“I kinda bought one,” I said tightly. It felt like I broke out in a cold sweat as I waited for her to freak out. To say this was moving too fast. For us to have the argument we’d somehow avoided for a couple weeks, again.
Reagan’s eyes widened and mouth opened slowly. “You bought a booster seat for your car?” she asked softly.
“Yeah, but if it bothers you—”
I don’t know what happened first, it seemed to all happen at once. Her purse and keys dropped to the floor, her hazel eyes filled with tears, and she launched her small body at me—wrapping her arms tightly around my waist.
“You didn’t have to do that,” she said against my chest.
“Actually, I did.” Running my hand over her long hair, I waited until she looked up at me again. “I couldn’t drive you two anywhere unless we moved your booster seat. It was stupid. I need to be able to drive him without having to inconvenience you. This was necessary for us.”
Her head shook slowly back and forth, and she huffed softly. “I—” She cut off quickly and cleared her throat. “Thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me.”
Pushing back the hair from her face, I cupped her cheek and kissed her slowly. “I think I have an idea.”
There was a loud, exaggerated sigh next to us. “Are we going?”
Reagan and I both laughed and looked at Parker. “Yeah, bud, let’s go.” Grabbing Reagan’s purse and keys, I handed them back to her and led them out the door. As we walked to my car, I nudged her shoulder. “Hey, Duchess.”
“Hmm?”
Hooking my arm around her neck, I pressed my lips close to her ear and whispered, “Do you realize you took my compliment back there? Pretty sure that’s a first.”
Her face scrunched together as she thought for a moment before she rolled her eyes, scoffed, and pushed me away. “And I’m pretty sure you’re still delusional.”
Looking at my girl as she put Parker in the back seat of my car, I shook my head. “No. Definitely not that.”
“WE’RE GOING TO the park?” Reagan asked a few minutes later. “Why’d you have us dress nice if we were going here?”
I bit back a smile and turned to go around to a different side. “You’ll see.”
“Are we gonna play?” Coen asked from the backseat.
“Not today, bud. I have something else in mind. But when we’re done, I’ll take you wherever you want for lunch. How’s that sound?”
“Cool!”
I smiled over at Reagan, and we both mouthed, “Cool.”
“I don’t think I’ve been to this side,” she mumbled, and grabbed the ends of her hair.
Grabbing for her hands, I pulled them away and wrapped my fingers securely around them. “So . . . our impromptu shoot last week gave me an idea.” Glancing at her, I watched as her cheeks stained with heat.
“W-what, uh, what kind of idea?” she stammered.
As soon as I stopped the car, I pointed out her window. “It’s over there.”
Her brow scrunched together for a few seconds. “Is that . . . ?”
“My equipment? Yeah.”
She turned quickly, her face lit up with excitement. “You’re going to shoot us?”
“You’re going to shoot us?” Parker asked loudly, horror lacing his tone.
I barked a laugh before I could compose myself. “No way, bud. Not like that. I’m going to take pictures of you and your mom. Its called a photo shoot, that’s the kind of shoot she meant.”
A relieved look crossed his face. “Oh. Cool.”
Looking back at Reagan, I leaned close. “Is that okay?”
“More than okay.” Taking off her seat belt, she opened her door and stepped out before leaning back in. “I do love when you surprise me, Coen Steele.”
I just plain loved her.
Getting out of the car, I pulled my camera out of the trunk, and walked over to where Reagan and Parker were waiting for me. “Ready?”
Parker grabbed my hand and nodded hard once. “Ready!”
My chest tightened and I looked at Parker before looking up at Reagan. A soft smile was slowly covering her face as her eyes stayed glued to our hands, and just before she began walking, her hazel eyes met mine and I knew she was feeling this too. She loved me, I had no doubt of that. But it wasn’t just the two of us, my love went so much deeper than just Reagan. I loved her son, and I loved the three of us together. And from the look she’d just given me, I knew she felt the same.
We walked up to the hill I’d had two of my friends set up my equipment on, and after introducing them to Reagan and Parker, we got started. Parker wasn’t into it at first because he was still afraid someone was going to shoot him, so after having one of my buddies take pictures of Parker and me flexing, and fighting with imaginary light sabers, then a few of Reagan and me together, he was more than ready for his turn to take pictures with his mom—which he let us know by jumping into the pictures of us.
And as I stared at the two of them from behind the lens of my camera, a feeling unlike anything I’d ever experienced washed over me. It was calming, freeing, and I knew I would do anything to make it last. Parker laughed loudly at something Reagan said to him as I changed the setting on my camera, and the sound filled me—making me smile. I quickly captured the moment before it could end, and finally realized what the feeling was.