Page 80 of I Loved You First

She batted her lashes. “Yes, please.”

He chuckled.

She grinned. “It’s supposed to be pretty nice on Sunday—a little cooler than it has been. We could take a picnic to the park.”

He nodded. “Sign us up. Especially now that Brady can use most of the playground equipment again.”

She smiled. “It sounds like we have a fun weekend ahead.”

“Those are the best kind.”

“They are.” Then she looked around. “But we should probably deal with this first. Let me help you clean up before I go home.”

He glanced around the disheveled space again. “Maybe we’ll just move.”

She laughed. “It’s not that bad.”

He lifted his brow. “Have you seen Brady’s room?”

She winced. “You might have a point there. It’s certainly not pretty upstairs.”

“Just upstairs? It’s like a Lego minefield in the living room.”

She grinned. “There’s not much we can do about the Legos or Brady’s room tonight, but I’ll put a donut platter together and pop it in the fridge for tomorrow morning. I’d stay so you don’t have to deal with three active boys alone, but that’s probably not a good idea.”

He wrinkled his nose when he wanted nothing more than to open his eyes to Fi in the morning light. But that wasn’t an option. “No, probably not. But you can come and eat gluten-free donuts with us and be my partner. Because there’s safety in numbers, and I’m slightly afraid.”

Chuckling, she stood on her tiptoes, kissing him. “I’ll be here bright and early.”

“Thank you again, Fi.”

“Anytime. Now, let’s get to work because I have a feeling you aren’t going to get a lot of sleep.”

He nodded. “Let the cleaning begin.”

twenty-one

Fiona walked out of Maple Ridge Yoga Studio, carrying the yoga mat she’d borrowed from her mom. Rolling her shoulders and neck in the sunshine, she sighed her satisfaction after an amazing workout. “That was a great class. It’s probably one of the best I’ve been to.”

Melody nodded as she fell into step beside her on Main Street’s busy sidewalk, wearing black yoga pants and a snug raspberry-colored tank top. “I really love this place. I try to come on Wednesday evenings and Saturday afternoons when life isn’t too busy. Renee’s my favorite instructor.”

“She’s great. Consider me your tagalong for Wednesday if that sounds good.”

Melody beamed, hooking her arm through Fi’s. “It’s a date. I’m sorry I can’t stick around to grab a smoothie. We’re meeting Ezra’s parents for dinner in a little while.”

“No problem. I’ll pick us up a couple tomorrow. We can sip on spinach, strawberries, and bananas while we tackle your classroom.”

Melody’s smile returned. “That sounds awesome.”

Fiona opened her mouth to say something else as her cell phone started to ring. Glancing at her screen, she grinned. “Let me get this real quick.”

Melody nodded. “Sure.”

“Hey, stranger,” she answered with a smile. Then she rolled her eyes because that was hardly the case. She had bumped into Cam and Brady at Target less than two hours ago, and she’d been in Cam’s bed several hours before that.

Not much had changed in the week since Brady started day camp. The three of them spent time together whenever their schedules lined up, which was nearly every afternoon.

“Hey. I’m sorry to bug you. I know you said you were meeting Melody for a yoga class.”