Page 58 of Winning Back His Wife
Carly made a sour face. “Hey, that’s my niece you’re talking about.”
“Wait until Nicole turns twelve,” Hannah said. “You’ll understand. I can’t imagine what it’ll be like when she turns thirteen.”
Cullen left them to discuss teenagers. Walking down the hallway, he didn’t hear any wailing, but a few giggles and squeals pierced the quiet. He followed the sounds until he came to a garage.
He stood in the doorway.
The three sat on the concrete floor with the contents of the box spread out in front of them. Tyler played with an empty toilet paper roll. He couldn’t seem to make up his mind whether it was a sword or a bugle.
“This is going to be so cool.” Kendall knelt, leaning forward with an excited gleam in her eyes. “If it works.”
“It’ll work.” Sarah pointed to a piece of paper on the floor. “You need to attach this onto the topographic map.”
“Like this,” the girl said shyly.
Sarah gave Kendall the thumbs-up sign. “That’s perfect.”
Tyler mimicked the action.
Grinning at the little boy, Sarah pulled him onto her lap. “You are too cute.”
The boy gazed up at her with pure adoration.
Cullen’s heart stuttered.
As Tyler examined her cast, Sarah touched Kendall’s shoulder. “You’re doing an excellent job.”
Kendall beamed. “That’s because I have you.”
“You’re doing all the work.” Sarah sounded like a mom.
Cullen couldn’t breathe.
“I’m simply your scientific adviser,” she added.
“Is it fun being a scientist?” Kendall asked.
Sarah’s beaming smile hit Cullen like a blast from a laser gun. He leaned against the doorjamb to keep from falling on his ass. Because that was the next place he’d be. No doubt about it.
“Being a scientist is the most fun job in the world,” she said, and explained what she did at MBVI.
Kendall held on to Sarah’s every word. He didn’t blame the girl. He was the same way.
“Is it better than being a wife and mom?” Kendall asked.
Sarah’s tender gaze washed over the two children. “I don’t have kids, so I don’t know about that, but being a wife can be fun, too.”
Cullen listened in disbelief, held spellbound by the woman he’d married. His life plan swirled inside his brain, reconfiguring and amending itself by the second.
Kendall fiddled with a piece of plastic. “I can use water for the lava.”
“You could, but molasses would work better due to its viscosity.”
“My mom has molasses in the pantry.” Kendall looked up at Sarah. “But I’m not sure what visc...whatever word you said means.”
“Viscosity.”
Kendall repeated the word. “Viscosity.”
Sarah nodded. “Viscosity is the measure of a fluid’s resistance to flow.”
“Huh?”
“Imagine you have a cup of water and a cup of honey. Which drains faster?”
“The water. Honey moves slower.”
“That’s right,” Sarah said. “Honey has a higher viscosity than water, so it resists flow more. Same with molasses.”
“Makes sense.”
As the two worked on the volcano, Cullen was captivated by how much Sarah had changed from being awkward and uncomfortable around his family at Easter to at ease with Tyler and Kendall.
This different side, this new side of Sarah appealed to him at a gut level. He pictured her with children of her own, nurturing them, mothering them. All the heady dreams he’d had when they’d first married rushed to the forefront of his mind. Sarah pregnant with his child. A girl with her laugh. A boy with her sharp wit. They would be a family.
His family.
Cullen’s heart ached with yearning so strong he started walking toward Sarah. Until he realized she would be the mom of some other guy’s kids.
He balled his hands.
You still want a divorce, right?
She hadn’t answered him, but that didn’t matter.
Forget pride. Forget everything.
He didn’t want to lose her, but how could he convince her to give their marriage another shot? What if she didn’t want to try again?
His heart thudded. But what if she did?
CHAPTER TWELVE
CULLEN UNLOCKED THE front door of the cabin. “You were amazing tonight.”
Sarah walked inside. She wanted to be unaffected by him, yet all she wanted to do was kiss him. She couldn’t give in to her impulsive side. Not with her heart at stake. “I didn’t do that much.”
“You only made a kid’s night by helping her put together what will be the winning science project.”
