Page 87 of Ridin' True

I abandoned the pan of bacon, handed the tongs to Jed and nodded toward the stove as I took Marlowe by the hand. I knew a Swiftie when I saw one. There was no doubt in my mind Lowe and Ellie had been cut from the same cloth.

I was already singing and swaying my hips when I drew Marlowe into the open space of the kitchen. She didn’t bat an eyelash but joined me as if we’d done this a million times. We were acting out to the bridge of the song when Ax appeared, a scowl tugging at his brow as he rubbed at his eyes. He then stared at us until we were done shaking it off, at which point Jed cut the music—its purpose served.

“What is going on?” mumbled Ax.

“Dad’s girlfriend is making us breakfast,” replied Marlowe, breathless from her exertion.

He looked at each of us in turn, still half asleep, then asked, “What’s for breakfast?”

At this, I smiled at Jed. He smirked and winked at me in return.

Just like that, our secret was out.

I was forty-five minutes late to work.

After the morning we had, I wasn’t even a little bit guilty.

And that night, we didn’t bother pretending with the couch.

OnSundayafternoon,whenthe doorbell rang, I was a little disappointed our time with the kids had come to an end. We were in the living room, sitting around the coffee table, playing Sorry!, and they both made a fuss about having to abandon the game. They really were good kids, and I liked getting to watch Jed be a dad. He was authoritative yet loving. Disciplined but fun. Marlowe and Axel respected him and adored him in equal measure. It wasn’t something I experienced growing up, certainly not with my dad, and it felt like a little miracle watching them.

“Lex?” called Marlowe as Jed got up from the couch to answer the door.

“Yeah?”

“Will you come to my birthday party? It’s on Saturday. Well, my birthday’s not Saturday. It’s Wednesday, but my party is Saturday. It’s at Flight Zone.”

For a moment, I was speechless.

This felt like a big deal.

When I glanced toward Jed, and I saw he stopped halfway to the door to watch us, Iknewit was a big deal.

“Marlowe, I would love to come,” I insisted.

“Okay. Cool,” she replied with a smile before hurrying toward her room.

I pressed a hand over my heart, truly touched, and looked back at Jed. I mouthedoh, my gosh!and he grinned at me, chuckling softly as he finally continued toward the door. His bulky frame shielded me from Nicole as I began cleaning up the game, but I heard her say hello.

It might have been hot outside, but it did nothing to warm the chill wafting off her greeting.

“Bye, Lex,” called Axel with a wave.

“Bye, Ax,” I replied with a wave of my own.

I watched as he went to wrap his arms around Jed’s waist but barely heard their exchanged farewell. Nicole had leaned sideways to look around Jed into the house, and she was none too pleased to see me. She straightened only when Axel let go of his dad, headed for the driveway.

“Bye, Lex,” came Marlowe’s echo.

“Bye, Lowe,” I said with another wave.

Like Axel, Marlowe wrapped her arms around Jed in farewell. He kissed the top of her head, and they exchangedI love yousbefore she, too, headed for her mother’s car. I assumed, with the swap complete, that would be the end of it.

As I went back to putting away the game, I realized I was wrong.

“You can’t be serious,” said Nicole.

“‘Bout what?”