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“Sorry to interrupt. We just had a few more clients pull up,” Dad informs.
He won’t come right out and say he needs my help. But he needs my help. “I’ll be out in a minute.” Without another word, Dad exits and closes the door.
I groan against Autumn before kissing the spot where her shoulder and neck meet. “Why isn’t the workday over yet?” I grumble.
Light laughter shakes Autumn’s frame and I lean away from her. She lifts her hands to frame my face and leans in. Her lips close enough to kiss. “Soon.” Eyes open, she closes the space between our mouths and presses our lips together.
Her intoxicating eyes locked on mine while we kiss makes me dizzy. In the best way.
“Come over tonight. Have dinner at the house. You and Clementine. Spartan has been a mess without his new favorite person.”
Autumn laughs. “Clementine keeps telling me Spartan misses her, and not the other way around. Although I know she misses both of you. And yes, we’ll come over tonight.”
I grab Autumn’s hips and slowly shift to stand, planting her on her feet. Then I kiss the hell out of her. Kiss her like oxygen feeding the flame. Kiss her to make up for all the kisses we have missed ever since this fiasco began. And as much as I don’t want to stop kissing her, I do. Because I am at work and she probably needs to go to work too.
“See you tonight, scarlet.” I kiss the tip of her nose. “Let me walk you to your car.”
We wrap up the rest of our uneaten sandwiches, put mine in the fridge and hers in the bag. Then I walk her out. On the way to her car, I catch Dad smiling as he fakes busywork. Somehow, he knew everything would work out. I had doubts, probably because my emotional scale went from jovial to freaking out in point-five seconds.
Everything is better now. I have my girls back. In my arms. And no one will take them away again. No one.
ELEVEN
AUTUMN
All in all, today has been better than any day in the last few weeks.
When I picked Clementine up from school, her pouty face dwindled slightly when I told her we were going to Jonas’s house tonight. She wouldn’t show or admit it, but this news made her day better. Knowing she would see Spartan later, that she would get to cuddle with her favorite furry friend, made a smile tug at the corners of her mouth.
The first question out of her mouth was why we couldn’t see them before, but can now. I didn’t have a short answer for her, so I just told her I needed my friend—meaning Theresa—to assure me everything would be okay. For the first time ever, Clementine rolled her eyes.
And I gave her a one-time pass.
On the drive to Jonas’s, I work to wipe away the discontent Clementine has felt through all this. “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd comes on the radio and I crank up the volume.
Usually, she sings at the top of her lungs and dances in her seat when the song plays. At one point, she tried to convince me to make a TikTok video with her to this song. Didn’t happen, of course. I hope to get a little bit of her typical energy going. And she doesn’t disappoint. Clementine doesn’t belt the lyrics out like usual, but she sings loud enough for me to hear it and dances in her seat slightly.
A small win that I gladly take.
Before long, I park behind Jonas’s Jeep. The second we exit the car, Spartan starts yipping from inside the house.He really has missed Clementine.
Clementine bolts to the front door as fast as her short legs will take her. “I’m here, Sparty. I’m here.” Just as she reaches the door, it flies open and Spartan attacks her with slobbery dog kisses. And my little girl giggles and giggles. The most perfect sound in the world. A sound I missed these last weeks.
When I reach the door, Jonas looks up from the Spartan-Clementine hugfest and smiles. “Hey, scarlet.” He takes my hand and tugs me into his chest, hugging me as if we hadn’t seen each other earlier. And I welcome every second of it. “Come on, let’s go inside.”
We head inside and go separate ways—Clementine and Spartan to the couch while Jonas and I go to the kitchen. The simple routine something I more than missed. While Clementine whispers to Spartan on the couch, catching him up on all the stories he hasn’t heard over the last two weeks, Jonas and I cook dinner.
“What’s on the menu tonight?”
A smile kicks up Jonas’s lips. “Thought I’d keep it easy tonight. Pizza.”
Across the open floor plan, Clementine hoots. “Yay for pizza!”
“Dad told me about a new take-and-bake place that opened. We’ll see how it is. Clementine…” Jonas calls across the room to her and she perks up. “I got you a four cheese pizza. Hope that’s okay.”
“She loves all cheese,” I mention.
Clementine scowls at me a second before looking at Jonas and smiling. “Cheeses is my favorite. Thank you, Mr. Jonas.”
