Take my hand, I’ll teach you to dance.
I’ll spin you around, won’t let you fall down.
Would you let me lead? You can step on my feet
Give it a try, it’ll be alright
– All About Us, This Is We

---

June 7, 2005 

Warehouse: Sonny’s Office

Something had changed.

Sonny sat behind his desk and studied his partner, the man whom he still called friend though he had a feeling that was more of a label than a description.

And something was different about him.

Could he ask Jason? Had things been quiet, even stable between them long enough? The last blow up had been more than a month ago, the blow up about Johnny Zacchara’s surveillance. Sonny had continued making his lists to control his conversations and had taken to locking himself in the maid’s room at the penthouse when Carly was at the club and the kids were gone. In that room, he allowed himself to rant, to rave, to scream.

He let the emotions out, hoping that the release would control them. And they were, to a certain extent. He exerted complete control in the areas he could—he carved more time out to cook, concentrating on teaching Michael to eat healthier and spending more time with him in particular.

To keep control in his personal life, so he could keep his cool during business meetings.

He could do this.

Sonny cleared his throat and glanced at his list. Jason. Mickey. Trucks. He could do this. “Ah, your sister’s wedding went well, I guess.”

Jason nodded, his expression guarded. “It did, she and Nikolas are in Greece for the honeymoon.” He shifted, looking almost uncomfortable. “I haven’t been by since because—”

Sonny held up a hand. “If there was something to report, you’d tell me.” He laid his hands flat on the desk, because sometimes just that centered him. “Um, you doing okay? I mean…” He paused. “Elizabeth doing okay?”

Jason didn’t answer right away, but Sonny didn’t let the irritation rise, didn’t feel it crawl into his throat. Maybe it was going to be okay. He had worked hard the last few weeks to get himself under control.

Once he could control the dark moments, he could eliminate them.

‘She’s fine,” Jason answered finally. “We, decided, ah…” He glanced away, seemed to make some sort of internal decision before meeting Sonny’s eyes. “We’re seeing each other.”

This was not going to be a problem. Elizabeth was a good woman with a beautiful child. She had always cared for Jason, would be good to him. Would be good to Evie.

And Sonny, above all, knew that he wanted what was best for Evie.

He knew he wasn’t. Not until he could control himself.

“Good,” Sonny said finally, hoping it had not taken him too long to answer, but Jason seemed to understand that that extra pause was a good thing. He was thinking before he spoke, weighing his words. “Ah, it’s nothing I didn’t expect to hear, but it’s good, you know? I know you don’t believe me, but I always liked her.”

“I know. She…” Jason shifted again. “She said the same about you.”

“Good, good.” Sonny crossed Jason’s name off the list. “You haven’t reported in about the surveillance, so I figure we don’t know anything new.”

“No.” Jason shook his head, and now the frustration Sonny had been feeling filtered into his expression. “We’re not closer to figuring out who took the truck and took out Mickey. The Ruiz brothers are in Miami, no movement from them. No unexplained meetings or calls. I told Roscoe to stay on it, to see if I could move another man down there to cover one of the brothers.”

“And…the Zaccharas?” Sonny asked. He would make it through this. If Jason told him Johnny wasn’t involved, this time Sonny was determined to trust his judgment. Jason had no reason to protect Johnny, this man had met Elizabeth who was no longer just a friend.

Jason sighed. “I had Jimmy on Anthony. No movement there, but Anthony doesn’t leave Crimson Manor that often. People come to him. Nothing out of the ordinary, according to him, but it’s tough. Can’t tap his phones because there’s always someone there. He’s looking into ways to get more information. I told Stan to get some tech help, so Stan found someone to take on that work. I’ll know more in a week or so.”

He was quiet a moment. “I talked to our Johnny about Johnny Zacchara, and he recommended Francis. So I pulled him up from the island. He’s covered Zacchara, but mostly it’s galleries and restaurants when the kid is in the city. He’s in Port Charles often.”

“How often?” Sonny winced when he heard the sharp tone in his voice. No. Let him finish.

“A few nights a week,” Jason admitted. “His girlfriend has a place, Zacchara is there most of the time.” He stopped for a moment. “He goes to Luke’s a lot. And he was at Jake’s one night, playing pool.”

Something in his voice had shifted there. There was something Jason wasn’t saying. “And?” Sonny demanded. He didn’t notice that his hands were balled into fists.

“And he played a game of pool with a guy who used to work for Alcazar,” Jason admitted. “But Francis seemed to think Johnny didn’t know the guy. He came in late, his girlfriend was already there with some friends from work. He played the game to kill time and then he left with Nadine.”

“You didn’t think to lead with this?”

How the hell was he supposed to trust the bastard when Jason kept lying to him? And damn it if it wasn’t a lie to tell them they had nothing to go on.

“I didn’t…I know how you were going to look at it,” Jason said, but his tone was placating, Sonny could fucking hear that endless note of patience. Fucking Sonny is crazy again, just be calm, just be measured.

He wasn’t a damned child.

“You keep telling me this son of a bitch is innocent,” Sonny snarled. “Why the hell can’t you see it? He’s the only enemy running tame in my territory, he’s around when shipments go missing, when trucks get hijacked. He’s talking to Alcazar’s fucking men, and you’re telling me the little shit is innocent?”

He was out of his chair now, his balled fists on the desk as he leaned forward.

Jason dipped his head, and Sonny hated him in that moment because the bastard was just trying to think how to answer him, how to keep Sonny calm.

“What do I have to do to make you see I know what the hell I’m talking about?” Sonny continued, his voice rising. “Haven’t I made sacrifices to show you I’m in control, but you keep fucking treating me like I’m going to lose it, like I don’t know my own organization. Damn you, Jason, I gave you my daughter. When the fuck are you going to start trusting me?”

Jason raised his head but the placating expression was gone, his eyes were angry, his mouth tight. “You think you gave me Evie?” he retorted. He also got to his feet, his clenched fists at his side. “Is that what you think happened?”

Taken aback by the tone because Jason rarely confronted him, Sonny straightened. “What do you call it?” he snapped. “You have her, I don’t.”

“I call it cleaning up another one of your goddamn messes.” Jason stepped forward. “I shouldn’t have changed those results. I admit that was a mistake. But you kept it going. You decided that I was right, that Carly would destroy those boys in the divorce. You strung Sam along, making her feel like trash, making her feel like Evie would always be an afterthought to Michael and Morgan.”

“And you didn’t reassure her, did you?” His head was spinning, his blood spoiling. “You fucking took your chance to have your own family. Were you fucking her after all?”

Jason shook his head, the disgust on his face clear. “She died pleading with me to keep her daughter from you. And I promised her I would take care of Evie. But if you had wanted her that night, if you had asked me to sign over guardianship, I would have done that, Sonny.”

“Oh, but now it’s too late?” Sonny stalked around the side of his desk and jabbed his finger at Jason. “Is that what this is? You taking a stand, Jason?”

“What do you want me to say?” Jason spread his arms out wide. “You made the decision to let it stand. You chose to leave Evie with me. You didn’t give her to me, you just kept your life from blowing up.”

“This is payback for Michael isn’t it?” Sonny demanded. “For taking him in, for adopting him. He was yours—”

“He was never mine.” Jason’s hands fell to the side. “And Evie’s not mine. Not really. But she was Sam’s. What did we always say about Carly’s right to keep AJ out of Michael’s life?”

“Don’t you fucking turn this around on me—”

“I’m not. You want me to take a stand, Sonny? Fine. You used Sam and made her feel like nothing. You signed paperwork without reading it, and terminated your parental rights. And you chose to let that stand when you learned that I had guardianship and you were nothing to her.” Jason stepped forward. “Sam made her choice. And you made yours. You’re going to have to live with that.”

Before Sonny could say something—anything—Jason had slammed the door behind him.

Son a bitch.

Port Charles Municipal Building: Hallway

“Thank you again, Ms. Webber,” Mayor Garrett Floyd said as he walked her out of his office. “That painting is exactly what I wanted.”

“Well, I’ve never worked on commission before,” she admitted as they stopped in front of a bank of elevators. “But I was intrigued by your request. Just a lot of blue.” She readjusted her purse strap. “I’m glad you like it.”

“We’re very proud of you, Ms. Webber,” the mayor told her. “One of the new leading lights of the art world is a hometown sweetheart. I want to make sure everyone sees my Webber original.”

Because now he had amped up the charm, and his hand that been casually guiding her forward on her upper arm slid down to cup her elbow, Elizabeth sighed. Well, at least he paid first. She stepped back.

“It means a lot that so many in town have been supportive of my work,” she remarked. “Did I tell you that Jason Morgan was at my showing in New York?” She laughed, the sound almost artificial. “He should have known with our relationship, I would have just given him the painting.”

Floyd’s hand dropped to his side, his smile disappeared. “Your, ah, relationship.” One giant step back. “Ah, yes. I remember hearing something to that effect. Well, then.” He coughed. “I’ll just…have a nice day, Ms. Webber.”

“Sack of crap,” she muttered when he had turned the corner back to his office. She jabbed the down button.

“Nicely done, Elizabeth.”

It was the first time in more than a year she had heard his voice directed at her. She slowly turned to find Ric standing there, in a suit and carrying a briefcase.

“Ric,” her voice still flat from her conversation with the mayor.

“I’m sorry.” And now he shifted, seeming uncomfortable. “I know…that we had, I suppose, an unspoken agreement to just…co-exist without interaction—”

The doors slid open, but Elizabeth just stood there. Better to let him get this done so she could go home, feed Cameron, and then meet Jason at Jake’s.

That’s all she wanted to do right now, particularly after dealing with the oily mayor and now seeing her ex-husband.

“We did, and I was satisfied with how that was working out.” She switched her bag to her other shoulder, just to have something to do with her hands. “What’s changed your mind?”

“I, ah, didn’t want you to hear it from anyone but us, because I just…” Ric exhaled harshly. “I’ve never been good to you, Elizabeth. I didn’t know if you’d even care, but—”

“Spit it out, Ric. I have other things to do with my life.” She folded her arms in front of her, her heeled toe beginning to tap against the marble floor.

“Alexis and I are having a child,” Ric said quickly. “I just—”

Her hands fell to her side, her mouth parted. “Oh.” Her stomach twisted, but she couldn’t understand why. “Well, that’s nice.”

“I just…” His hand reached out, but dropped before he could finish extending it. “I wanted to…make amends. To make sure that…everything is okay.”

“That what is okay?” Elizabeth retorted. “What do you want from me, Ric?”

“I—” He looked away. “I just wanted you to be happy—Alexis mentioned that you were seeing Jason again—”

“What I do is none of your business,” Elizabeth cut in. “Do you want me to wish you happiness, Ric? Tell you all is forgiven? Is that what you need to hear?”

“Elizabeth—”

“How about this?” She hit the elevator button. “I don’t think about you much at all, Ric. You’re out of my life and that’s just the way I like it.”

Jake’s

Jason straightened and turned away from the pool table when he heard the outside door to the bar open. Elizabeth walked in, took in the empty room, dumped her purse on a chair and walked straight towards him. When she wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her head to his chest, his arms automatically slid around her shoulders.

“Hey. Bad day?”

She nodded, and some of his own anger and frustration slid away in response to hers. How often in the last few weeks had she listened to him talk about his problems with Sonny and Carly without asking for anything in return?

He slid his fingertips down the soft, thin material of her light purple sun dress. “What happened?” he asked.

“God.” Her voice was muffled. “The world.”

“Okay.” He released her for a moment in order to set his pool cue awkwardly behind him on the table, before tilting her chin up to look at him. “I thought you were dropping a painting at the mayor’s.”

“I did.” She glanced away. “That was fine. I mean, he hit on me afterward, but—”

Jason scowled and stood up straight, dislodging her temporarily. “What?”

“Don’t worry, that was just…a minor annoyance.” She waved a hand. “I only had to mention your name before he turned as white as a sheet and hurried away.” Her hands slid from his back to the belt loops of his jeans. “I don’t think I’ll be hearing from Floyd again.”

Setting that aside, Jason nodded. “So what happened?” he asked again.

Elizabeth tilted her head back, her hair falling like a waterfall down her back. “Ric was there.”

Stupid little piece of scum. This world would have been a lot better if Jason had been allowed to wipe him from the planet years ago. “What did he do?” he demanded. “I can take care of Ric—”

“It’s not him so much as…” She pursed her lips. “He wanted to tell me that Alexis is pregnant, because he thought it would bother me if I heard it from someone else, like I’d be blindsided.” She rolled her eyes. “God. As if I spend my time thinking about him and his new wife.”

“Okay,” Jason drawled, tilting his head. “So if the pregnancy doesn’t bother you…”

“It’s just…” She shook her head and looked down. “I hate seeing him. I hate remembering who I was when I was with him—” Elizabeth wrapped one arm around her waist and used the other to cover her eyes. “How little I must have valued myself to swallow his lies, to believe in him—”

“Hey.” He reached for the hand over her eyes and took it between both of his own. “Hey. Don’t do this to yourself.”

“It makes me angry, Jason.” Now with her chin tilted up, her eyes flashing . “How could I do that to myself? To let myself be degraded that way? I let myself believe that I deserved to be used, that I couldn’t do better—”

“But you don’t believe that anymore.” His chest burning, he gripped her hand more tightly. He hated watching her do this to herself, to castigate herself for a mistake that she’d already fixed. “You told me that yourself, remember?”

“I know.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I know. I just…sometimes I forget. I was standing there, listening to him talk about amends and how he wants me to be happy—” She rolled her eyes. “And I just…don’t know how I let that happen to me.”

“You have to forgive yourself,” he told her. “You said it was easier when you and Ric just ignored each other’s existence, but it’s clear that’s not going to be an option.” Unless Ric did something that warranted him being tossed from a moving car. “So you’re going to have to forgive yourself.”

“I…” She pressed her lips together. “I did, Jason. I-I told you that I was in therapy last year, that I realized why I was with him—”

“Knowing the reasons why is different from forgiving yourself. Elizabeth, you did the best you could. You saw it was wrong, and you got out.” The back of his hand slid down the soft skin of her cheek before sliding into her hair. “You started a new life. You told me that you had finally stopped seeing yourself as broken.”

“I know.” She swiped at her eyes. “God. I know. Maybe I left therapy too soon. It’s so easy to say I’m past it all when Ric’s not in my life. But it’s arrogant to pretend five months of therapy can solve years of unhealthy choices.” Her smile was shaky but genuine, so the tightness in his chest eased.

“I just…wish you could see you the way I do.” He brushed his lips lightly against hers, feeling some of the tension bleed away from her shoulders. “You’re so strong.”

She huffed and looked away, but her cheeks flushed slightly. “Jason—”

“It would have been so easy to stay in California. You were making a good life for yourself there. I know Port Charles holds a lot of bad memories, you didn’t have to come back and face them.” He tilted his head a bit, trying to meet her eyes. “Elizabeth, I know it’s…going to take more time, but you can’t keep looking at Ric Lansing and blaming yourself. You’re better than that, and you deserve more than that.”

“I know.” She nodded. “I do know that. I came home to get my life back, because staying away would be like running away. And I’m so glad I did.” Her fingers gripped the material of his shirt. “Because I found you. And this…being with you, has been worth it. I’m not just talking about the last week or so, but since the minute I sat down on the bench last winter…” Raising herself up on her tips of her toes, she pressed her lips to his.

“I’m glad,” he murmured.

She drew back after a moment and glanced around the bar. “Where is everyone anyway?”

“I…paid Coleman to close the place for the night.” Jason gestured towards the table where she had dumped her purse. “Do you want a beer?”

Elizabeth frowned and eyed the vodka bottle next to the open bottle of beer, with a few shot glasses next to it. She looked back at him, her arms sliding away from his waist. “Did…did something happen today?” she asked. “It’s…not like you to close the place. You…like the atmosphere here. You told me no one bothers you here.”

“I just…didn’t want to be around people,” he said after a moment, but he already knew he was going to tell her what had happened earlier. It was too important not to, but he’d hoped to wait a little longer. Their relationship could never be normal, but he’d hoped for something resembling it tonight.

“Okay.” She drew in her bottom lip. “I…did you want to talk about it?”

He sighed and reached for the pool cue. “Not really. Do you want to play?”

“I’d rather watch you.”

As he lined up a shot, Elizabeth took one of the empty shot glasses, filled it with vodka, and tossed it back like it was water.

“Do you remember the last time we were in here?” she asked after he had taken the shot and sent two balls into the corner pocket. He glanced up to find her leaning over the table slightly.

“Uh…yeah.” He stood and rounded the table for another shot. “The last time I came home.”

“Mmmhmm…” Elizabeth walked towards him, her fingers drifting over the cheap wood the table. “You taught me to play.”

“I tried.” Jason straightened and turned as she approached him, setting the cue on the table. “You weren’t really paying attention.” And they’d been interrupted, but he wasn’t going to say that. That was before, and it didn’t matter now.

“Well, I was very distracted.” She stepped in front of him, and turned so that her back was pressed against his front. She reached for his hands and pulled them around her waist. “You had your arms around me…” She tilted her head back and he leaned down, brushing his lips on the soft skin just behind her ear. “I could feel your breath on my skin…”

“I wanted to kiss you,” he admitted, his thumbs sliding across the soft cotton, her skin almost burning beneath his skin.

“You have no idea how many dreams…” Elizabeth turned in his arms, her lips a breath away. “How many times I fantasized about that moment, about being in your room…that day you washed my makeup away…” Her fingers brushed over his cheek. “I had this one dream about you and my little black dress…peeling it off with your teeth…”

He was tired of the teasing, of the images of she’d created in his mind. For too many years, Elizabeth herself had been a fantasy, a vision he could not bring himself to trust, to hope for. He remembered that dress, remembered the gloves she had left in his room. He could still smell the scent of her perfume, the way her skin felt beneath his fingers as he watched his face.

Still remember the almost mocking vision of her in his room, smiling at him.

He closed his mouth over hers, his hands sliding to her waist, gripping her hips tightly, dragging her closer to him. Her fists were tangled in his shirt, one of her legs sliding around his waist, trying to get closer.

He drew back. “Elizabeth—”

“Is upstairs empty?” she asked, her hands tangled in his hair. She nipped at his lip. “Maybe your old room?”

Jake’s: Upstairs Room

“When do you have to be home?”

Elizabeth raised her head from Jason’s chest, blinking at him. “Hmm? Oh. No special time. Gram put Cameron to bed for me.”

His fingertips resumed the light stroking of her spine, her toes almost curling from the shivers. This moment…the last hour or so…had been everything she’d dreamed about and more.

“I’ve been trying so hard not to see all of this as a second chance,” she murmured. “Because I don’t really think we ever had a proper first one.”

“Oh?” His hand slid all the way up her back and into her hair.

Elizabeth propped herself up on her elbows to peer more closely at him in the dim light offered by the moon filtering through the old blinds. “I mean, we had chances but…you know, I just…don’t think either of us were ready.” She smiled faintly. “But maybe we were supposed to find each other this time.”

“I don’t know about any of that,” he said after a moment. “I just know the day I looked up and saw you standing at the bottom of the stairs at the docks…” He hesitated. “I don’t know how to explain it. It was like…finding something you didn’t even know you were looking for or was lost.”

She closed her eyes, her smile spreading. “I know exactly what you mean. I came home to raise my little boy, to be with my family. I told myself I was done with love, with romance because there wasn’t room for it. But Emily was right.”

He laughed, turning flat on his back. “Don’t ever tell her that.”

“Believe me, I’ll save that for when we have a really big fight.” She bit her lip. “She asked me not to walk away from it if I found it again, and I’m so glad I listened to her, Jason.”

“She told me the same thing.” His finger slid over her brow, as if tracing her features, and then fell away. He slid up the back board a bit, so he was sitting up. “I should tell you what happened earlier today.”

Elizabeth drew her legs up, so she was sitting across from him, tugging the sheet over her body. “Another fight with Sonny?”

“Yeah.” He leaned over and switched on the bedside light. He looked weary. “But it was…it was different.” Jason was quiet for a moment. “I know I always tell you there are things you can’t know—”

“And I really get that,” Elizabeth began, but he held up a hand.

“But there’s also things I should tell you because it’s…” He lifted a shoulder. “It’s different now.”

“Like when Johnny Zacchara introduced his girlfriend to us but hadn’t told her anything.”

“Right.” He reached for her hand. “I need you to know the people involved. Your guard will know people by sight, but I want you to be aware.”

“Okay.” Elizabeth nodded. “Whatever you need.”

Jason exhaled slowly. “Without going into detail, there’s been trouble lately. You know that because I put Milo on you a few months ago, but even before that, he was just…I asked him to be around.”

“I figured when I saw him at Kelly’s every time I was there and had never seen him before.” She squeezed his hand.

“Right. Well, we don’t know where the trouble is coming from which makes it difficult because we have to keep our eyes on everyone.”

“And you and Sonny disagree on who to keep your eye on?” Elizabeth tilted her head. “But…hasn’t that sort of thing always been your strength? What Sonny expects from you?”

“Yeah.” He dipped his head. “There’s…one person in particularly. Sonny is convinced he’s the guilty party, but I don’t…I just don’t see it. I put a guy on him anyway.” He sighed. “And this idiot just…does things that doesn’t help his situation. Makes him look guilty. And I can’t not tell Sonny these things because then it’ll make him think I’m keeping things from him.”

“And that’s what happened today?” Elizabeth asked. “Jason—”

“That’s how it started,” he told her. “But it…he said that I should trust him, trust his instincts, that he’d been trying to prove that I should by giving me Evie.”

“Giving?” she repeated, frowning. “That’s…not what happened.”

“No,” he agreed. “And I told him so. He accused me of sleeping with Sam—” He stopped and met her eyes. “Which never happened, Elizabeth. I promise—”

“I know that,” she murmured. She’d heard some snickers, wisps of rumors that she’d been a rebound. While most of the town had never accepted Evie’s paternity, they had assumed Jason and Sam were sleeping together.

“It just…he threw Michael in my face, wanting to know if keeping Evie was payback for his adoption…and I told him that he’d made the choice to let Sam’s con stand when Evie was born.” He closed his eyes. “And he asked me if that meant it was too late for him to change his mind.”

She knew how the conversation must have ended for Jason to have waited all night to discuss this but her heart broke all the same. “What did you tell him?”

“That I was choosing my promise to Sam, the way I chose to protect Carly from AJ. I—I had never told him before…about Sam’s last request. About her pleas to keep him away. I told him we’d all made our choices.”

“You told him you were keeping Evie.”

“Not in those words, but he knew that’s what I meant.” He shook his head. “I didn’t even know I was going to say it until it happened. I know we talked about it, about refusing to sign over guardianship. I really didn’t know what I was going to do until it happened.”

“What made you decide?” she asked softly.

“I thought about what you said at Christmas. About Evie and her best interests. That’s…it’s what Sam wanted me to do, to protect her daughter. And I don’t…trust Sonny. Not the way he is now.” Jason drew her closer, his arm around her, her head tucked into his chest. “The thought of putting Evie into Sonny and Carly’s care…I can’t do it. If Sonny would just…let himself crash so we could dig him back out, maybe.”

“But as long as he holds himself in check, you’ll maintain the status quo?” Elizabeth asked. “Jason, what if he calls your bluff? What if he tells Carly?”

“He’d have to sue me for custody,” Jason told her. “He’d have to win in court to force my hand. I-I didn’t want it be like this. I thought maybe it would be temporary.”

Maybe. Or maybe he’d just put his head down and avoided thinking about it, but Elizabeth knew he’d hoped deep down that somehow, some miracle could be wrought to fix the damage. “I know,” she murmured. “But you’re right. Evie should come first. And you know if Sonny were the man he used to be, he’d see that, too. He went back to Carly for Michael and Morgan, didn’t he?”

“He did, but I wish he hadn’t.” He was quiet for a long moment. “You don’t think I should wait for Sonny to make the next move.”

“I think…” Elizabeth drawled, “that you probably have enough on your plate without making the situation worse. If you’re having business troubles, that should be the focus. I’m sure Sonny, in his more stable moments, feels the same. Find out who’s giving you issues. If Sonny wants to push this, if he wants to make an unstable and possibly dangerous situation worse, well then, that’s his prerogative.” She looked up at him. “I wish I could do more, Jason. I feel like listening isn’t enough.”

“It’s…everything.” He leaned down to brush his lips against hers.

Later, as they both reluctantly dressed to return to their respective homes and children, Jason put a hand on Elizabeth’s upper arm. “Would you…tomorrow night. I…” He shook his head slightly. “Would you come over tomorrow and spend the night?”

She wanted to. After tonight, she wanted to spend every night with him, but… “I don’t know, Jason. Cam is pretty good about my grandmother or my brother putting him to sleep, but he likes having me there in the morning—”

“No, I mean…” He drew her closer. “You said you wanted me to be important to Cam. To be part of his life.”

“I do.”

“I want you to be in Evie’s life. To be important to her.” He hesitated. “So I want you to bring Cam over. For you both to be there. I-I can give Nora the night off, she’s already off on Mondays.”

“Oh.” Her cheeks were burning, her heart pounding. She knew what an important step this was, even if Jason couldn’t quite articulate it. It was the start of blending their two lives together. Of their children becoming part of what was happening between them.

Did she want to take that risk? To open her heart to Evie, to let Jason be so much a part of Cam’s life?

“Of course. I can’t wait.” She kissed him firmly to show him her hesitation was unimportant. They had a chance to really make a life together and she couldn’t wait to find out where it was going.

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