Echoes of Summer (9 page)

Milo pushed his fist against Stephen’s then pulled it back and wiggled his fingers, making Stephen chuckle again.

Madison opened the freezer and pulled out the box then headed to the checkout line. Stephen followed closely and pulled out his wallet. He slid his debit card out and, when the cashier rang it up, he stepped forward. “I’ve got this. My treat.”

Madison seemed to hesitate for a minute then stepped back and let him scan the card. He was glad she hadn’t put up a fight. She pulled the box out of the bag and smiled at the cashier. “We won’t need the bag.”

Stephen took the receipt and handed it to her so she could walk out with the ice cream.

Stephen saw a woman struggling to pull a shopping cart free from the train of carts shoved together as she held one small kid on her hip. A car seat rested on the crook of her other arm. He moved over to help her, and when the buckle that was holding the carts together was untangled, he pulled the cart free and helped her lift the car seat onto the cart.

“Thank you.” She looked at Milo. “You’ve got a good daddy there.”

Milo looked at Stephen as the lady walked away. “Are you a good daddy?”

Stephen’s gut tightened. He hadn’t been so far. “I hope so, Milo. I really do.” Madison was too far ahead to have overheard, for which he was thankful.

He helped Milo get into the car and watched as the kid buckled himself in. “Can I have the ice cream now?” He held his hand out, but Madison shook her head.

“No ice cream in the car. We can go back to the park and eat it.”

Milo frowned. “But it will melt. The park is too far away.”

Madison shook her head. “It will be fine.”

Stephen wondered why they hadn’t just carpooled if they were returning to the park, but he kept quiet, not wanting to ask. He opened Madison’s door, but when Milo spoke from the back seat for them to hurry so it didn’t melt, he let her close it and moved over to his car. Minutes later, they were sitting under a tree on the grass, and Madison unwrapped the ice cream then handed it to Milo. She passed the box over to Stephen, so he got two out, opened one, and passed it to her stick first.

She met his eyes, smiled, and reached for it. When her fingers brushed his, she looked down at his hands then kept her eyes on the ice cream, not looking at him again.

It was probably a good thing, because the simple brush of her hand against his had sent shivers up his arm and straight into his chest, making it slightly difficult to breathe. He unwrapped his Creamsicle then took a bite and watched Milo as he tried the ice cream. He started licking it, but Stephen shook his head.

“You should bite it. The ice cream is underneath.”

Milo looked at his mom, and she nodded, so Milo took a bite, shivered, then smiled. “This is good.”

Chapter Thirteen

Madison watched as Milo and Stephen talked and talked. Stephen told him about the things he’d done as a kid in Hawaii, and Milo asked about the ocean and if it was the same as the one at his beach.

“The water is a lot like here. But there’s one beach I used to go to that had black sand.”

“Black?” Milo asked. “Was it dirty?”

Stephen chuckled. “No, it was because of a volcano. The sand is made of little pieces of broken lava.”

“Is it hot?” Milo asked.

“Not from the volcano, since it’s really old. But sometimes if the sun shines on it too much, it gets hot.” Stephen leaned back, using his arms to brace himself. “Hawaii has a lot of really neat beaches.”

Milo turned to Madison. “Will we ever go to Hawaii?”

“Maybe someday,” she said.

Milo looked at Stephen. “My dad lives in Hawaii. Mom said I look like him.”

Madison’s heart stopped for a moment. She had told him that once, when he had asked over a year ago, and she hadn’t realized he’d remembered it. She looked at Stephen who was silent but staring at her. She took a slow breath and scooted closer to Milo, which in turn put her closer to Stephen, making her more nervous than she liked.

“Milo, sweetie, I need to tell you something.”

Milo looked at her, and she saw the sticky remains of his second ice cream around his lips. She reached in her bag for a wet wipe, needing just a moment to prepare herself. Milo rolled his eyes but allowed her to clean him up. She leaned closer and stared into his deep brown eyes that looked so much like the brown eyes she felt boring into her back.

“Milo, my friend Stephen is your daddy.”

Milo looked at Stephen with wide eyes then a huge grin spread across his face. “You’re my dad?”

Stephen nodded slowly then glanced at Madison then back to Milo. “Yes. I’m sorry I haven’t been here before.”

“Are you going to start living at our house like Uncle Jason lives at Aunt Karen’s house?”

Madison’s face flamed, and she refused to look at Stephen. “No, sweetie, he won’t be living with us. But I want you guys to know each other, so you’ll see him a lot.”

“Okay,” Milo said. “And will you let me play with your Legos?” The seriousness of his question made Madison almost giggle.

“Sure, Milo. We could play with them,” Stephen said. He looked at Madison and she met his eyes, not sure how he would feel about her sudden revelation to Milo. He just looked at her then turned his attention back to Milo as the boy asked question after question about Hawaii, then more questions about when they could see the Legos.

She listened again, relieved to know Milo accepted the news without any stress or awkward questions about where he’d been and why he hadn’t been with them before. Of course, to a seven-year-old, those things wouldn’t really matter much.

Her emotions warred with each other. No one else had been as important in Milo’s life as she had been, even Karen and Jason had been second fiddle to her. But Milo seemed to be opening his little soul to this stranger he had only just met and was already considering him important, just because he had the title of father.

Guilt pricked at her as she wished Stephen had stayed absent, but as she saw how much Milo enjoyed asking questions about his father to his actual father, the anger and betrayal at Stephen’s absence began to wash away. He could be a part of Milo’s life without taking away from her.

Madison played with the sticks from the Creamsicles and watched the two as they caught up. When she glanced at her watch, she reluctantly interrupted.

“It’s about time to head home, buddy.”

“Just ten more minutes?” Milo asked.

Stephen smiled and Madison joined him.

“How about five? Then we need to go so you can have a bath tonight.”

Milo moaned. “I hate baths.” He turned to look at Stephen. “Want to slide with me for five minutes?”

Madison shook her head. “I need to talk to him for a few minutes. How about you run slide while we figure out a time for you to meet again?”

“Okay,” Milo said and ran off to the playground, his blister completely forgotten.

“Sorry about that,” Madison said.

“I didn’t want to slide anyway,” Stephen said then winked.

“No, I mean for dumping it like that, and then for him going nonstop. I guess I should have prepared him for this better.”

Stephen shook his head. “No, it was fine. I enjoyed it. It felt kinda natural, and he had a right to ask lots of questions.”

Madison nodded thoughtfully as she watched Milo climb the ladder. She glanced at Stephen from the corner of her eye to see him watching their son as well. “How are we going to go about this?”

“Well, apparently you’re not ready for me to move in.”

Madison whipped her head around to gawk at him.

“I’m joking.” He grinned, and she eased a little. “I think we should go slow. But I’d like to see him as often as you’ll let me. I’d like to try to be a good dad for him.”

Madison nodded. Of course he’d want to be a part of Milo’s life. And though she didn’t want him as a lover or anything, it still hurt that he didn’t seem to be interested in her now, just in their son. Of course, that was how it should be. It had been too long ago to try to go back to the connection they’d had. And she’d grown up since then and knew that it had just been a teenage infatuation. There was nothing lasting about their time together. Why should she hope there would be something now?

“I don’t want to come to the park every day,” Madison said. “And I’m not ready for him to go with you alone. But we could meet here a couple times a week then maybe go for a walk or out to McDonald’s or something once in a while.”

“That sounds good,” Stephen said. “Can I pick you two up for dinner tomorrow?”

Madison turned to him. “How about we meet you there?”

He hesitated for a minute, and she wondered if he knew she didn’t want to let him know where she lived. She wasn’t ready for him to show up at her door. But why she was so hesitant, she didn’t know. She hated feeling so conflicted with him. She used to be so in control of everything, but after seeing him in Mr. Carlson’s office, things had been so out of whack, and she hated it.

They made plans for where to meet, and Madison called Milo to join her. They left the park together, and Stephen once again opened her door and helped her in. He leaned down to wave to Milo. “See you tomorrow.”

“Bye, Dad.”

Madison’s heart froze. Milo had taken to him immediately and, without any prompting or hesitance whatsoever, had completely accepted him as his father.

She glanced at Stephen to see if he’d been affected by it at all and frowned to see the shock and surprise in his face.

Oh, Milo would sure make this interesting. Question was, could she survive it?

Chapter Fourteen

Madison opened the door to her office, surprised to see a bouquet of flowers on her desk. She smiled at the variety of colors, all of the same flower. Snapdragons. Her favorite growing up. Her mother had a huge flower garden reserved just for snapdragons, and Madison and her sisters had always pulled off the petals and pinched the corners to make the mouth open.

She looked for a card and wasn’t surprised to see it was from Stephen. It only said a simple
Thank You
, but she smiled anyway. Nothing romantic, which was good, but the flowers were a sweet reminder of their childhood. They had had some good times each summer, and she let herself remember them for a moment. She rubbed her fingers across the soft lips of one flower, then not even hesitating, she pulled it from the stem and pinched the corners just like she used to do at home.

As the mouth opened, she smiled as she thought of what the flowers would have to say. She squeezed it a couple times making the mouth open and close. Just before she began speaking for it, a knock on her door made her turn around. Stephen stood there, a soft smile on his face. She lifted the flower petal up and pressed the lips. “Thank you.”

He smiled wider and stepped inside. “You’re welcome. Thanks for letting me meet Milo. Would it be okay if I gave him something today?” He took another step toward her but stopped and fidgeted with his hands. “Something to make up for all the birthdays I missed.”

Madison raised her eyebrow. “Like what?”

“A Lego set?” Stephen smiled. “I found one he said he didn’t have and wanted to save up for.”

Madison thought for a moment, wondering if that would give Milo the wrong impression, that he would be getting gifts from Stephen all the time. Or did Stephen think he needed to buy his way into Milo’s affections? “I’m not sure if that’s a good idea.”

Stephen’s smile disappeared. “Do you mind telling me why?”

Madison rubbed her finger across the petal of the snapdragon she still held. “Well, because you just met, and I don’t want him to think you’ll be bringing him toys all the time. It’s not his birthday and I’ve tried to be careful to not make him think he can have whatever he wants. He’s been saving his money for that, and if you just give it to him, he won’t learn anything. Besides, Lego sets are huge and expensive, and I don’t think that will set a good precedent for your interactions with each other.”

Stephen nodded slowly, but she could tell he didn’t agree with her. “What about a smaller set then? I can save this one for his birthday later.” He tilted his head to the side. “When is his birthday anyway?”

“May 4th.”

Stephen grinned. “He’s a
Star Wars
baby?”

Madison furrowed her brow. “A what?”

“
Star Wars.
May the fourth. May the fourth be with you?”

Madison chuckled. “I’ve never heard of that.”

“You’ve seen
Star Wars.
I know you have. We watched it together.”

Stephen smiled, and Madison nodded. From what she could remember, they’d made out a lot during those movies though, so was it any wonder she hadn’t paid much attention to the show?

“I think saving the big set for a birthday would be better, if you don’t mind. The smaller one would be fine, but I don’t want you to buy him stuff all the time. He has lots of toys, and he doesn’t need you to buy your way into his life.”