Where We Belong

Chapter 27

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Evan's POV—

"Crap," I mumble under my breath as toothpaste accidentally gets on my shirt. I quickly finish brushing my teeth before I rush to my suitcase—not having unpacked yet—and pull out a clean shirt.

And then trip over myself because apparently, I forgot to zip up my own pants. All my fast movements made them fall down and sag a bit.

"Come on, Evan...pull yourself together man," I groan to myself as I regain my balance and fix my pants. I check myself again for probably the millionth time within the past hour before I head out of my room.

My stomach flips and flops every which way as I descend the stairs, hoping that the evening will go by well.

Ashley and Jaxon are coming over for dinner tonight. It's only been a few days since I went to Ashley's house to talk to her and I already get to see him again. And this time, I get to see him in a less hostile situation.

I'm shit nervous about it though.

Jaxon doesn't know me and the last time he saw me, I was not the happiest person in the world. I was pissed off and that was very noticeable. Jaxon was also shy around me and I'm worried that'll be the case this time too.

I also have like zero experience with kids, let alone an 18 month old. So I don't even know how I'm even going to interact with him.

"You good?" Landon asks me from the couch as he notices me fidgeting around with my fingers.

"I'm nervous," I admit to him as I sit down on the couch.

When Ashley called and told me that they were coming over for dinner tonight, I just about nearly died with excitement. Just wanting nothing more than to potentially spend some time with my son.

I was excited until about an hour ago, when it hit me that I was really going to see Jaxon again. And those nerves haven't gone away yet.

"About seeing Jaxon?" Landon asks me as I sit down next to him.

"Yeah...I'm just...I don't know anything about kids. How am I supposed to interact with him? You know?" I tell him as I anxiously bounce my knee up and down rapidly.

"I can probably help you with that," I then hear Roxy's voice. Looking over my shoulder, I see her coming down from upstairs. "If that's ok with you?"

I'm still a bit upset with my family for their role in all of this, but I'm less upset with my dad at least. Since he talked to me after I found out that Jaxon was my son. I've said little to Roxy and Mathew the past few days, though—especially Mathew.

Since Mathew seems to still be holding a grudge against me. And now he's back at college. Roxy actually graduated last spring, and she's staying here for the time being.

"Um...sure," I just tell my sister, being so desperate for this night to go well that I'll take whatever form of help I can get.

When I talked on the phone with Ashley, she said she'd come over with Jaxon a bit early. So I can try to get some time spent with him.

Even on the phone, I could tell it took an effort for Ashley to decide to come over early. And for a second, I almost told her that she didn't need to do that. But then I got excited about Jaxon coming over and that pushed that thought out of my head.

She just reminded me to keep my distance in the sense that she doesn't want me telling Jaxon about me being his dad. Something about how bringing that bit of information onto Jaxon too quickly will probably just confuse the kid.