I smiled a tired smile back at her. “Good morning, you.”
Kacey rubbed her eyes and looked down at her phone. “Wow. It is morning, huh?”
My heart raced at the sound of Kacey’s low, raspy voice and I couldn’t stop myself from reaching out and running a finger up and down her arm. “It is. Since we’re awake, I thought we could get ready and go to Emma’s Twenty-four Seven Cafe before school and work.”
“That sounds great, as long as I can get my daughter out of bed.”
I leaned in and kissed her on the cheek before hopping off of the couch. “Perfect. You work on that and I’ll go get myself ready. I’ll be back in about a half hour.”
Kacey chuckled. “You’re giving me a lot of credit if you think I’m gonna have both myself and Bailey ready in a half hour.”
“Well, lucky for you, I’m a morning person. It’s when I thrive. So, if you guys need any help, I’ve totally got your back.”
Kacey lifted an eyebrow at me. “Since when are you a morning person? I used to have to drag you out of bed in college.”
“Since I stopped being in a committed relationship with tequila. Crazy what you can achieve when you’re not up half the night. If I remember correctly, though, you always found creative ways to get me out of bed.” My face heated at the thought.
Kacey stood from the couch and rested one hand on my hip. “I don’t think I would say I got you out of bed exactly.”
Now the heat traveled throughout my entire body, all the way down to my core. I stared at Kacey, the air suddenly heavy with sexual tension. Kacey took the hand that wasn’t on my hip and used it to move a piece of hair behind my ear, then rested her forehead against mine. The moment was so charged, I could actually feel her lips moving closer to mine. I forced myself to look away and pulled out of her grip. “Sorry. I don’t know why I brought that up. Probably not the best topic of conversation.”
Kacey shrugged. “Old habits die hard, I guess.” I could hear the pain in her voice as she stared down at the ground.
I put my hand under her chin to direct her eyes toward mine. “I’m sorry. I promise I’m not trying to play games. I don’t want to hurt you. I’m just not used to being your friend and sometimes I slip up.”
“Hey, we’re both still trying to figure out how to navigate this relationship. It’s okay. It feels like the more time that passes, it gets easier yet harder at the same time.” She paused and looked deeply into my eyes. “You do know that I’m not going to hurt you though, right?”
I wanted to tell her that I knew that. There was a part of me that knew she wouldn’t, but another part that was terrified of how she could destroy me if I fully let her in again. I cleared my throat and looked away. “I better get ready. I’ll be back soon.” I turned to walk toward the door, unwilling to face Kacey, knowing that the truth was written all over my face.
When I returned a half hour later, the tension had completely dissipated. Bailey was awake and greeted me at the door with a big hug. “Kari! This is going to be so much fun. When Mom told me we were going to breakfast with you, I hopped right out of bed.”
Kacey shook her head as she joined us at the door and put one hand on Bailey’s shoulder. “I guess I know the secret to getting her up now. Want to come over every morning?”
Bailey’s face lit up. “That would be awesome! I would love it.” Her eyes widened as if an idea had just popped into her head. “We should have a slumber party some night. You, me, and Mom. We could build a fort out of blankets and eat popcorn and watch movies until we fall asleep.”
I had to admit it sounded pretty wonderful. I looked to Kacey who was shaking her head but had a twinkle in her eye. “Maybe we will have to do that someday, but for now, how about we get some breakfast?” I put my hand up and Bailey jumped to slap it, then opened the door and ran out to the car.
Kacey leaned against the door frame watching her daughter, a content smile on her face. “I can’t remember the last time I saw her this excited, which is saying a lot, since she finds joy in the smallest things in life.” She looked toward me, then reached out and squeezed my arm. “Thanks for suggesting this. You were always so good at taking an ordinary day and making it extraordinary. I missed that. I missed how fun it was just spending time with you.”
“I haven’t felt very fun the last few years,” I answered honestly. “Then you came back here and suddenly I felt like I got part of myself back.”
Kacey’s face was serious as she looked over at me. “I will never let you lose that part of yourself again.” The air was thick as we stared at each other. I could read the truth within her words and I knew she was promising not to hurt me, just as she had earlier. Her eyes said all of the words she was too afraid to speak, but I could tell they were begging me to believe her. Begging me to let her in fully and I wanted to. God, did I want to.
I opened my mouth to say something, unsure what words were about to come out, when my attention was suddenly pulled away by the sound of a loud car horn. Kacey and I both looked toward her car where Bailey was sitting in the driver’s seat and rolling her eyes at us. When I looked back at Kacey, we both laughed.
“It looks like we’re being summoned,” she said. “One thing my daughter has yet to learn is the art of patience.”
“Hey, can you blame her? We did promise her breakfast.” At that moment, my stomach started to growl. “Which I could clearly use as well.”
After climbing into the car, Kacey began to search her pockets. “Ah, shoot. I must’ve left my phone inside.”
Bailey’s hand reached through to the front holding Kacey’s phone and when Kacey gave her a look, she shrugged. “You got a text, so I checked it. It was Kari’s mom.”
“My mom?” I asked, confused as to why she even had Kacey’s number.
When I looked at Kacey, she seemed just as confused. “We exchanged numbers on Thanksgiving, but this is the first time she reached out to me.” She turned toward Bailey. “What did she want?”
“She asked if we wanted to come over on Christmas Eve, so I said of course.”
I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped from my throat. Apparently, my mom had changed her mind since the lecture she gave me on Thanksgiving about being careful.
Kacey lifted an eyebrow at me. “I take it you didn’t know about this.” When I shook my head no, she began to chew on the inside of her lip as though she was concerned. “Do you… I mean… is it okay… if we come? It seems we already committed.”
I smiled widely at her and grabbed her hand. “Are you kidding me? Christmas Eve with all of my favorite people just like the old days? Of course it’s okay.”
***
Late in the afternoon on Christmas Eve, Kacey and Bailey met me and Duke outside so they could follow me to my parents’ house. Bailey’s eyes went wide as soon as she saw Duke. “Duke is coming? Can I ride with you guys?”
“You’re going to make your mom ride all alone?” I asked with a chuckle.
Bailey waved her hand nonchalantly. “She’ll be okay. She’s a big girl.”