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Cody’s lips thinned and his jaw ticked.
A tiny part of me wanted to take the words back and apologize for making him angry. The other part of me was ready to just have it done. For good. Whatever way that ended up happening.
My stomach clenched. Okay, not whatever way. I really didn’t want it to end in him walking away permanently. But if he couldn’t treat me like an equal, then that was what would have to happen.
He blew out a breath. “I’m sorry. I really am. And yeah, I guess I thought I was protecting you.”
“I’ve been around divorced people before. It’s not that uncommon.”
Cody blanched, but he nodded. “I was more trying to protect you from me. Like I said at the store, what if I end up like my dad?”
I snorted. My hand flew up to cover my face as I started to laugh.
He stared at me a moment before shaking his head. “Glad I amuse you.”
I held up a finger and struggled to get myself under control. “You can’t protect someone from hypothetical futures. That’s not a thing.”
He blinked. “I wasn’t—that’s not…”
I took a deep breath and pushed the last of the giggles away before turning what Kayla called my “teacher look” on him. “Go ahead.”
He shook his head. “No. You’re right. It’s exactly what I was trying to do. Does it help at all if I reminded you that it’s because I love you?”
I crossed back to the table and wormed my way onto his lap. I rested my head on his shoulder and wound my arms around his neck, basking in the warmth of his arms when they clamped around me. “It helps a little. But I hope you’ll get it through your head that we’re a team. I love you. We’re in this together. And for clarity’s sake, I’m going to remind you that ‘together’ means we fight back-to-back, you don’t push me into a cave and try to handle everything on your own.”
“Noted.” His arms tightened in a brief squeeze. “It won’t happen again.”
“If it does, I’m kicking your butt.”
He chuckled. “That’s fair. Push you into a cave, huh?”
I shrugged. “I might be reading too much fantasy. There are too many instances of heroes pushing women aside while they, as they’re all big and manly, try to handle the attacking hordes.”
“Well, if it works—”
“That’s the thing, it never does. Not until the woman breaks out of her protective prison and comes to stand at his side.That’swhen they win.”
“All right. Point taken. Do I need to apologize again?”
“No. You’re forgiven.”
“Then can I eat this cake before the ice cream is completely melted and it’s a disgusting mess?”
I brushed a kiss over his lips and slid off his lap. “I guess we wouldn’t want ice cream cake to go to waste.”
“Exactly.” He put a big bite in his mouth before flipping the top paper over to reveal the second apartment complex. He frowned in concentration as he chewed.
I stirred my cake and ice cream together. It was already nearly inedible as far as I was concerned, but its sacrifice hadn’t been in vain.
It felt like Cody and I were truly back on the same page.
Finally.
27
CODY
I’d been trying to figure out how to approach Austin since Friday. Ice cream cake with Megan had fixed a lot of things between us, and I was grateful. But I really didn’t like any of the apartment options she was considering. I’d said as much. When I’d asked about the complex where Noah lived and where Scott and I had also lived previously, she’d just shrugged. It had taken a lot of prodding to get her to admit her budget limitations.
