Perfect Summer by Bethany Lopez
Faith
Iopened the back door to my house and was greeted by peals of laughter.
Sounds like Hope and Mitch are getting along just fine, I thought with a pleased smile.
It was nice to hear laughter after being inundated by a flood of tears for the last few hours.
My client’s fifteen-year-old daughter had decided she’d needed bangs after watching a video and had foolishly decided to try and give them to herself. She had cut too much and too far, way past the bang stage, and had been an emotional wreck.
Now, she was rocking a stylishly cute pixie, which luckily fit her face perfectly.
I walked straight to the counter to unload everything I was carrying, then went in search of the duo I’d been wishing I was with all afternoon.
I found them in Hope’s room. They were both sitting on the floor with Hope’s large Legos spread out all around them and it looked like they were building some sort of village or compound.
Prince Alice was asleep on Hope’s bed, which was typical. He didn’t really come to life until three in the morning. Then he wanted all of your attention.
I took a few moments to watch them unnoticed. It warmed my heart to see how good he was with Hope, and it was obvious she was basking under his attention. It had been so long since Hope had had a positive male role model, other than her grandpa, and it only endeared me to Mitch that much more.
“Hey, guys,” I said, leaning against the doorjamb of the room. “What are you up to?”
“Building a zoo,” Hope said excitedly, not looking up from what she was doing.
Mitch’s head lifted and his lips curved up when his gaze met mine.
“How’d it go?” he asked, his low tone and sexy smile sending shivers down my spine.
“Crisis averted,” I told him, thinking how nice it was for someone to ask me about my day. Was this what it would always be like if Mitch and I ended up together? I couldn’t help but think it sounded nice.
“That’s good.”
“How about with you? Any issues picking up Hope?”
“Not at all. You hungry?” he asked.
“Actually, I hope you don’t mind, but I thought it may be nicer for us to eat in, so I picked up Sauce it Up on my way home. It’s in the kitchen.”
“That sounds perfect. You ready to eat dinner, princess?” he asked Hope, and my heart melted.
Hope looked up at me for the first time since I’d arrived and asked, “Did you get spaghetti?”
“Of course,” I replied easily.
Hope hopped up and rushed to me, taking my hand as she started to pull me out of her room. Prince Alice opened one eye and promptly closed it again.
“Mr. Mitch took me on an adventure walk. We saw a ladybug, a roly poly, a squirrel, and some birds, and then we had ice cream. When we were walking home, I dropped some ice cream and Mr. Wilson’s dog came and licked it up, then he pooped on the grass, but don’t worry, Mr. Wilson picked it up. I told Mr. Mitch it’s your pet pee when people don’t clean up their dogs’ poop.”
“Pet peeve,” I corrected, chuckling at her enthusiasm.
“Pet peeve,” she mimicked, before pressing on. “When we got home, we saw a spider web. I didn’t like that much, but Mr. Mitch said spiders are an important part of ec … what was it, Mr. Mitch?” she asked him as we entered the kitchen.
“Ecosystem,” he replied.
“Yeah, the ecosystem. So, it’s still outside on the front porch.”
I grabbed some plates out of the cupboard and set them out, before opening the containers and putting serving utensils in them and taking some of the spaghetti and garlic bread to put on Hope’s plate.
“Go wash up for dinner and I’ll put your plate on the table,” I told her, then looked at Mitch. “I chose a few different dishes, since I wasn’t sure what you liked. I figured we could eat family style.”
“Sounds good to me. I like it all,” he said easily.
I handed him a plate and asked, “What would you like to drink? I have beer, wine, iced tea, water, and some Coke, I believe.”
“Whatever you’re having works,” Mitch said, taking a little from each container.
I’d picked up spaghetti, carbonara, gnocchi, and chicken marsala, which was all stuff I knew we would eat and hoped there’d be something in there to satisfy Mitch. I should have known he still wasn’t picky, he never had been.
I took out a bottle of red wine and opened it, grabbed two glasses, and poured one each for Mitch and me. Then I grabbed some milk for Hope and took it, along with her plate, to the table.
Once we were all seated, Hope began telling me all about the zoo they were building, in between bites of spaghetti.
“There’s going to be a reptile habitat and a big open place where all of the big animals, like the lions and bears and gorillas, can all live together, just like they would in the wild … like in Madagascar.”
The Madagascar movies were currently her favorite.
We’d gone through the phases of Moana and Frozen, and even a few classics like Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella. But once she’d seen Madagascar, with its funny lines, catchy songs, and colorful designs, she was hooked.
My Hope was an animal lover to be sure.
We ate and mostly listened to Hope talk, but Mitch and I did share a few looks over our meal. Some were filled with humor, then a bit of tension, and finally a few full of heat. It was getting harder and harder to believe I’d ever had anxiety over my relationship with Mitch and his expectations. It was obvious to me now that he liked me for who I was, imperfect or not, and the less pressure I felt from him, the less I put on myself.
I’m sure it was a combination of my medication and the sessions I still had online with my therapist back in Chicago, but it finally felt like I was giving myself permission to consider an actual future with Mitch.
I found myself hoping he’d stay until after Hope had her bath and was put to bed, so we could share a make-out session on my couch. And this time, we wouldn’t be interrupted.