She’s not lying. Sierra has too much heart to do that. I only said that to cast the blame on someone else even though I was in the wrong.
“I want you there with me,” I say. “In Molly’s and my life.”
She grins. “She’s such a cute girl. When I babysat with Ellie, she was so sweet.”
I smile at her words. “She is. Jessa is worried about her starting school in a new town. We enrolled her in dance, so hopefully, she’ll meet some friends before the year starts.”
“Call someone who has a daughter her age.” She stops to think. “What about Dallas Barnes? His daughter is a total sweetheart and looks to be around Molly’s age. She’s always at events with her grandparents, given they’re so involved. Maybe we can schedule a playdate. I’ll ask my brother to see if we can set something up.”
“I don’t know why I waited to tell you for so long. You’re already perfect at helping me with this.”
A self-satisfied smile is on Sierra’s face as she kicks her feet against the floor. “I told you this flooring would be amazing. Plus, the maintenance is child’s play compared to hardwood.”
I was reluctant on switching over to tile. Tile can make a room appear cold. The pub isn’t cold. It’s a relaxing experience. Sierra, the determined woman she is, found tile that looks exactly like wood. I wasn’t even able to tell when she first showed me. No more constant worrying about spills causing damage.
I do a once-over of the bar. It looks so damn good. I’ve lost count of the number of times I tried calling her to tell her that when we weren’t talking. She did a kick-ass job—from the flooring to the paint scheme and the furniture. She had the brick walls behind the bar painted, changing from red to a subtle gray. That same color brick is wrapped around the outside of the bar, and she left the tops untouched to keep the authenticity. The new kitchen appliances were installed a few days ago as well as the kegs. The new taps are coming tomorrow, and I can’t fucking wait.
“And the paint matches perfectly,” she sings out. “We are missing the furniture you said you’d assemble.”
“I didn’t think it’d be that complicated. I opened the boxes and found five thousand pieces. How the hell do they think that’s cool?”
She settles her gaze on me, attempting to put off a serious look but it fails when a smile cracks along her lips. “I told you so.”
I wrap my arm around her shoulders. “Care to help a man assemble furniture?”
She dramatically groans. “I guess.”
I smack her ass. “I love you.”
Thirty-Seven
Sierra
“I swear, Jessa won’t be showing up here,” Ellie says, snagging a doughnut and dropping it onto her plate.
We haven’t seen each other in days. I’ve been swept up in Maliki, moving my things back to his apartment, which wasn’t much, and wrapping up the bar’s remodel. I have a busy week ahead of me and came over to spend time with her this morning, doughnuts and pineapple smoothies in hand.
“She’s still not talking to me over the whole I’m hanging out with the enemy nonsense.” She lifts her chin and rolls her eyes. “I’ve never been tight with her. Hell, I’m closer to you than her, and she’s in the wrong. So, the enemy is who I shall hang out with.”
“It doesn’t matter. I’ll see her later today.” I take a gulp of my smoothie to hide the dread on my face. “We’re hanging out with Molly later.”
She drops the doughnut in her hand. “Holy hell. You’re meeting Molly as the girlfriend?”
“Sure am.”
I’m nervous about seeing Molly, and I would rather shave off my eyebrows than be around Jessa. Fingers crossed I won’t see her since we’re picking Molly up and taking her out for the day. Jessa tried weaseling her way into tagging along with Maliki, but he wasn’t having it.
“This is a big step! I’m happy for you!”
I pick at my doughnut. “I don’t know why I’m nervous. I’ve babysat her with you. It’s not like she’s a stranger.”
“You’re nervous because you’ll be her stepmom one day.”
My eyes widen. “I don’t know about that.”
“I do.”
My knees are bouncing as I sit in the passenger seat.
“I hate I wasn’t here for you last time,” I tell Maliki.
He briefly glances at me before returning his eyes to the road. “It might’ve been for the best. Jessa broke the news to Molly terribly. She sprang it on her without warning. Molly was upset and confused.”
Of course Jessa did.
My heart aches for them. “It probably would’ve done more harm than good. I would’ve been another person added to the confusion.”
He nods. “She’s comfortable with me now, and I’ve talked about you with her.”
“I’m sure Jessa loved that.”
“I’ve started tuning out Jessa when it’s not Molly-related.” He hesitates before continuing, “I forgot to explain the day I went to the city without you. I took Molly shopping for clothes and a doll.”
That’s random.
But I did say no more secrets.
“Way to piss me off more about Jessa right before I see her.”
He chuckles. “Yeah, bad move on my part to start throwing out confessions right now. I just don’t want everything out in the open, so anytime I think of one, I’ll clear that shit up fast.”
“Appreciate that.”
He pulls up to Jessa’s parents’ house. After their grandparents returned, Jessa moved in with them. I had been here countless times during my childhood with Ellie.
He shifts the car in park. “Ready?”
“Absolutely.” No longer is nervousness crashing through. I’m excited to hang out with the little girl who will be such a huge part in our lives.
The front door opens after Maliki knocks, and Molly stands in front of us with an eager grin spread along her face. Her eyes travel from Maliki to me, her smile growing wider.
“I remember you!” she squeals. “You’re Auntie Ellie’s friend! Sierra! You were nice and colored with me!”
I blink at her, taking in the similarities between her and Maliki.
I see it.
She has his nose.
His lips.
I grin down at her. “And I remember you! You color so well and watch the best cartoons!”
I like kids. My mom had our family regularly volunteer with them, growing up. It’s one of the best things she ever did for us. All my siblings have hearts of gold when it comes to children.
She hops from one foot to the other. “Are you my daddy’s girlfriend?”
“What’s she doing here?” Jessa snaps, coming to the door, standing next to Molly, and breaking our warm vibe. Her arms are crossed as she fixes a glare toward me.
I ignore her, not even firing a fake smile her way. Today is about having fun with Molly.
“I don’t know if Molly should go, given you brought your flavor of the week. I made it clear I want to be careful who my daughter is around,” Jessa barks before anyone replies.
“You had no issue when Sierra babysat her with Ellie,” Maliki hisses.
“That’s different. She was Ellie’s friend, not her new father’s girlfriend.”
Maliki tenses at the new father blow. “I won’t argue with you in front of her. We can talk later.” He leans down to Molly’s height. “Ready to go?”
Molly squeezes between her mom and grabs Maliki’s hand. “Yes!”
She skips hand in hand with Maliki to the car.
I don’t peek back at Jessa, but there’s no doubt she’d stick a knife in my back if she could.
Maliki helps Molly into her seat before we get in and turns to look at her. “Did you decide what you want to do today?” He told Molly she could choose.
Molly straightens in her seat. “Can we go to the movies, and can I get a gigantic bucket of popcorn, and then can we paint my nails like Sierra’s, and then she can maybe braid my hair later? I love my hair braided
.”
Maliki eyes me in question.
I twist back in my seat to smile at her. “Sounds like we have a plan.”
She’s giggling when we turn around, and I snatch my phone from my purse to check movie times. The theater is thirty minutes away, so we have plenty of time to decide. I rattle off the movies and let her pick.
We raid the concession stand when we get to the theater, scoring a bucket of buttery popcorn, M&M’s, Mike & Ike, and slushies.
Molly will definitely be in a sugar coma.
With me right alongside her.
Molly takes the seat between me and Maliki, and I can’t help but crack a smile at Maliki. He’s about to sit through a two-hour-long animated children’s film for his daughter. He doesn’t complain once, even when he watches the movie trailer with a horrified look on his face.
As soon as I fall down in my seat, I pour the M&M’s into the popcorn and offer it to Molly.
“I’ve never had that before,” she says, glancing up at me with an arched brow.
I push the bucket closer. “It’s the best. I promise.”
She grabs a handful, and her eyes brighten as she swallows it down. She immediately goes for another handful.
Maliki shakes his head at us with a smile.
Molly turns to look at Maliki. “You want to try some?”
His smile grows. “I’ll let you two have it all.”
“Your dad doesn’t appreciate the art of sprinkling sugar on top of everything,” I whisper to her, and she breaks out in laughter.
Molly taps her chin. “Hmm … there are way too many colors. I can’t pick only one.” She does another scan of my nail polish collection. “Can I pick however many I want?”
“Yes, ma’am, but we have to stop at ten.” I wiggle my fingers in the air. “Unless you have an extra thumb somewhere.” I grab her hand to inspect it.
She bursts into giggles. “No!”
She spins to look at Maliki. He’s in the chair, watching us. Beauty and the Beast is playing in the background, there’s an array of fingernail polish bottles scattered around us, and Molly’s hair is braided into four braids.
“Can you paint my nails while Sierra does my toenails?” she asks him.
My mouth falls open.
Maliki shifts in his seat. “Sure, but I can’t promise they’ll look pretty.”
“It’s okay. If they don’t, Sierra can redo them.”
I laugh, my hand going to my stomach, as Molly hands him ten bottles and another for “glitter on top.”
“I think it went well with the exception of Jessa losing her shit when she saw me,” I say after we drop Molly off at home.
To minimize the baby-mama drama, I gave Molly a hug at the car and stayed behind while Maliki walked her to the door. I wouldn’t let Jessa taint the fun we’d had today.
I grin over at him. “I learned something else about you today.”
“Yeah? What’s that?”
“You are a terrible nail-painter.”
“Yes, I’ve been told that by a six-year-old.”
Thirty-Eight
Maliki
I groan when the name flashes across my phone.
If only I didn’t have to answer.
I briefly wonder when is too young for a phone.
Noah has an iPod.
Maybe I can do the same with Molly and tell Jessa to only call on emergencies or to set up visitation.
“Hello?” I answer.
“I don’t want that whore around my daughter,” is the first thing she says.
Jesus. I scrub my hand over my face.
Jessa’s bullshit isn’t what I want to deal with today.
“First things first. Don’t you refer to Sierra like that again, do you hear me? Don’t you mutter a bad word about her to me, or we’ll have serious issues,” I snap.
She scoffs, “She’s married, for God’s sake. What does that teach our daughter?”
My stomach drops. I hate being reminded that Sierra married someone other than me. “The divorce papers have been signed by both her and Devin,” I bite out, shaking my head. “Not that I need to explain shit to you about my relationship, so unless you called about Molly, it’s time for us to hang up.”
“Uh, yes, you do need to explain and ask my approval if you want to see your daughter.”
I clench my fingers around my phone. “Take me to court, Jessa. I fucking dare you.”
I don’t tell her, but my attorney is already drafting a document. I want Molly’s last name changed to mine, three days a week of visitation, and a set child-support payment. But if Jessa wants to play games with me, I don’t mind asking for more.
I hang up and shop for an iPod online.
“Hey, man.”
I turn to find Dallas Barnes hopping onto a stool at the bar. “Hey. What can I get you?”
It sucks Dallas doesn’t frequent the pub as often as he used to, but it’s for a good reason. He went through a rough patch after his wife died from breast cancer. Not only was he going through hell, but he also had to take care of his daughter.
So, on the days his daughter, Maven, was with her grandmother, Dallas would come here to drown his sorrows. Sometimes, we talked. Sometimes, we gave each other a head nod, and I gave him his space. He’s a good man who found love again. We were all surprised as hell when Willow came into town, pregnant with his baby after a one-night stand. She was a town outsider but helped replace Dallas’s pain with happiness.
He smiles. “Whiskey, neat.”
I make his drink and set it in front of him. “How’s the family? Kiddos?”
“Good.” A shit-eating grin spreads along his lips as he thrums his fingers against the glass. “Speaking of kids …”
Ah shit, here it comes.
“Word has hit town, I take it?”
He nods. “Word has definitely hit town, thanks to your baby mama. She did things way different than Willow.” He shakes his head. “Sierra told Lauren your little one is around Maven’s age and starting school here. Maybe Maven can put her at ease, having a friend there.” He takes a drink and laughs into his glass before pulling it back. “Want to schedule a playdate?”
I chuckle. “Look at us, scheduling fucking playdates.”
“Playdates are the easy part. You wait until you’re singing along with Disney songs and having tea with stuffed bunnies and—I shit you not—holding straight conversations with them. Winnie-the-Pooh loves extra honey with his tea, and her American Girl doll prefers coffee with extra cream.” He takes a drink. “And be careful about the people you have her around. My pain in the ass sister is the one who introduced her to coffee.”
“Lauren does love to stir up trouble.”
“That she does. I told her to wait until her little one grew older. I’ll be getting her right back.”
I pour him another drink and hand it to him, lowering my voice. “How’d you do it? Raise a daughter by yourself?”
Technically, I have Jessa but don’t consider her a part of my team until she cooperates with co-parenting and keeps her opinions to herself. I understand her concern, but it’s not like Sierra’s a bad person, nor did Jessa have an issue with her being around Molly until she found out I was dating her.
Dallas raises his glass and his brow at the same time. “You’re not raising her on your own. You have Sierra.”
Thirty-Nine
Maliki
“Is Jessa coming to the festival?”
I shrug at Sierra’s question. “Maybe.”
Didn’t ask. Don’t care.
I tend to tune Jessa out when she’s not talking about Molly, but I might’ve caught the end of her saying she was coming.
“She has a new boyfriend and has been too busy making his life more miserable than mine. I’ll take it,” I add.
Jessa has become tolerable now that she’s grasped Sierra isn’t going anywhere. The signed custody agreement and the new boyfriend have helped, too.
“Good riddance,” Sie
rra mutters. She aims to steer clear of Jessa as often as she can.
We turn around when Molly comes into the kitchen.
“You ready for the festival?” I ask.
“Yes!” Her excitement dies down, her smile replaced with a frown. “I won’t have any friends there to play with me though.” Her attention shoots to Sierra. “Will you play with me?”
“Duh,” Sierra replies. “There will be a lot of kids there. I bet you nine million dollars you’ll meet new friends and then ditch me to hang out with them.”
“No way. I love hanging out with you. You and Aunt Ellie are my best friends in the whole wide world,” Molly argues.
“You and Ellie are my best friends in the whole wide world,” Sierra replies.
“Hey, what about me?” My palm goes to my chest as I fake offense. “Don’t I get a friendship bracelet in this mix?”
Molly shakes her head. “You don’t paint your nails, Dad. You have to do girl stuff to be best friends. You’re my dad who gives me pizza and takes me swimming!”
Dad. It still sounds surreal, being called that.
I’m a dad.
It took Molly a while to call me that—understandable—and the first time she did, swear to fucking God, it was music to my ears. My chest lightened, and I held myself back from jumping in the air with a raised fist.
We get into the car and make the short drive to the benefit festival. Dallas texted me the other day and invited us. His family is throwing it to benefit a local who was recently diagnosed with cancer.
It’ll be my first time at a benefit.
I’ve donated bar gift cards to them but never attended one.
It’s a family thing—full of fried food, face-painting, and children’s games.
Just Roommates Page 24