Page 6 of The Comeback Road (Leaving #2)

Lexie

I felt the lingering effects of Jace throughout the rest of my day, and I couldn’t help the restlessness I felt over the coming night.

I had already told myself that I was absolutely not going to shave my legs.

I needed to protect myself a little bit, and not shaving my legs would be the way to do that. Right?

The drive went by almost too fast, and I found my anxiety building. I missed the extra car in the driveway as I pulled in. “Magnolia? You home?”

“We are in the kitchen!” she hollered. I assumed she meant her and Sloan, but as I advanced, I heard the cutest baby laughs.

My heart started to thaw. There was a time in my life when all I wanted was a family of my own, but the older I got, the more I had seen, and the more I kept thinking that maybe kids weren’t in my future.

Even so, I couldn’t help the random vision of the future that seemed to flash through me.

Jace waking up for midnight feedings, Jace at a playground… Jace…

“HI!” A sweet voice, unbothered by life’s problems, interrupted my daydream, and a quick look down had me taking in a little girl who couldn’t have been more than four or five years old.

“Well, hi, there, sweets. What’s your name?” She was adorable, chocolate curly hair, round hazel eyes, chubby red cheeks, a pink Tonka truck in hand.

“My name’s Raya.”

“Hi, Raya. I’m Lexie.” I winked at her, and she broke into a fit of giggles.

“RAYA, get in here. Let the girl breathe,” a voice I didn’t recognize hollered out, and Raya held her hand up to me to take. I swear, my heart melted on the spot. Placing my hand in hers, I thought that maybe I’d kill for that kid. No, strike that. I absolutely would.

She led me into the kitchen, where Magnolia stood with a girl I knew as Remi. I really hadn’t spoken to her much, but I knew she worked with Magnolia and Sloan.

“Hey, girl. I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced. I’m Lexie. This wayward appendage must belong to you.” I grabbed Raya and started tickling her, and she let out the sweetest sounds of squeals and happiness. Remi’s half smile turned into a megawatt one. The girl was stunning .

“She usually doesn’t like strangers.”

“She’s my best friend,” she told her mother in a matter-of-fact tone

Good lord. My heart was thinking about exploding out of my chest just looking at the kid.

“Well, what do you say, best friend? Would you like to help me pick out an outfit for tonight?”

“An outfit?” her scrunched-up face looked up at me in question.

“A prince is going to take me away for the evening.”

Her eyes went wide. “A prince?”

“Yup, a prince. And I can’t go looking like this. Would you like to help?” It was me this time who held my hand out to her, and she squealed while taking it. I shot a look behind me, where Magnolia and Remi were standing, mouths almost a gape.

“You like kids, Lexie?” Magnolia asked.

“Who doesn’t like kids?”

“I, uh…Well, I guess you’ve never talked about them.”

I shrugged her off again, not wanting to get into it. But I couldn’t help but see the look Remi shot her in question, knowing that it was something they’d probably be discussing once I left.

“Let’s go, sweets. Are you two coming, or staying down here?”

“Oh, we are absolutely coming.”

The first half hour was me being ridiculous with Raya, trying on the most colorful, mismatched outfits I could find, and her erupting into giggles, giving me a thumbs down at every single one .

“This is it, I promise!”

I came out in a long floral dress that would have worked in the seventies, a large top hat that absolutely did not match, and pink, six-inch heels.

“This is it!” she screamed in excitement, and I couldn’t, for the life of me, bring myself to disagree.

“I think it’s perfect too.”

“Uh…Lexie.”

I turned and saw Magnolia and Remi trying their best to hold in the laughter over my outfit.

“If Raya says it’s perfect, it’s perfect , and I’m wearing it.”

The doorbell ringing broke all of us out of our laughter.

Raya ran out before any of us could stop her. “I got it! I’ll let the prince in!”

“Raya! We talked about this. Do not open the door to strangers.” Remi was about to start after her, but I held up my hand, kicked off my heels, and made my way for her. I was able to pick up and spin her around in a fit of giggles right before she reached for the door.

“Hey, sweets, why don’t you let me get this, okay? In case it’s a dragon, and I need to protect you.”

“You can’t protect me! The prince does that.”

“We need to read you better stories. The princess always protects herself, you got it?”

Opening the door with a floral dress, a top hat on, and a giggling toddler on my hip wasn’t exactly ideal, but Jace rang the doorbell again.

“JACE!” Raya screamed as the door opened. “You’re the prince?” she asked in a questionable tone.

“Absolutely.”

“Auntie Lexie said she was going to slay dragons on her own .” Her wide eyes looked concerned.

“Well, good news, kid. I’m here now. I’ll slay all her dragons.”