Leticia felt incredibly nervous as she stood at the door to Carter’s house. She had felt kind of like she and Carter were in a good place after yesterday, but of course his priority had been Molly and she’d understood. She wasn’t about to intrude on that. So she had just let things slide, even though she knew that they had stuff still to talk about.

Now it was the next evening and she was armed with takeout, dammit, and they were going to talk. They were going to sort out this entire mess once and for all and nobody was going to stop her. Including precocious seven-year-olds that were rapidly growing on her.

She hoped that Molly liked the calligraphy set that she’d bought her. It was to help her learn Chinese calligraphy painting, since Molly had said how much she liked it. It was probably a little old for a seven-year-old but, with Molly’s talent, Leticia felt she could give it a whirl.

Well, there was no use in standing out here panicking. It was time to do this.

Leticia knocked on the door.

It was opened almost immediately, and she had to look down when she realized that it wasn’t Carter who’d opened the door, but Molly.

“Hey!” She took out the calligraphy set and handed it to her. “Surprise!”

“Cool!” Molly yelled. “Hey Daddy, Leticia is here!”

“I brought food!” Leticia called.

“Oh goodie.” Molly was already staring at the calligraphy set like she wanted to take everything out and start on it right then.

Carter came to the door, and for the first time in weeks, Leticia saw his gaze slide appreciatively over her body. God, how she’d missed that.

“Special delivery?” She said, holding up the takeout.

Carter laughed. “Come on in.”

The nerves in Leticia’s stomach didn’t quite dissipate, but they settled a little. She handed Carter the food—she’d gotten Indian, which Molly had told her was her favorite—and explained to Molly how the kit worked while Carter got out napkins and such.

“How was your day?” Leticia asked. Carter had taken the day off to spend with Molly. After yesterday, Leticia really couldn’t blame him. She’d been frantic herself, she could hardly imagine what he had been going through. She never wanted to see that look of panic and fear on Carter’s face again.

“It was fun!” Molly said. “We went to the park and saw a movie.”

“And Molly knows she’s going to have to do a little extra to make up for missing school, and an extra chore or two to make up for disappearing and having a lot of people worried about her.” Carter added, looking at his daughter. He turned to Leticia. “How were things without me? Did you all survive?”

Leticia put a hand to her head dramatically. “Oh, we barely made it without you. I thought the place was going to crumble in your absence.”

Carter rolled his eyes fondly. “Good to know I’m indispensable.”

“Oh, definitely,” Leticia said teasingly. Of course, she was talking about the museum… But she couldn’t help but think that it was true. He was indispensable to her.

She could only hope that he felt the same way, that her growing ease with Molly was enough for him to want to take a chance on her, and on them, again.

Molly was saying something, and Leticia focused back on her. She also hoped that Carter would want to continue this so that she could spend more time with Molly. She was realizing that she honestly liked the girl. She definitely felt protective towards her, as yesterday had proven. Leticia wanted a chance to get to know her more, and maybe earn a bigger place in Molly’s life.

And really, the kid had offered to have Molly share her bedroom with her. If that didn’t deserve some good bonding time, Leticia didn’t know what did.

She hardly knew where she’d even begin with telling her family and friends—the friends outside of her innermost circle, anyway. Hey, remember how I said I didn’t like kids? Well now I’m dating a guy with one. But that was all speculation, and none of it would matter if Carter decided that he didn’t want to give this another go.

The idea made Leticia want to cry. She wanted to be with him so badly, it felt like she was sick whenever she imagined him dating someone else, or being coworkers only, or having to try and be friends without anything more when all she wanted to do was kiss him and be held by him and touch him whenever and wherever she pleased.

She was getting ahead of herself, she thought. First, dinner. She could do that. Then, talking. They really did need to get better about talking about the big, important things, instead of just dancing around them or acting based on assumptions. They’d both been guilty of that.

Dinner was really nice, actually. Molly told Leticia all about the movie, some new animated film that Leticia had sort of noticed was playing but hadn’t paid much attention to when a commercial came on. Molly had loved it, apparently, and quoted various lines, doing her best to imitate the voices of the characters. It was pretty adorable, actually.

Carter explained how they talked about communication and that if Molly wanted to talk to someone, she could call them or something to set up a time to meet, so that there would always be at least one person who knew where she was.

“If you had called Leticia and asked to come over and speak to her, she would have said yes,” Carter said, looking over at Leticia.

She honestly wasn’t sure if she would have said yes. She would in the future, of course, no problem but, up until yesterday morning, she had still been nervous and unsure around Molly, so she honestly didn’t know what she would have said. But she knew the point that Carter was trying to make to Molly, so she nodded her head and said, “Definitely.”

Anyway, it was true now. If Molly called and asked to see her, Leticia would only ask when and where.

The only bad part about dinner was Carter.

He kept touching her, and looking at her, smoldering glances that just barely skated the line of appropriate. Leticia didn’t think Molly was picking up on it, but it was driving Leticia crazy. Every time he looked at her like that, she wanted to spread her legs for him. He would touch her, a quick brush of hands or a tangle of fingers as they reached for the same thing, his fingertips sliding briefly along the inside of her wrist. His leg pressed against hers under the table, making Leticia remember the time in this one restaurant where she’d slid her foot up his leg and between his…

Oh God, this was not appropriate to think about while Molly was in the room. Leticia could feel herself getting a little flushed. She wanted him so badly—but she could wait. She could be patient.

After dinner, Molly wanted them all to play a card game. Carter looked a little unsure, but Leticia said it was fine. If Molly went to bed too early, she suspected they’d be in for some eavesdropping. But if she was nice and tired, she’d genuinely go to sleep and they could have whatever talk they needed to have without Molly overhearing.

And honestly, it was fun. More fun than Leticia had expected. She was a bit competitive when it came to games, but so were Molly and Carter—and they knew this game better than she did. They could get ruthless.

By the time Carter called it quits, citing bedtime and school tomorrow, Leticia was laughing and worn out. Maybe she just hadn’t spent this much time around a kid before, but… no, she remembered her younger cousins and her cousins’ kids, and knew that this was Molly. She genuinely liked her. There was something special about her—not anything that made her better than any other child, but something that made her fit with Leticia. Something that made the two of them work.

She even hugged Molly goodnight, happy to wrap her arms around the girl and let her hook her chin over Leticia’s shoulder. She wasn’t super touchy-feely with kids, as a rule, but she wanted to hug Molly. She wanted to feel the girl safe in her arms for a moment.

Carter took Molly up to bed to tuck her in, so Leticia busied herself with cleaning up dinner. It was easy, given that it was takeout, but she took out the trash and wiped up the table and all.

After she’d cleaned up, Leticia just stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to do. Should she sit down at the table? Or maybe go into the living room? Should she get onto her phone or find something else to do so that she didn’t look like she was just sitting there waiting like an idiot?

God, she was crap at this. She needed Carter to give her a second chance, and it was making her guts all twist around each other and her heart race until she thought she was going to be sick.

Just at that moment, Carter came down the stairs. He stuck his hands into his pockets, shuffling around a bit. “Hey.”

“Hey.”

They looked at one another, and it occurred to Leticia that maybe Carter was just as nervous about this as she was. Maybe he, too, wanted a second chance but wasn’t sure if she’d want to take it, if she’d want him and Molly both.

The thought strengthened her a little. It helped to know that she wasn’t the only one with her heart on the line.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “For making things complicated. And not talking to you. But I—I came here because… I want to be with you.” She swallowed hard, trying to get over the lump in her throat. “I like Molly. I know I’m not the best with kids but I like her, and I want to try. I really want to try with her. And part of it is because of how I feel for you, but part of it is that I just like who she is. All on her own. She’s a great kid.”

Carter nodded, a bit of the tension in his body easing out. “I’m not expecting you to be perfect. I didn’t start dating you, or dating in general, so I could find someone ready to jump in and be a mom. I know it’ll take time.”

“But I’m willing to try,” Leticia promised. “I’ll do my best and I’ll do whatever you say is best for her, I promise. I’m not going to just disappear on her. I won’t do that to her.”

Carter eased his hands out of his pockets and took a step towards her. “You said part of it was how you felt about me.”

Leticia felt her face heating up. “Yeah, I… she’s a part of you, you know? She’s your kid and I can see you when I look at her, and—I love that. Because I…” Oh, to hell with it, she might as well say it. “I love you.”

There was a pause, and Leticia thought that maybe she’d gone too far. Maybe she’d been the stupid woman who’d fallen first, far too early, and Carter wasn’t… but then Carter let out a huge sigh of relief and strode right up to her, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her.

Leticia clung to him, kissing him back, shivering happily at the feeling of his strong arms holding her tight.

“I love you, too,” Carter admitted, the words whispered against her lips. “I want you to be a part of both of our lives.”

Leticia wrapped her arms around him, pressing them up against one another completely. “I’d like that. I’d like that a lot.”

“Although…” Carter smiled mischievously. “When you stay over, I’d like you to sleep in my room, instead of Molly’s.”

Leticia laughed. “I think I can be okay with that.”

He kissed her again, stealing the laughter from her mouth. “C’mon then,” he whispered, and led her up to his bedroom.

Leticia couldn’t wipe the stupid smile off of her face for the rest of the night.