. Could they make it any more awkward?

We’re halfway to the door when I see a stream of kids running toward us. One girl runs right into the door, bouncing back and falling. Micha opens the door, and Bodhi rushes into the room but stops in his tracks, staring at Jade with a huge smile.

“Miss Jade!” He runs up to her and wraps his arms around her legs, closing his eyes.

Conor clears his throat.

“Someone else is hot for teacher,” Tweetie whispers in my ear.

“Happy birthday, Bodhi,” she says.

“I guess I’ll check on the poor girl,” Mack says, sliding by me because watching my son hug the woman I love as if she’s his, too, cements my feet to the floor.

Fuck, he’s never even been that way with Kyleigh.

“Thanks for coming.” Bodhi’s gaze slides my way, confirming what I suspected.

Jade and I have been set up.