“Love you too, baby.” I kissed the tip of his freckled nose and stood up.
“Daddy!” Noah’s face lit up with a smile that was just for Brody. As much as he loved me, he was a daddy’s boy through and through.
“There’s my little man.” Brody scooped him up into his arms and carried him out into the hallway while I said goodbye to his teacher then trailed behind them. “How was your day, buddy?”
“Good. Real good.”
“No fights today?”
“Not today,” he said darkly, his eyes following Chase who was being led away by his mother.
Brody chuckled and set Noah down then held the door open for us. “How would you like to come over and see the new Mustangs I just got?” Brody asked as we crossed the parking lot to his truck, Noah’s hand firmly grasped in mine to ensure he didn’t dart out in front of the cars pulling out of the lot. “Then we can go for those brisket tacos you love so much.”
“Yes!” Noah’s grin slipped and his brow furrowed. “Mommy loves those tacos. Can she come too?”
“Your mommy is always welcome. You coming with us, Lila?”
“Please,” Noah pleaded, his hazel eyes so hopeful I couldn’t possibly say no. Not to mention Brody had just railroaded any plans I might have had for me and Noah. Our co-parenting plan was flexible, to say the least.
“Sure. Why not.”
Noah rewarded me with a smile before he looked up at Brody. “Daddy?”
“Yeah buddy?”
“How come you don’t kiss Mommy?”
I groaned. Here we go again. This was Noah’s latest obsession.
“I’m scared she might punch me in the face.”
“You’re not scared of anything,” Noah scoffed. “You’re ten feet tall and bulletproof.”
I had to work hard to stop the eye roll. That was the myth Brody was raising his son on, and Noah believed every word of it. Why wouldn’t he? His daddy was his hero.
“I’m only scared of one thing and that’s Mommy.”
Noah giggled and slapped his thigh like that was the funniest thing he’d ever heard. “You should try it.” He side-eyed me. “She might not punch you.”
“Maybe I will, buddy, maybe I will.”
Brody opened the back door of his truck and tossed Noah’s backpack in the footwell while we waited patiently for Noah to climb in. The truck was so high off the ground and he was so small, but he always insisted on doing everything for himself and got annoyed when we tried to help.
I’m not a baby, he’d scoff.
I swear his first words were, “I can do it.” Which meant that everything took ten times longer to accomplish. I kept silent as Brody made sure Noah was strapped into his seat and didn’t say a word until the door was closed and Noah couldn’t hear me.
“Stop putting ideas in his head.” I kept my voice low. Even though the windows were closed, he heard a lot more than we gave him credit for.
“The ideas are all his.”
“You need to set him straight. He wants us to be a family.” I glanced at Noah who was busy on the iPad Brody kept back there for him. “We need to keep explaining to him that you and I are not going to be together. Not now. Not ever.”
“First of all, we have a kid together. We will always have a kid together. So that does make us a family. Doesn’t matter if you sleep in my bed every night or not. I’m always going to be in your life and in Noah’s life. I’m not going anywhere, Lila. I’m here for you because you’re the mother of my child and because you’ve been my best friend for twenty fucking years. Get it through your head.” He tapped my temple with his index finger to drive his point home. “I’m here to stay.”
I’m here to stay. I didn’t miss the implication in those words. He was here. Jude wasn’t.
“You need to move on, L.”
I threw my hands in the air. “What is up with everyone today? I have moved on.”
“You’ve moved on, huh?”
“Yes.”
“When was the last time you got laid?”
Immediately on the defensive, I folded my arms over my chest. “There’s more to life than getting laid. I’ve been busy. I have a business to run and a son to raise and... I’m busy.”
“Holy shit.” He staggered backward, his hand over his heart. I rolled my eyes at the dramatic display. “You haven’t been with anyone since me, have you?”
“And look how that turned out.” I saw the hurt on his face from my words before he covered it up and his eyes got hard.
“Might not have been the plan but I wouldn’t trade this for anything in the world.”
“I know,” I said, immediately chastised. Noah was the best thing I’d ever done, and Brody was a good dad. He’d stepped up, and he was always there for his son. In my book, that counted for a lot.
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Yeah, you did. But lucky for you, it’s impossible to offend me.”
It wasn’t true. Underneath the cavalier smile and bravado, Brody was sensitive. “Your ego is too big for that,” I teased, trying to lighten the mood.
“That ain’t the only thing about me that’s big. I’m hung like a horse and I’ve got some big guns.”
I laughed and swatted his rock-hard chest. “Stop.”
“If you ever need to scratch that itch, I’m more than happy to volunteer my services.”
That wasn’t happening. It had been a one-time thing. Never to be repeated. Brody and I were friends and we co-parented but our relationship had never been romantic. No need to complicate things more than they already were.
As I was getting into my car, Brody’s phone rang. When I heard that he was talking to Kate and the serious tone of his voice, I paused to listen.
“What happened?” His eyes flitted to me, his expression grim.
My first thought
