by Claire Adams
“I hear you there,” he said, looking over at his lawn. “Hey, I, uh, I was given some tickets to the local baseball team’s game tomorrow, and I was wondering if you would be interested in going with me?”
“That’s really sweet, Steve,” I said, smiling at him. “I really do love baseball, and it’s probably one of the last games of the season, right?”
“Yeah, they only have like two left,” he said. “Though I don’t think they have any chance of making the championships this year.”
“I really appreciate the offer, but unfortunately, I can’t,” I said, trying to look really disappointed. “The little boy who I watch, his mom has some plans tomorrow, and I am scheduled to be there pretty much all day. She didn’t give me a time when I would be done, so I can’t really dedicate myself to anything else. But I really appreciate it; it was a really sweet offer.”
“Gotta keep the money coming in,” he said, with an awkward chuckle. “I understand.”
Immediately I felt bad since the strained happy look on Steve’s face was not covering up his disappointment at all. I hated hurting people’s feelings; it made me feel like total shit, especially since I wasn’t the most outgoing person ever, so I knew what it took for him to come ask me to the game. I took my other glove off and tossed it to the side and smiled.
“You want to come inside and have a glass of lemonade?”
“Sure,” he said, brightening up.
We walked into the house and down the hall to the kitchen. Steve sat down at the kitchen table, and I walked over to the cabinet where the glasses were. I still hadn’t taken the glasses down from the top shelf where my ex had put them since he was much taller than me. I stood up on my tip toes and reached back, grabbing two glasses. When I set my heels back on the ground, I whirled around, heading for the fridge. My eyes passed over Steve’s face and I could tell from his quick movements that he’d been staring right at my ass. I had to admit it was a little flattering, feeling someone’s eyes on me and knowing they liked what they saw, but it was Steve, my next-door neighbor. I knew he’d had a crush on me; he had ever since I moved in, way back when I was still married. My ex had always joked about having Steve as my backup in case I ever kicked him to the curb. Funny how at least half of that had come to fruition, talk about foreshadowing.
Steve was a nice guy, the kind of guy who every girl wishes they could find, but when they find him, they move over to the friend zone list because he is just that reliable and trustworthy. I wasn’t ready for anything more than a glass of lemonade with Steve, or anyone else for that matter. Taking another chance on love seemed absolutely terrifying after what I had been through. I had slowly been starting to build my life again after losing first my baby, and then my husband. Now I had our two-bedroom townhouse and tiny little yard all to myself and was finally starting to feel a little bit better about life.
Steve was a really nice guy, and had always looked out for me, especially after he found out what happened with the baby and with my ex, but still, there was something about him that gave me pause. I just wasn’t attracted to him in that way, although he was a decent looking guy with a really big heart. But that lingering sense of unease kept me from seeing him as anything other than the nice guy next door. He wasn’t even someone who I really wanted to spend more time with than it took to drink a glass of lemonade. Maybe it was my past that was doing it, but either way, I was content with continuing on my path moving forward as I tried to recover from the tragedy in my life.
I crossed over and sat at the table across from Steve, making small talk about the weather, sports, and how he was doing at his job. When we were done with the lemonade, he looked down at his glass sadly, as if his time had expired. He handed me the glass and stood up, clearing his throat.
“Well, thanks for the lemonade,” he said. “I’m going to go start dinner. Have a good evening.”
“You too, Steve,” I said kindly, smiling back at him. “And have fun at that ball game tomorrow!”
“I’ll try,” he said, somewhat awkwardly as he headed for the front door and closed it behind him.
The smell of his cologne lingered in the air around me, and I thought about how nice it was to have the scent of a man in the house again; it had been a long time. I started to question myself about why I wasn’t attracted to Steve. I sat back down in the chair and stared off into the distance trying to picture him in my head. However, as the shape of a man appeared, I recognized the face, but it was anyone but Steve. Steve was blonde with blue eyes and glasses, with a slight belly that hung over his baggy fitting khakis. The man in my head was anything but paunchy and had dark hair and dark striking eyes. I quickly realized I was picturing Luke, Jake’s father, not Steve, and it threw me off for a moment. I shouldn’t be picturing this man, he been fighting with my employer right in front of me just the day before.
Oh, but those lips and that rock-solid body seemed to pulse and shimmer in my mind. His smile was perfect, like a damn toothpaste commercial, and it made him look extremely charming. He had some seriously rugged good looks with his five o’clock shadow and chiseled chin. On top of all of that, the way that he treated his son made him ten times more attractive in a way that went beyond physical acuity. He was definitely a man who was worth being attracted to, not that it really mattered. He was my employer’s ex-husband, who she was claiming was abusive, on top of many other things. Even if all of that were as false, as I had a feeling it was, why would he be interested in his son’s babysitter? Especially the one who was taking care of his son for his ex-wife, who happened to be paying her from his bank account. Besides, if I listened to what Sarah had said about him during her ten-minute rant, he was definitely not the kind of guy looking for anything serious. According to her, he was more than enjoying playing the field with some of the young girls from the university he worked for.
I sighed and tapped my glass against the counter before pulling myself up and tossing the glasses in the dishwasher. What I needed right then was a nice hot shower to wash off the labor of the day and calm my crazy mind down. I flipped the kitchen light off and locked the front door before heading upstairs and grabbing some clean clothes from my bedroom. As I looked around, I was really glad I had decided to redo the whole house after my ex left; it made things a little easier. As I walked out of the bedroom, I paused, momentarily staring at the closed door across the hall where the nursery once stood. Now it was just an empty room that I swore I would turn into a guest room one of these days. I took a deep breath and kept going, walking into the bathroom and turning on the shower.
I undressed carefully, making sure not to leave a pile of dirt on the floor from my gardening clothes, and took in a deep breath of the steam billowing from the shower. I carefully stepped inside and sighed as the hot water rushed over my back and shoulders, covering me with the warmth of cascading hot water. I pulled out my hair tie and stuck my head under the stream of hot water, leaning back and closing my eyes. As the water ran over my scalp I imagined myself close to Luke, my body pressed firmly against his broad chest, the warmth of his skin igniting something inside of me.
I reached over and grabbed my loofah, piling soap on it and running the silky material over my skin. The thought of Luke naked was definitely arousing, and I could feel the heat growing between my legs. As I moved the loofah down my stomach, I closed my eyes again, imagining the lathered sponge was Luke’s hand, growing closer and closer to my wet pussy. The fabric moved over my abdomen and swooped down between my legs, sending a pulsing of pleasure through my stomach. I moaned softly into the cascading water, already knowing that this man had burrowed himself into my brain with his strong muscles and slicing eyes. He was one of the sexiest men I had ever met, and I couldn’t even start to get him off my mind, or out of my shower for that matter.
I took in a deep breath and moved the loofah down my legs, washing the dirt off my calves and ankles. The last thing I needed to be doing was daydreaming about some man who I would probably n
ever see again, especially with Sarah’s very stern instructions. I needed to stay grounded in reality, knowing that I was taking the steps to pull myself out of the rut that I had fallen in after my divorce. Jake helped me with the loss of my own child, and I loved that kid. That was where my mind needed to be. He needed a solid person in his life right now, and even if I found his father incredibly attractive, I was determined to be there for him—Jake, that is—every way I could.
Chapter Seven
Luke
I loved Sundays, especially the ones that came after my team won a game. I could relax, go to my favorite coffee shop and then walk around town, enjoying window shopping before it got too cold to do so. As I exited the coffee shop, brew in hand, I looked across the street and noticed that Sarah was walking into a boutique, her nose high in the air as usual. I chuckled to myself thinking about the perfect timing of it all, so I jogged across the traffic and stood at the door for a second. It probably wasn’t advisable for me to talk to her, but I didn’t care; she was there, and I couldn’t walk away. I entered the boutique and quickly spotted Sarah at a rack of dresses to the left. I chuckled and straightened my shirt before sauntering, nonchalantly, over to the rack and leaning against the wall behind her.
“Find any good deals?”
Sarah’s head shot up, and she slowly turned around and rolled her eyes when she caught sight of me. She groaned loudly and turned back to the rack, trying to ignore the fact that I was standing there. I had to admit that it was kind of humorous the way I irritated her with nothing but my simple presence, especially when she should be glad that I was still breathing, considering I was funding her little escapade to the dress store. I watched as she pulled a blue wrap dress from the rack and held it up to her. It wasn’t really something she would normally wear, but these days I had no idea what she was doing with her time. It would certainly give her the cleavage to land a new man. I reached over and grabbed the tag hanging from the sleeve of the dress and peered down at it, instantly dropping it and laughing loudly. She shot me a nasty glance, then looked back at the dress.
“Those prices definitely do not qualify as ‘deals,’ do they now?” I said laughing. “Of course, what would I know about women’s clothing? I’ve only been buying it for the last two years since our divorce. And since you made it impossible for me to spend time with my son with your lies, I guess that warrants your constant shopping sprees.”
“What do you want, Luke?” she said with irritation as she put the dress over her arm and moved to the next rack.
“Where is Jake?”
“Did you not hear anything I said when you came to my house?”
“Sure, but that doesn’t answer my question,” I said, pointedly. “Where is my son?”
“That is none of your business,” she said, with a snide smile. “Jake is fine; that is all you need to know. In fact, it is more than I am legally obliged to tell you since you have no physical custody, so you are most welcome. Just consider it me going above and beyond to include you.”
At that moment I really wanted to scream, I wanted to tell her how much of a complete and total bitch she was, but that wouldn’t be kosher, and it wouldn’t support the fact that I am not an abuser. So, instead of blowing up on her and creating a scene in the dress shop where she would most likely call the cops because she liked the attention, I decided that I needed to try a bit of diplomacy again. I had tried it for years, but then I got tired of always being the sensible one, so I let loose. During our marriage it was a constant discussion between us, trying to come to some middle ground instead of always fighting with each other. It never worked in our marriage, but I figured I owed it to someone I’d spent nearly a decade sleeping next to in bed. If nothing else it showed that I was attempting to resolve the issue without screaming, yelling, or being catty, which was Sarah’s thing; she was the catty bitch most of the time. I knew it probably was a waste of effort, but I didn’t want to give her any more reasons to call me out and twist what I was saying in court.
“Look,” I said, focusing on speaking calmly. “I came to talk to you civilly.”
“Yeah right,” she scoffed.
“I’m serious,” I said. “Can’t we work this custody agreement out between the two of us? Maybe something like half of the week with me, and then the other half of the week with you. Or we can alternate weeks if that will make things easier. We live so close to each other that getting him to school won’t be an issue for either of us. And I know you don’t work, and have always been a stay-at-home mom, so I promise there will be no reduction of my support or alimony payments to you, regardless of the fact that he is with me for half the time. You are getting your freedom, your money, help with Jake, and Jake and I get to see each other. It’s a win-win situation.”
I stared at her as she listened to what I was saying. She moved the clothes on the rack but after a few minutes, I started to realize that she was not thinking over what I was offering, she was completely, flat out, ignoring me. She wasn’t even willing to have the conversation about me having time with my son, which showed me she did not give two shits about how all this had impacted Jake; she only cared about herself. She wanted to have the upper hand, and if she only had fifty percent custody of him, regardless of the money, she didn’t have something to control my life with anymore. It was always about control with her, even when we were married. I felt bad for my son when he got older because she was totally going to be one of those psycho mothers.
“Sarah,” I said with frustration. “Please, stop acting like this. Please just hear me out and at least consider this agreement. Jake has been through so much and dragging him through another court battle is not what is in his best interest, nor is it what I really want to do.”
She put the dresses in her arms back on the rack and moved down an aisle. I sighed and followed her, feeling desperate to get through to her. She was going to continue to ignore me, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t get out what needed to be said.
“I really miss him,” I said quietly, trying to show my sensitive side. “He is the most important thing in my life; he always has been. You can’t deny that when we were still married, everything I did was for you and him, no matter how much we disliked each other. I haven’t done anything to warrant you taking my son from me like this. Sarah, will you stop please, and just listen to what I am saying? I deserve to be part of Jake’s life.”
I watched as Sarah scoffed and rolled her eyes, moving through the aisles. She shook her head and began to chuckle to herself, being that catty bitch I was waiting for. I clenched my jaw and stared at her.
“What you deserve is to be hit by a car. It’s your fault our marriage failed. You don’t deserve to be a father.” She laughed.
I clenched my fists trying to stop myself from lashing out at her. She was enjoying making her son suffer, and that alone made my skin crawl. If only I had a recording of this conversation to show the judge how she was using our child to get back at me and didn’t care about him one bit. How she was purposely hurting him in order to get back at me for our marriage not surviving. As it was, I didn’t have that kind of video, nor could I take it, but what I could do was control my irritation and make her look like the bad guy. It wasn’t actually hard to do, because while she thought she was being funny and coy, anyone who had ever heard her talk that way to me found it repulsive and disgusting, which was why she didn’t have very many friends.
“Why do you continue to be so hostile towards me? We have been divorced for quite a while now,” I said calmly. “You got out of the marriage and kept everything just like you wanted. Jake isn’t a pawn, but that’s how you’re treating him. You’re hurting our son by putting him in the middle of all of this. I deserve to know why you find it acceptable to treat the father of your son this way and refuse to allow me basic rights as a parent. Why you think you’re so cute and so superior that you could act like this?”
“Because it’s fun,” she said, with a shrug of her shoulders
and a smirk.
With that, she pushed her way past me and out the door, leaving me standing in the boutique pissed as hell, with the girl behind the counter trying to look like she hadn’t heard the whole thing. I took in a long deep breath and calmed my nerves, knowing getting upset wasn’t going to fix the situation. My lawyer was right; I needed to stay the course and just go with the strategy that she came up with and that I had already mentally committed to. I just had to try one last time to get Sarah to change her mind before I went and found myself a replacement wife and got in over my head once again.
I walked back outside and crossed the street, getting into my truck and shaking my head all the while. I watched as Sarah walked into another shop before I started my car and pulled away. Driving down the road toward my place, I stopped at the red light at the intersection in front of me. I looked over to my left into the park and stopped, seeing a familiar face. It was the babysitter from the other night when I went to drop the check off to Sarah. How crazy is it that they would be at this park instead of the one right across the street from my old house? It made me a little nervous thinking about approaching her since I wasn’t sure what Sarah had told her, but I couldn’t pass by without stopping.
Quinn was perched on the park bench, looking down at something, and having what appeared to be an animated conversation. Her pretty hair was blowing gently in the wind around her, and I couldn’t help but notice how attractive she was. Immediately when that thought crossed my mind, I pushed it away, realizing that the last thing I needed to be caught doing was hitting on the woman my ex-wife had hired to care for our son. Still, it was hard not to notice how her body curved down just perfectly and her big round lips pursed naturally. I looked down next to her and saw Jake, figuring he was around there somewhere since he wasn’t with Sarah. He looked a bit worried, and that was upsetting. I realized it was Jake that Quinn was having the conversation with.