“How have you been?”
“Great. Never better. You?”
“Can’t complain.”
“Sir, your change,” the cashier says.
I keep my eyes on Steven but move back toward the pay point at the register.
“You checking out?”
“Yeah,” he says.
“I’ll wait for you.”
I take my things and stand off to the side.
Less than a minute later and Steven is through the line too.
“Are those diapers in your bag?”
“Guilty as charged.”
“You’re kidding me?”
“Nope.”
“You’re a father now?”
“Baby girl. Never been happier.”
“No way. You’re bullshitting me?”
“You can’t bullshit a bullshitter right?”
“That’s true. Where is she?”
“Back at the house.”
“House? You’re living back in town too?”
“Sorry man. I’ve been meaning to call you. The station mandated overtime and I’ve been swamped.”
“No worries.” He pauses. “So you’ve got a daughter, but I don’t see a ring on your finger.”
“Adopted. But I’ve got a girl now. Can’t even tell you how excited I am about her.”
“Whaaat? Gonna pop the question?”
“Can’t do anything until I talk to her father first.”
“That’s the way to do it. Always the gentleman.”
“I hope so. Want to do things the right way.”
“Agreed. So…when am I going to get to meet her?”
“I mean…if you’re not busy you can right now.”
“I’m in. Let me throw this in my truck and I’ll follow you over.”
“Perfect.”
“Where do you live?”
“Over on Park Street.”
“Park Street? I moved there a couple years ago.”
“Really? What number?”
“Fourteen twenty-one.”
“You’re messing with me.”
“You’re close by?”
“Are you serious? Fourteen twenty-one.”
“I can show you my license if you don’t believe me.”
“I believe you it’s just…” I pass and point to myself. “Fourteen twenty-three.”
“Next door?”
“White house with the picket fence.”
“Holy Toledo.”
“What are the odds?”
“Well considering we grew up together and we did everything together it makes sense.”
“That’s just because you always copied me,” he says giving me a nuggie.
“That’s cheating,” I say trying to avoid his knuckle from rubbing my scalp any longer.
“Older brother little brother, right? That’s how it works.”
“Little brother isn’t so little anymore.”
He wraps his arm around me and we walk out to the parking lot.
I can’t believe I ran into Steven. He’s a couple years older than me, but we bonded over sports when we were younger and were best friends ever since. When I moved away to be a cop we kept in touch, but the communication slowed down quite a bit. Now that I’m back in town and have my life completely going in the right direction I can’t wait to hang out with him again and introduce him to my two girls.
CHAPTER 14
Carter
“One for you and one for me,” I say handing Steven a cold one.
“Coronas. Breaking out the top shelf stuff.”
“Only the best for my long lost brother from another mother.”
“Cheers.”
“Cheers.”
We clink bottles and take a sip.
“Speaking of mothers where’s the new dad’s girl?”
“I think she’s out back. Want to meet her?”
“You think? Your kid who wears diapers runs free?”
“She’s not a gazelle on the African plains, man. She’s in very capable hands. Here, I’ll show you.”
I motion towards the back patio and through the sliding glass door I see Alyssa playing with Brooklyn underneath the backyard canopy I installed.
“There they are,” I say.
I knock on the glass and then pull it to the side so Steven can pass.
At the sound of the knock Alyssa’s head turns around to an absolute look of shock.
“Allison?”
“You two know each other?”
Steven looks at me like a cross between I’m crazy and he absolutely doesn’t trust me anymore.
I freeze, not sure what’s going on.
Steven looks back at Alyssa and then I look at her too. Her gaze darts from Steven to me and back again.
“Hey,” she says to Steven. It’s short and terse.
“Can somebody tell me what’s going on here?” I ask.
“Can somebody tell me what’s going on here?” Steven says.
“Steven. Seriously. What’s up?” I don’t like this one bit.
“Are you kidding?” Steven asks. “You don’t know.”
“No,” I say forcefully.
“Why is my daughter in your backyard?”
CHAPTER 15
Alyssa
Carter knows my dad?
“Your daughter? She’s…babysitting my daughter,” Carter says. Oh my god I’m glad he didn’t say we were together right now.
“This is the girl you’ve been babysitting? Carter’s daughter?”
“Yeah dad. You know I’ve been babysitting all this time. I mean…how was I to know you knew each other?”
“You know about Carter. You’ve heard me speak about him.”
“You said he moved away.”
“Yeah, but…I guess you’re right.”
He pauses.
“But I thought you were off today.”
“Carter asked me to watch Brooklyn because he had errands to run.”
My dad’s eyes narrow. I can’t tell if he suspects anything or not, but I know he’s wondering what’s going on.
“Is that shirt new?”
“It’s yes it’s new.”
“Where’s the rest of it?”
“Dad, I’m moving around all day long with Brooklyn. I get hot. It’s better to wear something like this.”
“Something that shows off your stomach?”
“Just when I move, and not that much.”
“It’s tied off above your belly button.”
“There,” I say undoing it so it can hang past my belt line.
“Well,” my dad says. “This is a surprise.”
“I’ll say so,” Carter says. “I already knew Brooklyn was in good hands and now I know just how good those hands are. There’s nobody I’d trust more with her than one of your own,” Carter says.
“One of my own,” my dad says.
CHAPTER 16
Carter
Two weeks later
It literally blows my mind that I never made the connection. I mean Alyssa’s full name is Allison? How was I to know those two names are even related?
And Smith? It’s the most popular surname in the country. It’s not like it sets off any bells when you hear it.
And to think the day I bumped into Steven at store I was going to ask her when I could meet her dad. He beat me to it…in a big way.
And speaking of big who does he think he is hiding behind my shrubs right now trying to get a look inside? He’s way too big to hide behind those things, but what is even bigger is the problem I have on my hands now.
When he’s not trying to go all Navy SEAL spy on me he’s dropping by for random stuff or calling asking if I know the score to the game. The game? What year are we in? It’s not like he doesn’t have hundreds of channels of cable TV plus high speed Internet to keep him updated around the clock. And he’s my neighbor to boot so when he tries to tell me his connection is going in and out and mine’s full bars then I know what he really w
ants is to put me behind bars, as in the ones down at the station.
Things are just too dicey right now. I’m ready to go to the next level with Alyssa, but her dad’s going to freak out if I even tell him we’ve got something going on.
Thinking short term I could just tell him it’s her decision and to leave us alone if he can’t take it and support our wishes. But long term that would only cause our relationship to evaporate plus it would strain his relationship with his only daughter, and I definitely don’t want to be the cause of that.
There’s only one thing I can do right now even though I sure don’t want to.
“Alyssa,” I say.
“Hey handsome,” she says.
“How’s Brooklyn?”
“I just put her down for a nap.”
“Perfect. Let’s head into the living room and talk for a second.”
“About what?”
I can see the concern in her face and this definitely isn’t the direction I want this to go.
I take her hand and lead her into the living room, offering a seat next to me on the couch.
“I want to be with you more than anything. And when I say be with you I’m not just talking about today, tomorrow, next month, or next year. I’m talking about forever.”
“Carter, are you?”
“No. I’m not proposing. Sorry, I’m in a different headspace right now. My words aren’t translating as well as I hoped from my head to my mouth.”
“Well, what are you trying to say then?”
“Your dad. My best friend. He’s out of control right now.”
“Tell me about it. He’s probably in my room going through my things right now.”
“Actually…it’s worse.”
“Worse?”
“He’s in the bushes trying to get a look in the window.”
“You’re joking me!”
“I wish I was, and I also wish I was joking when I said it’s not the first time.”
“I’m going to go give him a piece of my mind!” she says jumping up. I grab her by the wrist and calmly pat the couch cushion. She looks at it, and then at me. She exhales hard and then sits down.
“That’s exactly what we can’t do. He’s looking for an emotional response that will tip him off that we’re trying to hide something.”
“Because we are.”
“I know, and it’s been two weeks of this now.”
“I need to just tell him the truth and to stay out of my life if he can’t handle it.”
“I need to tell him, not you. I’m a man. It’s my responsibility.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure, but I’m also sure now is not a good time.”
“What about tomorrow? Maybe we can schedule something?”
“Not tomorrow either. I thought this through and I think the best course of action is to cut back your hours a bit. Make them very professional looking. I’ll print out a schedule and give it to you so you can even put it on your fridge if you want. I want what you’re doing over here with Brooklyn to continue of course. You’re doing a great job. But I just need it to look more like a job and not so much hanging out, as he’s probably seeing it right now.”
“But it is a job. I mean I’m hanging out at the same time, but—”
“I know beautiful. And there’s nobody else I’d rather have raise Brooklyn, but for right now I need to bring my sister in to take some of the hours. The hours in the evening and maybe the weekends I’m working too.”
“But we’ve grown so close already.”
“I know that and it’s the perfect situation for everyone. It’s only temporary and once your dad relaxes just a bit and is in a more normal state of mind then I’ll go talk to him. I doubt it will take more than a couple weeks.”
“A couple weeks!”
“I’m going to pay you your full rate as if you’re working here all the hours you have been. I know this isn’t about money, but for me it’s also about principle. And as much as I hate to do this it just has to be done. I know your dad better than anybody. If I approach him now he’ll absolutely blow his top and will hate the both of us for longer than I care to imagine. I don’t want to risk alienating him from your life, especially when our family starts to grow.”
She says nothing.
This is one of those moments where my being a guy trying to explain what I’m thinking to a woman just comes out terribly. I know it. I can read it on her face and her body language.
“It’s just a couple weeks and in the grand scheme of things it will make everyone’s life better. Trust me. I’m not about to let you go.”
“Isn’t that exactly what you’re doing? You’re scaling back now, but what happens the next time another bump in the road comes? Huh? Your just gonna put me on the back burner again until you can figure it out?”
“I’m not putting you on the back burner and this is your dad we’re talking about. We’ve only got one dad in life, okay maybe two for some people, but you get the idea.”
“No I don’t get your ideas. Or then again maybe I do. Maybe this is the beginning of the end. Huh?”
“Alyssa. Come on. You know—“
“No I don’t know! Not with the way you’re acting right now.”
She stands up from the couch. I reach for her wrist but she shakes me off.
“I need to go home for the rest of today…at least. I need time to think about my future too, even though you seem to have already made all those decisions for me.”
“Come on,” I say, but it’s too late.
She runs out the door and towards her front steps.
I see her dad come out from behind the bushes as if he was just doing some gardening or something. Nice try. His bushes are at least fifteen feet from my bushes.
“Is everything okay?” he says.
“I hate you!” she says. “Both of you!”
That was exactly what I was hoping to avoid. Things just went from bad to worse real quick and I’ve got to head back to the drawing board immediately to figure out how to save my relationship with her. I’m gonna do whatever it takes to show her that she’s mine and only mine.
And this time I can’t mess it up.
CHAPTER 17
Alyssa
I run to my room and slam the door.
“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” I hear accompanied by knocking.
“Go a-way!” I yell.
“Just let me come in.”
“Go!” I yell again.
I hear my dad’s footsteps down the hall and the tears start flowing.
What’s wrong with these two. I thought being in a relationship with a man wasn’t going to be like this. And not just any man, but Carter.
Yet here we are with two “men” fighting over a girl like two high school boys. And the worst part is one is my dad!
This should be so simple. So easy.
My dad should support me and my decisions. And Carter should just tell him how things are going to be and that’s that.
But no. They both have to make things hard…possibly to the point of impossible.
Maybe Carter is over me. Maybe he needs a break after all the time we’ve been spending together. Maybe he realized that I’m better off being just his babysitter and not his baby.
I laugh in between tears. His baby? What’s wrong with me?
In a way I’m acting like a baby but it’s just because I care about us so much.
You can’t get my hopes up only to send them tumbling to the ground on a whim one afternoon. What’s wrong with him?
And he even has the audacity to tell me he’s going to print out a schedule like I work for him. And he suggests where I can put it.
Cop's Babysitter_An Older Man Younger Woman Romance Page 6