Page 82 of Beautiful Crazy
“You know, we should get a dog,” he announces as we start walking again. The sun is starting to set along the horizon, and it’s beautiful over the ocean.
“Yeah, I don’t know about that one…”
Huffing out a sigh, he says, “You always say that.”
I chuckle because he’s right, Idoalways say that, but it’s true.
“Hey, babe, can I talk to you about something?”
“Sure.”
Dragging in a deep breath, I hold it for a moment before exhaling.Here we go.
“You know how Everett has been spending a lot of time with us?” My throat tightens as he glances up at me, a smile pulling on his lips as he nods. “Well, how would you feel if he started spending a little more time with us?”
Sutton’s brows pinch together. “What do you mean?”
“You know how when your daddy was still here, he and I were together?”
He nods. “You were married.”
“You’re right, we were married.”
He looks even more confused. “Are you and Everett getting married?”
There’s probably a million different—better—ways of laying this out for him, and you’d think having a career around putting words together, I’d be better at this.
“No, no.” A nervous laugh bubbles up my throat. “We’re not married, but we do like each other as more than just friends.”
I watch the wheels turn behind his eyes. “Like, boyfriend and girlfriend?”
“Yeah.” I nod. “Like that. How would that make you feel?”
Sutton is quiet for a moment as he thinks, and I give him all the time he needs. “I… like it,” he eventually says, peering up at me, a smile forming.
My heart thumps harder as that sinks in. “Yeah?”
He nods. “Yeah, Everett is awesome! Can he still help me practice and take me to the batting cages?”
“Of course he can. He loves doing those things with you.”
“I love doing them with him too.”
“So, you’re okay with me dating Everett?”
“Yeah, I think it’s cool!”
Pulling my son in for a hug, I press a kiss to the top of his head, feeling a heavy weight lifted off my shoulders. “Well, all right then.”
Gemma: Heads up, we’re almost home, and he asked to run over to your place.
I’m sitting on the front steps as I watch Gemma’s car pull into her driveway a minute later. They climb out, and Sutton runs over to me, a huge grin plastered on his face.
“Hey, bud,” I call out as I look over his shoulder at Gemma. She’s smiling too as she nods, silently telling me he must’ve been okay with the news, before she heads inside her house.
“Guess what?” he says, coming to a stop in front of me.
I raise my eyebrows. “What?”