Unexpected

Chapter 41

"I don't want you to get in trouble with your kids because of me." I said while we walked.

"Their problem is not you, Cleo. They understood when their mother and I talked to them when we separated long ago before I met you. They knew I was going to get involved with someone sooner or later. Their problem is that I had another kid. I had a baby and they think they'll lose me for the baby. That's their problem. Of course, they made questions about you, it's normal, but the baby has always been their problem. Like you said, they're jealous and afraid. They don't see you as the woman that separated me from their mother at all. Not once did they saw it that way."

"Are you sure?" I asked him.

"I am sure. It's Willow..." James sighed heavily again and I nodded falling in silence.

"I told them about when I met you and how I felt about you..." James said then and I looked at him surprised. "I did..." He said again seeing my surprised look. "And they weren't shocked with that, so I know what I am talking about... and when I told them that I wanted to work things out with you, the first thing they said was that the baby was coming to live with me, see? It's just her..."

"I don't know what to tell you... really... everything is such a mess... my father... oh boy... my father is gonna give me hell." I rolled my eyes.

"We just need to work things out between us." He said stopping and holding my hand in his. "After that is done, the rest will come, more or less difficult, but it will come. If you ask me if I want to face your father? No, I don't... at all... it was enough having to deal with him at the hospital, but I will if I have to. Don't you think what we feel is a good thing? Forget about all the shit that happened between us, put all that behind your back and just think about how we feel."

"Sometimes what we feel isn't enough. We're the living proof that love isn't enough. Look at how we ended up." I said.

James grabbed my face between his hands and rested his forehead against mine.

"We ended up sleeping in the same bed last night. We ended up confessing that we still have feelings for each other, which means we want to make it. None of us has given up, not even for one second. All the fighting and yelling was exactly that, the fact that we still loved each other and we couldn't let go, though we both wanted to, and we weren't capable of letting go..."

"I am afraid." I told him. I was terrified to be more precise.

Terrified we would fail again and I could not take another failure. I could not go through all the hurt I had felt the past months.

"So am I!" He exclaimed.

We looked in each other's eyes for a few seconds and then slowly, like in slow motion, his lips approached mine. My heart raced and my head begged me to pull away, but my eyes shut in agreement and his lips pecked mine sweetly. Then, he was the one pulling away. My eyes opened again to find his staring at me. There was no regret but this dancing glow showing in them. The first kiss after such a long time and the only one that happened during the day. We spent quite some part of the afternoon with the guys at the beach. Then, we all stayed home for a nice quiet dinner and watched some movies on DVD. Finally, around midnight, we all wanted to go to bed, and James, once again, slept in my bed.

I had had a hard day. I hadn't had the time to really sink everything that happened. The talking... the peck, nothing... and then... when I was in bed unable to sleep, it all came to my mind. Willow was quiet and James was sleeping profoundly by my side so I had the time to think. He had been surrounding me, not leaving me space to think about any of the things that were happening to us, and finally it occurred me that it was the third night we were sleeping together and none of us tried to have sex.