Chapter 48

Nervously waiting for Landon to come home, I sat opposite the chess board from Colten, but neither of us were paying much attention to the game. For the first time since I’d known him, the little boy seemed far more interested in something else—me.

The frozen pizza I’d cooked sat on the plates beside us, but where mine was almost untouched, he’d practically inhaled his. I couldn’t recall ever having seen him eat as much at dinner time, but now that his stomach was full, it looked like he was on a mission, and this time, it wasn’t to defeat me.

It was to question me.

He folded his hands on the table in front of him, his eyes focused on mine as he stared at me. “If I ask you a question, will you answer it honestly?”

“Yes.”

My heart pitter-pattered in my chest, but I had nothing to hide from him. Nothing except of course the truth that he ended up asking me for.

“How do you feel about my father?” His chest rose on a deep breath, but his eyes never left mine. Landon had said Colten was considering becoming a lawyer one day and right then, I had to admit that I thought he’d make a pretty darn good one. “Please don’t tell me you’re just his friend. I already know it’s not that and you already promised you’d be honest with me.”

Because I wasn’t expecting you to come right out and ask me the one thing I don’t know if I can tell you without discussing it with your dad first.In the end though, he hadn’t asked what was going on between us. He’d asked how I felt about Landon, and that was my truth to share or to decide not to.

As I stared back into those glittering green eyes, I couldn’t find it in my heart to lie to him. Colten cared deeply about his dad and he was already terrified about why his mother had shown up. He trusted me and he wasn’t wrong. I had promised to be honest.

Drawing in a deep breath, I fidgeted with the chess piece I’d been holding, and then finally, I just dropped both hands into my lap to hold them still. “The truth?”

He nodded silently.

“Okay, then,” I said. “Before I tell you that, I want you to promise me something in return.”

His head cocked. “What?”

“Whatever I tell you, you can’t tell your dad,” I said. “I’m going to tell him myself one of these days. I just don’t think the timing is quite right at the moment. What with your—With Kaitlin showing up. I know it’s been a lot for both of you to come to terms with.”

“I won’t say anything,” he promised after a moment of consideration. “You have my word.”

I managed a small smile, nerves making my stomach feel like it had a whole swarm of butterflies in it. “In that case, the truth is that I’m falling for your dad. I really, really like him, and even though I know it’s not the easiest time for you guys, I’m hoping that I’ll be able to get to know him a little better.”

Colten smiled. “I think he likes you a lot too. You shouldn’t be scared to tell him. It’s your turn to be brave. Just like I had to be when we first got here.”

“I see what you did there.” I grinned at him, relieved that he didn’t seem angry about me having feelings for his dad but also still nervous. Not only for Landon’s return now, but also that Colten might say something about what I’d confessed. “Thanks for the tip, though. I will be brave. Soon. I promise. I just think it’s important to let him work out whatever needs to be worked out with Kaitlin first.”

Colt paused for a moment, swiping his tongue across his lips. His eyes hit the board instead of remaining on mine. “I hope she doesn’t take us to court.”

“I know, sweetheart. Let’s not worry about that until your dad gets home, okay? I’m sure he’ll have some answers for you now that he’s spoken to her.”

He sighed but nodded. “I have a secret too.”

My eyebrows swept up. “You do?”

“I don’t want to go back to LA,” he rushed out, still not bringing his gaze back to mine. “I want to stay here. Forever. I’ve told my dad that I don’t want to leave.”

Blinking rapidly, I tried to hide how stunned I was by his revelation, but I doubted I’d succeeded. Either way, he was deliberately not looking at me now, moving his eyes to the window and staring out of it at the lake with a longing expression on his face.

“Why do you feel that way?” I asked quietly. Since he’d already told Landon, I didn’t think there could be any harm and having a conversation with Colten about it. I might even be able to help. “Lots of kids don’t want to go home after a vacation, though. I think it’s normal.”

“No, it’s not that,” he said, sounding much older than his ten years all of a sudden. “I think that’s what my dad thinks too, that I’m just a kid who wants to be on vacation forever.”

“Okay,” I said slowly. “If it’s not that, then what is it? Why would you rather stay here than go home? From what I’ve heard about it, LA is a pretty cool place.”

He shrugged. “It’s not bad. I like my teacher back home and the chess club, but other than that? I just feel like I’m lonely there compared to how it is here.”

“Well, it’s easier when your dad isn’t working, I’m sure. It allows him to be around a little bit more.”

“It’s not a little bit,” he said, still staring at the lake like it held all the answers. “At home, I spend more time with our house staff than I do with my dad. It’s always been that way. I never see him when we’re home, but here, we spend time together every day. We’re closer now than ever. We’ve never laughed like this together and I’ve never felt like he understands me, but then we got to June Lake, and suddenly, it’s like he sees me and he knows who I am.”

My heart cracked. “Thank you for sharing that with me, Colt. I think this is something you need to talk to your dad about, though. One thing that I know for sure and that I can promise you from the bottom of my heart is that your dad loves you very much.”

“I know.” He sighed and dragged a hand through his hair before he finally glanced at me again. “I just don’t want things to go back to the way they were. You don’t know how much he works, Jewel. He works like, all the time, and even if I do get to see him, it’s only for an hour or so while he’s still distracted by the case he’s working on.”

I wished I could say something to make him feel better, but I had nothing. “For what it’s worth, I know he misses you while he’s working and I know he’d much rather spend that time with you.”

“I feel so bad for feeling this way,” he admitted after another brief pause. “I know my dad helps people. I also know some of them deserve all the help they can get and others don’t, but I need him too, and when we’re at home, I never have him.”

Slowly moving his eyes back to mine, he was on the brink of tears and so was I, but it didn’t look like he was done yet. “And I think…” He trailed off, sighed, and then looked away again. “I think I need you too.”

I held back my tears, feeling the pressure of them behind my eyes and in my chest, but I couldn’t let them fall. The kid was going through enough as it was and I didn’t want him to think he’d upset me if I started crying now.

Besides, he wanted to stay and I wanted them to stay too, but that didn’t mean it was going to happen. It wasn’t a decision Colten and I could make. I didn’t even know if it was a decision Landon could make. I had no idea how big his practice was or even if he had his own firm. I didn’t know much about his work situation at all, other than what he’d told Scott about not being able to work remotely.

As someone who couldn’t work remotely at all either, I completely got it. Plus, they had Walter in LA and all that. It was a lot more complicated than just a kid and girl wanting them to be on vacation forever.

The only thing I could do now was try and comfort Colten and to cheer him up before Landon walked in on us both sobbing on the floor. Reaching across the table, I cupped his cheek in my hand and gave him the best, brightest smile I could muster.

“You big softy, you,” I murmured.

He laughed and swatted my hand away. “I’m not a softy. I’m just honest.”

“I like people who are honest,” I said, pushing back my chair and standing up. “Alright, I need to do the dishes before your dad gets home. We don’t want him walking into a dirty kitchen after everything he’s had to deal with today.”

Colten got up immediately and came to help me. We chatted about less serious things as we washed the dishes together and waited for Landon to get home. As I listened to him telling me about some of the antics the kids in his chess club had gotten up to, it occurred to me that I’d fallen for more than just Landon.

If I was being completely honest with myself, I’d fallen for his son too. For their little family and my small role in it.

On a high from connecting so deeply with Colten, I got playful, taking the hose attached to the side of the sink and blasting him with it. He yelped in surprise. Those twinkling green eyes shot to mine and told me I had just started something he was going to end.

Sliding his hand into the full sink that he’d been rinsing the washed plates in, he suddenly sent a spray of water my way. I laughed as warm water dripped down my face and hair, and I blasted him with the nozzle again.

Before long, we were engaged in an all-out water fight in the kitchen that ended with a slippery floor and both of us on our butts, laughing hysterically. It was going to be a nightmare cleaning all this up, but as I watched Colten laughing from his belly, cracking up every time he slipped trying to get up on the wet floor while he was still laughing, I decided that the cleanup would be worth it.

Every little moment and every memory I got to make with them was.