Page 37 of A Return For Ren

“She has. Me staying here to help out where I can and maybe be more an emotional or financial support. Though financially things seem in line there.”

“That’s good,” she said. “I’m sure one less stress in your life.”

“And I’ve got enough of them.”

He wasn’t going to bring up how his mother commented on one of the reasons she was selling the marina. He didn’t want Zara to think he was willing to stay because of anything other than her. They were getting somewhere now and he wanted to see this through.

“We all do. For now, I think we both got what we were looking for and we can have dinner and talk about Max. Or anything else you want. Let’s take the stress of us off the table for the rest of the night and we both can think on how to proceed.”

He laughed at her. “Don’t take all the fun out of dating by planning it out.”

She had moved to turn the burgers over but came back to him, grabbed his face and pulled it down and then laid her lips to his. She wasn’t letting go either.

Her mouth opened under his, his tongue slid in and they stood there necking like they had so often years ago.

They might have continued to do it if Max hadn’t thrown his car and hit Zara in the leg with it.

She laughed and stepped back, picked it up and handed it over. “Someone might not have been happy over that.”

“He’s going to have to learn to get used to it,” he said, shocked those words came out of his mouth when weeks ago everything he did was for his son.

Now he was thinking he needed to do some things for himself.

12

No Normal

“Is he sleeping?” Zara asked Ren on Friday night. They’d gotten through the rest of the week like normal.

Well, not really like normal. There was no normal for them right now.

They’d shared a kiss on Monday. Not just one kiss but a few more.

After Max tossed his car at her leg and giggled, she figured the baby was going to be fine with her hands on his father.

She’d dreamed of Ren’s kiss for years. The thought of having it again had sent her to bed that night hot and sweaty with her hand reaching down under the covers and relieving an ache that had been building for a week.

How was it possible that she’d been so worked up over the man that broke her heart? Not worked up only on an emotional level but a physical one too?

Maybe there was something wrong with her that she could give in this easily.

No, she was who she was. She moved on. She got the answers she was looking for for now.

“He is,” Ren said. “Went right out like he normally does. I can’t wait until he sleeps through the night. I don’t know if he’s getting up because it’s a habit or I should let him cry himself back to sleep. I feel like he’s getting enough food.”

“He eats more than most of the kids his age at my center during the day.”

“Is he fat?” Ren asked. “He doesn’t look it to me. Am I feeding him too much?”

She loved that he was so worried and concerned. She’d been working with kids for years and could say not many parents worried as much as Ren did.

“Everyone’s body is different. Max is not fat. He’s bigger than most and I’m sure the doctor has told you, but you’re a big guy.”

He was a little over six feet. Not thin but not bulky either. He was just about right in her eyes.

He hadn’t played sports much when they were in school. There weren’t a lot of choices in their small school, but he ended up working more after school anyway. She supposed that kept him in decent shape.

She wondered what he did now since he sat behind a desk. She’d find a time to ask.