“I missed you, Lor. I can’t stand to be away from you. Even just for the night. Did you miss me, too?”
I was lost in his eyes. “I missed you so much, Jaxon.”
He leaned in to kiss me, but as soon as his lips touched mine, we heard voices. “Jaxon!” The twins crashed into him. They threw their arms around him and Sammy said, “You’re back. Are you really back? You won’t leave again, right?”
Jaxon looked up at me. “I’m here for as long as your mom will have me, little man. And I missed you guys too.” The kids wouldn’t let go of him and Jaxon didn’t seem to want to let them go either.
We finally pried the kids off of him and walked into the kitchen. The kids sat down at the table and Jaxon said, “Need any help, babe?” I loved hearing him call me that. I had missed that so much.
“No, I think I can put the pizza and salad on the table.” He laughed and sat down with the kids. We enjoyed the meal so much. It took me back to the last time we had all sat at this same table and ate pizza. Back before everything changed. Before I learned about Stacy and Jaz. Before Cade. Cade, God, I felt so bad for hurting him. He was not the kinda guy to have feelings for someone, but he definitely had feelings for me.
The baby. His baby? In my mind and my heart, it was Jaxon’s baby. But my brain understood that it could be Cade’s. Cade was a good guy and he would love this baby more than anything. I could see that in his eyes every time he had mentioned her. He thought the baby was a girl, his little cowgirl. We needed this test. I had to know.
When we finished eating, Jaxon got up and helped Mags clear the dishes. She was so happy he was back. She hadn’t smiled this much in weeks. That made my heart smile. They loaded the dishwasher, and Sammy and I walked into the living room and sat down on the couch.
He snuggled up beside me and said, “Mommy, I missed Jaxon so much. Is he gonna stay this time? He’s not gonna leave us again, is he?” He put his little hand on my cheek and pulled my head down toward him, and whispered, “He loves us, right Mommy? Like we love him.”
I felt a hand on my shoulder. Jaxon reached over and picked Sammy up. Pulling him into his arms, he said, “Little man, I never stopped loving you. Not for a minute. I love you, Mags, and your Mommy more than anything. I’m not going anywhere, okay?”
Sammy nodded and grabbed Jaxon around the neck in a big ole bear hug. Jaxon was looking down at me with the biggest smile on his face. Mags walked in and sat down by me on the couch. She was smiling too. Everyone was so happy. We needed this to last. We all deserved to be happy.
Jaxon
After dinner at Lor’s place, we kissed goodbye. It was really gentle and sweet. We were trying to get back to where we had been. As much as I wanted to tear her clothes off and carry her upstairs caveman-style, I couldn’t do that. We had things to work through first. I called her the next morning and asked her out that night. I wanted to do something special with her. She accepted, and I told her I would pick her up at seven o’clock.
I was so damn nervous all day. This shit was killing me. I couldn’t stand being that close to her, but not being able to be with her. I decided I would go down to the barn and help Uncle Jake out a little bit. It never entered my mind that the fucking cowboy would be doing the same thing. When I got around to the side of the barn, there he was. That cocky asshole. The man didn’t walk, he strutted. It fucking killed me that I pushed Lor toward him.
I hollered at Uncle Jake, “Need some help?” Cade’s eyes locked with mine. Neither one of us was gonna back down.
Uncle Jake walked over toward me. “Don’t stir anything up, Jaxon. He’s helping us out. We don’t need any shit here.”
I broke the eye contact. I looked down at Uncle Jake. “No problem. I think I’ll just head back to the house.” I couldn’t work with him. I decided to just go back the house and wait until I could pick Lor up. I had to hear her voice, so I decided to call her.
“Hi, Jaxon.”
“Hi, babe. What are you wearing?” I loved to ask her that, it always made her laugh.
She giggled, “A smile?”
God, I loved that woman. “I miss ya. God, I really miss ya. Are the kids home?” I knew they were probably at school, but I needed to make sure.
“They’re at school, why?”
“Can I come over? Please? I really need to see you.” I was almost pleading, I needed to see her.
“Uh, sure. I’ve been cleaning house, so I’m kinda stinky.”
“That’s perfect. I’ll be there soon.” Thank God she was letting me come over. I started my bike up and headed to her house.
I couldn’t get parked and inside the house quick enough. When I made it to the door, she was standing there, waiting for me. She had shorts on
