The Path To Us: A Single Parent Romance

by Jennifer Van Wyk

  I lift up on my toes a little and he deepens the kiss, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me so our bodies are flush against one another. I drape my arms around his shoulders, enjoying the feel of his tongue against my lips. He makes a little sound at the back of his throat and I arch my body when he presses on my lower back.

  It’s so unexpected, but not unwelcome. It doesn’t feel wrong, but it doesn’t feel completely right, either. In another life, I could so easily want Tyson. He’s gorgeous and funny and confident, but he’s not Beau.

  It’s over before it can go too much farther and we step apart.

  “Wow. Okay. Yeah, I really didn’t plan for that when I asked to come over but I’m not one bit sorry it did. That was… wow, Addy.”

  I don’t have the chance to respond because the door that leads to the garage opens and my mom steps inside.

  “Mama!” Tyson shouts, as if it’s his mom and not mine. He marches over to her and wraps her up in a hug. “I missed you!”

  “Oh, hush, boy. You can’t use that magic on me.”

  “You think I have magic, huh?”

  “Goodness, boy. You’re too much,” she teases, looking up at him. “Are you staying for dinner?”

  “Depends. What is it you planned to make me?”

  “Does it matter?”

  “Not a bit,” he says, chuckling.

  She shakes her head at him and turns to me before pointing to the front of the house. “Was that Beau and Lizzy I saw outside? I didn’t know they were together.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “They were kissing and didn’t even see me pull up.” She says it so nonchalantly, putting away her purse and cleaning out her little cooler she brings with her packed with her lunch every day.

  “Oh, yeah? He finally made his move, huh?” Tyson says proudly. He pulls me against his side again like he did earlier. “Everything’s working out the way it’s supposed to, huh?”

  I want to wiggle out of his hold but don’t want to cause a scene. My mom winks at me when she notices the intimacy between Tyson and me. Instead, I just stand there staring at my mom, replaying her words. Neither of them seem to notice the fact that I’m freaking out inside and feel like my heart is breaking in half.

  The door opens and Beau comes back inside. “Hey, Suzie. I didn’t know you were home.”

  “Yeah, you were a little busy,” she teases.

  He blushes and looks down. “Yeah. Hey, Tyson, I’m gonna take Lizzy home. Thanks for the snacks, Addy. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

  “Yeah. Sure.”

  And then he’s gone.

  That was the moment I knew he never thought of me the way I thought of him, and he never would. The memory is so clear in my mind and is a stark reminder of why I need to banish those thoughts and dreams from my heart.

  I’m a mother. A business owner. And a grown woman in my thirties. Time to behave like one and stop dreaming this crazy fantasy.

  Chapter Twelve

  Beau

  I’m waiting in line at the drive-through for a sausage, egg and cheese sandwich when the car behind me starts honking. I don’t know what he or she wants, it’s not like I can make the cars in front of me move faster.

  I lift a hand, wanting to flip the person off, but instead I just wave and then point in front of me to remind him or her that there’s nothing I can do.

  When it’s my turn to pay, the person honks again.

  When I get my bag of greasy food and large Coke, he honks again.

  Irritated by whoever this person is, I decide to park and wait for them.

  Luckily, the morning drive-through is quick moving and I don’t have to wait for long. The high-end Mercedes SUV with tinted windows pulls up next to me and rolls down the window.

  “Holy shit.”

  “Hey, Beau.”

  “Tyson.” Wow, what a difference over a dozen years makes. He looks so much the same, but different, too. Grown. A full beard covers his face now, whereas when we were kids our facial hair was splotchy at best. Even from where he’s seated in his car, I can tell he’s bulked up, too. I’ve watched some of his games on TV, but it’s hard to tell from a screen what he really looks like.

  He seems to be doing the same to me, taking in my differences between then and now. “Been a long time, man.”

  I scoff. “I’ll say. Think the last time I saw you, you were screwing my ex-girlfriend,” I remind him with my eyebrows raised.

  He lifts a hand and scratches the black hair covering his chin. “Yeah. Not my best moment. I was a shitty friend and there was no excuse.”

  I shrug and shake my head. “Forgotten, Tyson. Long ago and I don’t care anymore. So, what are you doing here?”

  “Visiting my parents. Trying to decide where I’m going to land. Done in the majors so I need to figure out my next steps.”

  “I heard about your injury, sorry,” I tell him truthfully, taking a long drink out of my Coke.

  “Appreciate it. I’m good with it, though.” Somehow I doubt that’s entirely true, but I’m not about to call him out on it. “And I heard about Chris. I can’t tell you—” He stops talking for a beat and collects himself. “I’m sorry. I was shocked when I heard.”

  “That makes two of us.”

  “Unexpected?”

  “Very. He just, died. No warning. Boom, he was gone.”

  “That’s what Dad told me but I wasn’t sure if that was just the way he’d heard it or what. Should have been here for you,” he adds, regrettably.

  “Nothing you could have done.”

  “I know that. I meant… fuck, man. Should’ve come home earlier. Should’ve done a lot of things, I guess. I just left. I have regrets for so many things, but the fact that I never reached out to you again only reminds me of what a jerk I was. You were my best friend and I slept with your girlfriend because I let my dick control me. Then I left and even when I heard about Chris, I still didn’t reach out. I knew I should have and I was too much of a wuss. I’m a piece of shit.”

  This little heart-to-heart in the middle of the McDonald’s parking lot isn’t how I expected to spend my morning. Neither is the way Tyson’s opening up to me so boldly. It’s like he had all this bottled up and just blurted everything out all at once.

  After clearing my throat, I reply, “I don’t know what to say.”

  “I kind of just word vomited, huh? Sorry, I’ve had all this on my mind for years now and only wanted to tell you face-to-face. The second I saw you, I knew I needed to get it off my chest. I thought you deserved to know how truly sorry I am that I betrayed you. I can’t excuse it. I was young and dumb.”

  “That you were,” I say, smirking. I dig into my bag and pull out my sandwich, unwrap a corner, and take a bite, chewing. It might be a weird conversation we’re in the middle of, but I’m hungry and I’m not about to let this little reunion get in my way of my breakfast. Especially since I didn’t get to sit and enjoy a relaxing morning with Addy and Zoey like I’d hoped. Everything between Addy and me is so awkward now that as soon as Zoey saw that I kept my word and I was there when she woke up, I left the house. I need time away to clear my head. Hell, I bought a house practically because I had hoped that one day Addy and Zoey would live there with me. I finish the bite of sandwich and ask, “How’d you know it was me in front of you?”

  “I had my window down when you ordered and heard your voice then saw your face in your mirror. Knew it was meant to be.”

  I swallow another bite then, “Big believer in fate, are you?”

  He follows my lead, taking a bite of his hash brown. He groans and drops his head back. “Holy shit, these things are good. I’m going to gain so much weight now that I’m done playing.”

  “Didn’t indulge in junk food much, huh?”

  He shakes his head, taking another bite. “Only on rare occasions.”

  We sit eating our breakfast in the parking lot but not saying much else. Until…

  “I’d kill
for one of Mama Suzie’s big loaded breakfasts,” he says. “Remember those? With the big chunks of potatoes and sausage, eggs, and cheese. Sometimes she’d put peppers and onions in it, too, and we’d always complain.”

  I look at him with my head turned, wondering if he’s just musing or if he really didn’t hear the news that she passed away.

  “Yeah.”

  “How is she? Fuck, I had such a boner for her. Well, Addy, too, but, man, Suzie…”

  Okay, so he didn’t hear. “You’ve been gone a long time, Ty.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  I look around the parking lot and while it’s not crowded, it’s not necessarily the place to catch up on our lives. Especially when that includes telling him about the people in our past who are no longer with us. “I think we need to have a conversation elsewhere.”

  His expression grows alarmed and he puts his food down beside him, wiping his hands with a napkin. He leans an elbow on the edge of the window sill, eyes wide “Why? What’s wrong? Is it Addy? Is she okay? Fuck, man, please tell me she’s okay.”

  I nod once. “She’s okay.”

  He blows out a breath, hand to his chest. “Thank God. Holy shit, don’t scare me like that.”

  “But, um, Suzie… she got cancer a while back.”

  I don’t say anything else. He’s a smart guy, he understands what I’m getting at and can read between the lines that Addy’s mom is no longer with us.

  “No.”

  “Yeah. It was a rough time for Addy.”

  He drops his head back against his headrest, using his thumb and pointer finger to rub his eyes. “Fuuuuuck. Why didn’t my parents tell me that? I can’t believe this shit.”

  “Nothing you could have done there. The cancer couldn’t have been stopped.”

  He removes his cap and drops it in his lap, leaning his forehead against his steering wheel. He takes several deep breaths and sniffs. Once he has his composure, he sits back, returning his cap to cover his short black hair. The faraway look about him makes me assume he probably needs time to process all that’s happened in the last ten minutes. I pull my phone out of the cupholder and hand it over to him. “Put in your number. I’ll give you a call, set up a time to get together.”

  He does as I ask and hands it back to me after texting himself so he has my number. “And Addy, too? I’d like to give her my condolences. You two are together, right?”

  I scrunch up my face in confusion. “Addy and me? No. Why would you ask that?”

  “Uh, because it’s you two? I just assumed you’d end up together.”

  If only.

  I shake my head, wishing that my answer was different. “Still single.”

  “And Addy?” he asks, not hiding the twinge of hopefulness in his voice.

  Fuck, is he asking because he wants to ask her out? Back home for a hot second and he’s already trying to get with Addy?

  I shake my head and admit, albeit regrettably, “She’s single, too.”

  “Wow. Totally expected her to be off the market by now. How’d that happen?”

  “Yeah. Anyway, listen, I have to get going so text me and we’ll meet for a beer or something.”

  “Well, I don’t drink alcohol anymore, four years sober now, but I’ll join you with a soda or coffee.”

  I don’t ask for details on his sobriety, instead, I just say, “Congratulations, man, that’s great. And, yeah, whatever works for me. Hell, I’d be down for talking over a six pack and a pound.” Back in the day, we’d go to Taco Johns and order their six pack of tacos and pound of potato olés often. Sometimes, though, we’d each get one.

  “Holy crap, that sounds good. Is Taco Johns open right now? Man, tacos and potato olés sound freaking amazing.”

  I’m not even surprised that he asked that. I think our huge appetites is one of the things that we bonded over when we were growing up.

  Tyson gets out of his car and I do the same. He pulls me to him and hugs me tightly. It’s a little surprising at first, but then again, Tyson has always been a hugger. Though, that was back when I knew him a little better. Now it almost feels like hugging a perfect stranger.

  “I missed you, Beau.” He steps back. “What I did, I know it doesn’t deserve forgiveness but I’m going to ask it anyway. I’m sorry for betraying our friendship.”

  “Turns out, you did me a favor. Seems to me, you screwed yourself over in that venture more than me,” I remind him with a smirk. Lizzy followed him around for years, attaching herself to him in hopes of becoming a rich baseball wife.

  He chuckles and scrubs a hand over his chin. “Yeah, it was a little wild for a bit. She wanted a lot more of me than I wanted of her.” As soon as he realizes the words that came out of his mouth, his eyes widen. “Shit, man. Sorry.”

  I lift my hands. “I already said there’s nothing to be sorry for.”

  “Still.”

  “It’s in the past. Got it? I’m over it so you might as well be, too. Why the fuck would I give a shit about that anymore? We were eighteen.”

  “I don’t know, but I still feel bad.”

  “Get over it,” I say gruffly but he notices my lip twitch.

  “Hard to do that,” he admits.

  Then an idea hits me. “You want to make it up to me? Help me move.”

  He throws his head back in laughter. “You’re a shithead. You only ask those you hate most to help you move.”

  “Or those you consider like family.”

  “I’m going to assume you think of me as the latter, then. Besides, look at me,” he says, showing off his much larger build with a grin. “I’d be a huge asset, pun intended.”

  I shake my head and scoff. “Cocky as always.”

  “Did you expect anything else? Thousands of fans screamed my name when I’d step up to the plate. Women had me signing their boobs and kids wore my name on their backs. I’m famous, you know.”

  “Oh, for fuck’s sake. Never mind. I don’t need you around,” I say, laughing and shoving him away from me.

  My phone starts ringing in my pocket and when I pull it out, I see that it’s Addy. I lift a finger. “I gotta take this, okay? We’ll talk soon?”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  He watches me closely as I take the call and doesn’t move to climb back into his car.

  “Hey, what’s up?” I greet Addy as I open the door and sit down behind the wheel of my pickup, noticing that Tyson is still standing outside, next to me.

  “Hey. Sorry to bother you, but I was just wondering if you were coming over tonight?” Her words come out as a rush and my spine goes straight. The tone of her voice puts me on edge and I can’t stop the worry that flows through me.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. Nothing’s wrong. Just… will you?”

  “Yeah, I’ll be there. I have to meet Grant at the bank to get shit sorted out this morning but that’s it.”

  “It’s really happening, huh?” she asks, voice quiet, almost timid.

  “It is. Feels like a long time coming.”

  “Yeah.”

  “You sure everything’s okay? Zoey all right?”

  “She missed you at breakfast this morning, but otherwise she’s good. She’ll be at your parents’ today for a bit while I take care of a few things at the shop.”

  “Need me to grab her? Maybe I can take her out to the new house.”

  “No!” she shouts then quieter she says, “No. She’s fine at your parents’ house. I want to be with her when she goes to the new house.”

  I scrunch my eyebrows and sit quietly. Something’s up with her, but right now with Tyson breathing down my neck, I’m not about to beg her to open up to me. She’ll do it when she’s ready. Or, when we’re alone tonight I’ll pull it out of her.

  We say our goodbyes and I set my phone down in the cupholder next to my Coke.

  “Everything all right?”

  “Yeah. Family stuff.” I know I’m being a little cagey, not wanting to
give him all the information, but why would I open up to Tyson about anything? We haven’t been friends or even spoken since the night I found him having sex with Lizzy. I may not care about it anymore, but that doesn’t mean I want to become close buddies with him again. I might have asked him to help me move, but it’s not as if I’m actually planning on following through with that.

  His expression falls and he nods. “Still want to meet up?”

  “Not tonight. I’ve got somewhere I need to be. I’ll text you.”

  He looks at me like he doesn’t believe I’ll follow up with him and honestly, I don’t really care. Right now, I have a meeting with the bank and then it’s time to figure this out between Addy and me. Maybe she’s going to tell me that she’s okay with me being around Zoey but I’m pushing too much with her.

  “Oh my gosh!” I hear screeched and I wince. “Beau and Tyson? It’s my lucky day!”

  Tyson’s eyes are wide and panicked. “No way. She’s here?”

  “That she is.” Since I’m already in the driver’s seat, I slam my door shut and grin at Tyson. “Enjoy the reunion. I’m sure Lizzy missed you.”

  “So that’s how it is, huh?”

  “Hey, you’re the one who wanted her so badly. Go get her.”

  He mumbles, “She was never the one I wanted.” And I know I wasn’t supposed to hear it, but I did. But I also know exactly his meaning.

  It took me a few years to figure it out, and I probably wouldn’t have, if it hadn’t been for Suzie telling me Tyson was in love with Addy when we were in high school. He actually came to Suzie and asked for advice after asking Addy out on a few dates and getting turned down.

  As I’m driving away, watching in my rearview mirror as Lizzy practically attacks Tyson, a memory surfaces that I haven’t thought of in years. The night that Addy and I caught Tyson and Lizzy together, she said something to me when I dropped her off and at the time, I didn’t think anything of it. The words vibrate in my mind, pinging around rapidly and settling in.

  “There’s one thing you always had that he wanted. Even if you didn’t know you had it, it’s been yours all along.”