Page 74 of Convincing Carrie
“What are you scared of, honey?” Melinda said, her voice a bit gentler.
“That I’ll fall for him, and he’ll let me down again.”
“Can you get past it?” Sadie asked with knowing eyes.
“I’m just not sure.”
“I wasn’t, either, with Harrison. But then it just sort of happened. After that, things moved really fast. Before I knew it, we were a couple again and I was even more in love with him than I’d been the first time around.”
I nodded, eating some chips and realizing our lunch time was almost over. “Will y’all be at the party this weekend?” Theo was turning six.
“Of course,” Melinda said.
“Wouldn’t miss it,” Sadie smiled at me.
“Great! Mom and Dad are keeping Theo tonight so Thatcher and I can decorate.”
Melinda and Sadie gave each other a look.
“What?”
“This might be the perfect time to see if you two are still good together,” Melinda winked at me. “If you get my meaning.”
I did. Anxiety shot through me. I was still unsure if I was ready to take that step with him.
***
“Oh. My. God.” I lay like a starfish in the grass. My backyard had been transformed, and I was exhausted.
Thatcher plopped down next to me. “This was a lot.”
“Yeah.” Every year I would tell myself that the next year I wouldn’t do a huge theme party for Theo’s birthday. And every year I would forget how much work they were and plan one anyway.
This year’s theme was Candy Land after the classic board game. Streamers were strung through the lower branches of the trees. Thatcher and I had painted a giant Candy Land board in the grass. The ‘game board’ ended at a large inflatable castle bounce house that would be King Candy’s Castle. I had been working for weeks on some of the decorations, and I was absolutely worn out. But it looked perfect. There were signs pointing to Licorice Lagoon, which was a mildly creepy swamp area with inflatable crocodiles and fog machines that would be turned on during the party.
I grinned thinking of Theo’s face when he would see it in the morning.
“What are you smiling about? I don’t think I have the energy left to smile,” Thatcher groaned, turning his head to look at me. We were still laying in the grass.
“I was just thinking of Theo and all of his friends enjoying everything at the party tomorrow.”
He smiled, too. “You’re a good mom, you know that?”
“Thanks. You’re a good dad.”
He propped himself up on his elbows. “You always do these huge parties. I love your ideas, and I know Theo does, too.”
I propped up, too, surveying the yard. “I know that he’s only little for a short time. There will come a day when all he wants is to have friends over to play video games or go to one of those big party places where they play laser tag and a million other things in the same building. I want to enjoy this now.”
As I was talking, a sound caught my attention. “Oh, damn. Some of the streamers already fell. I thought I had tied them up good enough.”
We both jumped up at the same time, and I bumped into him. I felt myself falling, and I put my hands out to catch myself. Suddenly, his strong arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me up against him. My back landed against his chest.
It was as if everything around us stopped. The only sounds I was aware of were the blood rushing through my ears, his heartbeat, and the sound of his breathing. His arms didn’t loosen. Instead, his hands dropped to my hips and pulled me flush against him. I closed my eyes as I felt his hardness against me.
“I don’t want to let you go,” he said in a low, raspy voice.
Need pulled low in my abdomen and heat rushed through me. My knees went weak with desire. I turned in his arms and put my arms around his neck, surprising him. “Then don’t.”
