Page 49 of Dibs
The minutes racedby as Gage and I lounged on my back deck that overlooked the Pacific Ocean. Soon he would have to leave and both of us would have our kids the rest of the week, and since school was back in session and he was busy with the high school team, there would be fewer sleepovers where one of us could “fall asleep on the couch.”
My phone buzzed on the side table next to me with a text. Grabbing it, I saw it was my ex-wife.
I’m on my way over. Jase forgot his glove in my car.
I sat up quickly, trying to untangle from Gage as fast as I could.
“What? What is it?”
“Jamie is on her way over to drop off Jase’s glove.”
“Oh shit.” He jumped from the couch.
Gage being at my house wasn’t a problem, but he was supposed to be at work and Jamie knew that. How would we explain why he was at my place instead of teaching?
He raced off to my room, probably in search of the rest of his clothes. I had no idea if Jamie would want to come inside to shoot the shit for a minute or if she planned to drop the glove off to me at the door. I didn’t want to take a chance that it was the former.
Following Gage to my bedroom, I pulled a Rockies sweatshirt from my closet and tugged it over my head. “I feel like I’m kicking you out.”
“It’s fine.” He slipped on a shoe and began tying it. “I need to head home and pretend I was in bed all day. Make soup for dinner or something.”
“Yeah, I need to think about dinner too. Cammie will probably want spaghetti and I’m all out of sauce.”
After he got his other shoe on and grabbed his bag, I followed him to the front door. I pulled it open. “Thank you again for playing hooky.”
“It was worth it.” He leaned in and his lips met mine. We kissed for a few moments and then broke apart. “I’ll call you.”
We both turned toward the front, only for my breathing to stop.
“Wow,” Jamie exhaled. “I … Wow.”
“James—” I started to say, trying to come up with a lie in the blink of an eye.
“No, it’s cool. Just had no idea,” she stated.
“I should go,” Gage said.
“No, looks like I should be the one leaving.” Jamie backed away. “Sorry for the interruption.”
“Please wait,” I begged her. “Let me explain.”
“What is there to explain?” She waved her hand in our direction. “You’re free to be with whoever you want. We’re divorced.”
“So, you’re cool with this?”
“Do the boys know?”
“No,” both Gage and I answered at the same time.
“Are you going to tell them?”
“Not yet,” I replied, and hooked my thumb in Gage’s direction. “We’re still seeing where this goes.”
“Okay.” She nodded. “I trust your judgment. Sorry again for the intrusion.”
“Wait,” I called out. “The glove?”
“Oh, right.” She snickered and thrust it in my direction. “Can’t forget this or I might walk in on something else.”
