Camila's POV
My first reaction when I saw my girlfriend surprisingly showing up at my door was natural: the big smile on my lips was morphing into a grin when the other brunette revealed her motive for coming over. Apparently she had changed her mind about another movie night. And while I was beyond excited that Lauren was here, my smile faded when I realized that her timing wasn't the best.
"Pancakes!"
Lara's high-pitched voice interrupted my train of thought. My daughter ran up to the young architect and hugged her legs. As my eyes lifted to meet the green ones, I noticed the uncertainty in them because I hadn't said anything yet.
"Sounds great, come in," I finally answered and let Lauren enter while Lara took the snacks from her. Just as I wanted to explain my delayed response, I heard Lara squealing again.
"Daddy, look! Pancakes brought us candy."
I instantly locked eyes with Lauren and the shock was blatantly obvious on her face. She saw Austin who had come over earlier to drop Lara off. The fact that he had stayed made Lauren stop in her tracks. I saw her throat gulping heavily while her body tensed in an uncomfortable manner. A part of me wanted to explain right away but it seemed strange to simply stand in the hallway with Austin and Lara watching us.
First, I closed the door after Lauren and guided her into the living room with everyone else. Austin and Lauren exchanged a formal "Hello' and the tension was so thick that I couldn't hold back any longer.
"Austin came by to drop off Lara," I decided to explain what was going on after all. "We talked about the plans for this upcoming weekend because I'm going out of town. He'll be on a business trip as well so we were discussing options and it got kind of late so he stayed for dinner."
Clearing my throat, I saw Lauren only nodding and putting on a polite smile. Neither of them said anything which made it even worse. Of course, it was Lara who broke the silence again.
"Now we can all watch the movie together," she beamed while the three grown-ups shifted uncomfortably.
"Maybe...I shouldn't stay," Lauren said quietly. "I didn't want to interrupt the family time."
"Family time?" I repeated in my head. The manner in which she had said it worried me. She didn't sound jealous but almost...defeated. The last thing I wanted was for her to feel unwelcome in my home. If I had it my way, the green-eyed beauty and Lara would be my family. But it was her who wanted to take things slow and not bring Lara into this too soon. While I agreed, it confused me why she was so visibly upset now. Did she want to be more involved after all?
"No, please stay. It will be so much fun, Pancakes. I missed you," Lara pouted and I knew Lauren could never deny her any wish.
"Yeah, don't leave," I affirmed with a smile. "Now that you're here, might as well stay."
The struggle showed on Lauren's face but like I had suspected, she agreed to movie night after Lara grabbed her hand to lead her to the couch.
I never thought I'd see the day but all of us ended up watching the newest Disney movie. However, the only one who seemed to truly enjoy it was my daughter. She was sitting in between Austin and Lauren and kept looking at them whenever something funny happened on screen. Obviously they laughed with her so the little one wouldn't notice the tension. The picture of my current girlfriend and my ex-husband sitting next to my daughter was definitely...interesting. For the first time it dawned on me that this wasn't going to be as easy as I had thought. I wanted all of them to be happy in the way our relationships worked. And that was going to be one hell of a balancing act.
