He rummaged through the bag. “And Conchas? Oh, man—these are always such a special treat! Sofia always shared these.”
Sofia watched as her mom ducked her head, another girlish blush on her cheeks. “We always brought extra for you. But not too much—we didn’t want to make your mother mad.”
“As long as we didn’t get orange fingerprints on her office furniture...” They laughed, as if the passage of years had never happened.
Have fun. Maybe Sofia was reading too much into this.
It wasn’t like she could just decide not to be anxious. It didn’t work that way. But she could make a conscious choice to enjoy herself this weekend. She could continue to fake it until she made it because even if she’d still be forcing herself to smile, she might eventually make it to having a good time. To enjoying her time with Eric. Even if that just meant sharing a bag of fried corn chips.
Or even if it meant something...more.
God, it’d be so good to smile again. To be happy again. At least now, she could almost see happiness from where she stood. It wasn’t a star hung too high in the sky that she’d never be able to reach, like it’d been in the first terrible months after David’s death.
She’d never forget her husband—she didn’t want to—but maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing that Eric reminded her she’d been a happy, whole person before her marriage and she might be one again.
As she watched, Eric pulled Mom into an impulsive hug. “It’s been so great to see you again, Mrs. Cortés. My parents always love to hear from you.”
“Give my best to your mother.” Just then, Eric’s watch beeped. “Oh, you must go. You’ll be late! I wouldn’t want you to miss your flight.”
Eric laughed. “Don’t worry. They won’t leave without me.”
Eddy toddled over to him, holding up a sheet of paper. Eric bent down. “This is really nice, big guy. Did you make this for me?”
Eddy grinned widely and nodded. Not to be outdone, here came Addy, also brandishing a sheet of paper. “Oh, this is lovely,” Eric said so seriously that Sofia couldn’t help but laugh. “Can you write your name on it for me?”
Addy hurried to the table and then slashed a line in bright pink across the bottom.
“That’s my girl,” Eric said and another part of Sofia melted.
He would be so easy to fall for. She could fight against the fact that he was gorgeous and the fact that he had more money than most of the rest of the city put together. She could even work around the way he treated her with kindness. But this?
Because right now, he wasn’t some unreachable fantasy. Right now, he was joking with her mother, making her babies smile—all while waiting to whisk her away for the weekend. She could almost pretend he fit in her world.
She only hoped she could pretend she fit in his. Just for a few days. Just to have a little fun.
Eddy signed his art, too—he chose a red crayon for his signature scribble. “I will treasure these always, guys,” Eric said, folding the two sheets of paper and tucking them into an inside pocket. “I’ll come back and see you again, okay? And maybe your mom will bring you out on the boat. We’ll go swimming and everything.”
Swimming didn’t mean much to the twins—but boat? “Now you’ve done it,” she told him as she came out of the kitchen, her resolve set. They were going to have a lovely weekend and that was final.
Sofia leaned down to give each of the twins another kiss on the head. “Be good,” she told them. “I’ll see you in a few days. Love you.”
Eric put his hand in the small of Sofia’s back. “Longer goodbyes only make it harder,” he said, his voice low in her ear.
He guided her through the door and down the front steps, where a long black car was waiting. It wasn’t quite a limousine, but it was close.
She looked back over her shoulder to see Mom holding the twins at the window, everyone waving. Sofia had to blink hard as she waved back and then Eric had the door open for her and she climbed into his luxury car.
He sat next to her and put the bag of snacks between them. “Ready to have some fun?”
She picked up one of the snacks. Fun. Nothing more and by God, nothing less. “Let’s go wild.”
Normally, Eric enjoyed everything about traveling to a site at the beginning of a new project. Of course he enjoyed making more money. Who didn’t? But he actually loved buying a piece of property, whether it was vacant or the buildings were dilapidated or whatever, and seeing the possibilities. He loved choosing the best option from those possibilities and making it a reality. He was good at it, too. Every development was more successful than the last. Sometimes it seemed like there wasn’t anything Eric couldn’t turn to gold.
He glanced at the woman sitting across from him. She looked amazing today—but his awareness of her went deeper than just how her backside had looked in those white pants when she’d gotten into the car.
So many possibilities.
It didn’t make any sense, how glad he was to see her. He’d gone decades without Sofia in his life and suddenly, he was waking up early, thinking of ways he could make her laugh—or make her eyes deepen with desire, make her tongue flick over her lips in anticipation...
“Should I send that picture to you or your mother?” Sofia asked.
He jerked his gaze away from her lips. “Me.” Because he wanted to hold on to that memory of Sofia’s children in his arms, of Eddy’s easy laughter, of Addy’s slow but sweet smile.
He hadn’t lied—those kids were even cuter in person. Eddy was outgoing and Addy was reserved, but they were two sides of the same coin. They weren’t identical, in either their appearance or temperament, but they did little things together that tugged at his heartstrings, like tilting their heads the same way and smiling the same smile at the same time. They matched each other perfectly in every way.
He touched his jacket, right over where he’d tucked their drawings in his inside pocket. When he thought of those babies, all he saw was possibilities.
His reaction didn’t make any sense, but he wanted to be there for them.
“There,” Sofia said, seconds before his phone chimed. “You like strawberry best, right? I suppose it’s not a great idea to load up on junk food before we get on the plane, though...” She fished out a bright red Jarritos soda from the overflowing bag Mrs. Cortés had packed.
“At least we won’t starve to death anytime soon,” he joked, twisting the cap off the soda. “I haven’t had one of these in years.” He took a long drink. And then immediately started coughing as the sugar hit his tongue like a tidal wave. “Was it always this sweet?” he choked out, his eyes watering.
Sofia laughed. He could see a little of the tension fading from around her eyes. “Yes, it was. You really haven’t had one since we were kids?”
He shook his head and took a much smaller sip of the soda. All he could taste was sugar. It wasn’t so much strawberry flavored, but damn if it didn’t taste like his childhood and all the fun he used to have with Sofia. “I know you may find this hard to believe, but I don’t exactly wander the aisles of grocery stores. I have a personal chef and I dine out a lot.”
Her lips twisted into something that might’ve been a smile. Yes, he knew she didn’t have personal chefs, but he didn’t want to do a side-by-side comparison of their lifestyles.
“That’s true, I suppose,” she said.
“Hey, none of that.” He held out his soda for her to taste. Mrs. Cortés