Chapter 10
Lauren was asleep again before I'd even pulled the blanket over her. She was snoring softly as I shut the guest room door.
Resting my head against the door, I acknowledged to myself the complete clusterfuck I'd gotten myself into. My ex-wife, my girlfriend, and my daughter were all going to be in the same house, with me, in a few days. So far things were civil, but to be fair Lauren wasn't at her best. There was no way of knowing how bad things could actually get.
Lauren had never been particularly catty; she was a simple girl when I met her. We lived in neighboring dorms. One night into our third semester at UW she'd bummed a cigarette from one of my buddies. I'd been frankly awed by her blonde locks and the way her lips moved as she smoked that cigarette. She looked fun and sexy. Everything a college boy wants.
Except that wasn't really Lauren.
After we dated the requisite amount of time and got engaged, I found out there wasn't much adventurous about her. At least I didn't bring that out in her. It appeared neither of us knew what she had been capable of the entire time.
I walked into the kitchen to find Isabella at the counter, looking uncertain.
Opening my arms to her, I drew her against my chest. "Thank you, baby."
"You know how I feel about you, right?"
I started at her question. "Okay, if this is your way of breaking us off…"
Chuckling slightly, she cupped my face in her hands. "No, that's not it. I'm just… I'm just thinking that I must really love you to put myself in this crazy ass position. I've been asking myself this morning why I haven't already run as far away from here as possible, and the answer is you. I want to be here with you, even if it means spending Christmas with your injured ex-wife."
Oh. About that…
"You must really care about me to spend Christmas with my ex-wife," I confirmed. "My ex-wife and my daughter."
I wasn't ever a praying man, but the look on her face had me hoping for a Christmas miracle.