I just didn’t understand why she would want me, though. I was a single dad. I worked long hours and barely had time for my own kid. Why would that be attractive to her? Besides, I hadn’t really met her until just the other day. Still, I didn’t want to cause waves at the daycare. I didn’t have anyone else to watch Brody in the meantime if something happened.
“Hey, Ellen,” I said cautiously, like she was going to jump me at any moment. She was dressed all sexy again. How did she work in that shit? And was she doing it just for me? She was barking up the wrong tree. I just wasn’t interested.
“Hey, Jack.” Her smile was just a little too bright and her chest was puffed out a tad too much. Yeah, she was definitely trying to hit on me. How had I not seen it the other night? Oh yeah, because I was still desperately in love with my wife and all other women ceased to exist.
“Sorry I'm late again. Got held up at the office.”
“Oh, it's no problem. You know I love Brody.”
I grinned down at my son, but suddenly felt very uncomfortable being in Ellen's presence. “Yeah, he's a great kid.”
“Oh, I know, and we just had so much fun today. Brody accidentally got some paint on me right here,” she said as she fingered her collarbone, her fingers drifting down just over her breasts.
Internally, I cringed thinking that probably wasn’t exactly the way it happened. But of course she had to sexualize the situation, which made it even creepier since it involved my kid.
“Right, well, I'll be on time tomorrow.”
“Oh, don't worry about a thing,” she said, touching my arm gently. “If you're late, you just let me know. I'll be more than happy to take him home with me.”
Clearing my throat, I took a step back, gripping Brody's hand tightly in mine.
“That's really not necessary, and honestly, there are only a few people I would let him go home with,” I said bluntly. “A parent can’t be too careful these days, and I’m all he has.”
She batted her eyelashes at me in a playful manner. “Oh, I understand. Brody’s very special.”
“Right,” I said slowly. “We should go.”
I turned and walked away with Brody. Tomorrow, I would have to call the daycare and explain the situation, that I didn’t want Brody to be left alone with Ellen. She may not be a psycho, but I didn’t want her using my kid to get to me.
I grabbed Brody's backpack, slinging it over my own shoulder. “So, what do you want to do for dinner tonight?”
He sighed heavily. “I want to go to Josh’s house. Carly makes really good food, like that lasagna she made? It was so cheesy and yummy, and, and…oh, and, and…”
The kid could add and to any sentence ten times, almost like he was doing it to torture me.
“Maybe she’ll make some of those breadsticks again!”
I nodded, wishing I could do those things for my kid, but I was a terrible cook. Hell, using the microwave seemed like a challenge at times for me.
“Well, I can't make lasagna, but what if we grab pizza tonight?”
“Oh, I love pizza. Daddy, let's get pizza! Let's get pizza!” he shouted, jumping up and down.
Chuckling to myself, I helped him into the car and shut the door behind him. “Looks like we're having pizza tonight.”
We headed down to the local pizza diner, taking our seats in the back like we always did. As usual Brody wanted just plain cheese pizza, but I liked everything on my pizza. That was the benefit of splitting a pizza with him. He could have his cheese, and I could eat whatever I wanted on the other half.
As we waited for the pizza to arrive, he told me all about his day, filling me in on the finger painting incident that seemed to actually have been more of a manipulated incident on Ellen’s part, if Brody’s version was accurate. But I couldn’t pull him out of daycare, and not just because of my lack of childcare. Being in school with other kids was really good for Brody. It was a well-needed distraction, and hopefully one that would have him fully prepared for kindergarten.
The door to the diner swung open, and in walked Christy. My eyes flicked up to her face, but she didn’t see me immediately. I took a moment to look at her, appreciating the woman she had grown into. Her smile was just as radiant, except it wasn’t for me. She only smiled for other people, and I couldn’t help but wonder what I had done to take that smile away. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her. She was absolutely beautiful. I just wished I could get her to talk to me the way she used to. It felt like after I met Natalie everything just kind of crumbled between us. And I still wasn't even sure why. Maybe she didn't like Natalie, although she'd never said anything.
She walked over to the counter to place her order and I found myself standing, walking over to her. Before I could stop myself, I was talking to her.
“Hey, stranger,” I grinned.
She looked shocked to see me, and then glanced over to the booth to see Brody sitting there, waving at her and grinning like crazy. The kid didn't know her, but he was friendly with everyone in town.
“That must be Brody.”
“Yeah, that’s him,” I smiled, waving at my kid. He got out of the booth and ran over, wrapping his arms around my legs, almost knocking me into the counter. Christy stared down at him, almost like she was afraid of him.
“Brody, say hi to Christy.”
“Hi, Christy.” He buried his face in my jeans, then peeked up at her again.
“We just came here for some dinner,” I said, stating the obvious.
“Yeah, I just got busy unpacking and time got away from me.”
“That tends to happen.” Silence descended, leaving this awkward moment that I didn’t know how to handle. She cleared her throat and turned back to the counter, ready to order.
“Hi, I’ll have a small cheese pizza.”
“We have cheese pizza,” I blurted out. “Do you want to join us?”
She twirled her fingers nervously as she stared down at the ground.
“Um, you know, I was really just thinking of taking it home with me.”
“Oh, come on. We should catch up. It’s been too long. She should join us, right, Brody?”
I glanced down at my kid, and like the champ he was, he pulled through for me.
“You should. I have lots of cheese pizza.”
She laughed slightly. “Really, Jack I…you know, I have so much unpacking to do. And I was really just planning on working as I ate.”
“Yeah, but everyone needs a break, right? I mean, you just got here.”
“Yeah, but I have school starting soon.”
“Oh, you're a teacher now?”
“No, I got a job working at the daycare center.”
My face lit up like Christmas morning. I would see her more often, just like I wanted.
“Brody goes to the daycare center.”
“He does?”
“Yeah, he just turned five, so he goes into kindergarten next year.”
“That’s pretty cool,” she smiled down at him.
“Yeah, it’ll be just like old times. We’ll get to see each other all the time.”
“Right,” she chuckled nervously.
Man, I had no clue how to get back on her good side. Sure, we hadn’t seen each other in years, but why was she so hesitant to spend any time with me? I felt like I was just getting my friend back, except she didn’t want to see me.
“Come on, just a few slices won't take up much of your time.”
Brody looked up at her with that devilish charm I knew to be him manipulating Christy to get his way. “Please?”
She looked up at me with a raised eyebrow and I shrugged, giving her a charming grin. I hoped it would be enough to twist her arm.
Sighing she slung her purse over her shoulder and followed me to the table. “Fine, but just for a few minutes. I really do have to get back.”
“Of course,” I said, sliding into the seat across from Brody.
I thought maybe Christie would take the seat beside me, but instea
d she sat next to Brody.
“So, take your pick, cheese or supreme.”
She grimaced when she saw the mushrooms on the pizza. I knew she hated them. I always used to tease her when we ordered pizza in the past. As much as I tried, I was never able to get her to try them. But things were about to change.
“I think I’ll just stick with cheese.”
“Still not a fan of mushrooms, I see.” I grinned at her as I took a huge bite of my pizza, moaning when I bit into the mushroom. She shuddered as if the whole thing was disgusting. Wiping my mouth, I pointed to her pizza.
“Go ahead. I promise it’s just cheese.”
Shaking her head, she grabbed a slice. “I still can’t believe you eat fungus.”
“It’s tasty.”
“It’s fungus. It grows between dirty toes.”
“Not if you wash your feet.”
“Eww,” Brody said. “You eat toe fungus? Daddy, that’s gross.”
“It’s not toe fungus. It’s an edible plant.”
Christy stared me down. “It doesn’t matter which way you slice it, Jack. It’s still fungus.”
“Here,” Brody said, shoving her plate closer. “I’ll share my cheese with you.”
“Thanks, Brody,” she grinned, rubbing her hand on his head in a playful way. He grinned up at her, taking a huge bite of his pizza.
She took a bite, moaning as her eyes rolled back in her head. “Still the best cheese pizza in town,” she said around a bite. She wiped the grease from her face and nodded. “Definitely better than fungus.”
Brody giggled, but I wanted him to try the pizza, just to say he had. And there was only one way I knew to get him to do that.
“Brody, why don’t you try one of my pieces?”
He shook his head, backing up against the booth. “No way.”
“Really? Christy’s going to try it.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “I never said I would eat that.”
“Yeah, but…it’s just a mushroom…” I winked at her, letting her know to play along. She narrowed her eyes at me, shaking her head slightly.
Grinning, I held out the pizza just inches from her lips. “Watch, Brody. You’ll see how much she likes it.”
I hate you, she mouthed, right before opening her lips and taking a small bite. I watched in fascination as her tongue slipped out and slid over her lips, wiping away the extra sauce. Shaking my head, I set down the pizza and cleared my throat.
“See, Brody. Nothing to it.”
“Right,” Christy grimaced. “You might like it.”
Brody shook his head furiously, refusing to take a bite.
“She doesn’t like it. She’s lying.”
“How can you tell?” she asked.
“Because, Daddy says you can tell when a person is lying by their smile. If it’s pulled like this,” he said, stretching his lips tight, “then the person is lying. But if your smile is like normal, then you’re not lying.”
Christy nodded, turning to me with a shrug. “How can you argue that?”
“I have no idea,” I laughed.
“Sorry, I gave it a try.”
A slight smile split her lips, and I couldn’t tear my gaze away from hers. She was so fucking beautiful. I wasn’t sure if it was the fact that I hadn’t seen her in so long or if she had really changed that much. Either way, I just couldn’t take my eyes off her.
“How do you know my daddy?” Brody asked, breaking our connection.
“Oh, I’ve known your daddy for a long time. I used to live here a while back.”
“You did?” he asked in surprise.
“Yep, a long time ago.”
Brody slammed his palm down on the table, shock filling his face. “Did you grow up with the dinosaurs too?”
Christy burst out laughing and I covered my face as my kid basically called her ancient. She still looked as youthful as ever.
“No, I didn’t grow up with the dinosaurs. I grew up playing with dinosaurs.”
“Daddy says he’s from the stone age, or some kind of age. I can’t remember, but he’s really old.”
I watched as Christy’s eyes danced with amusement. It was the first sign that she was starting to come around. We ate in relative silence after that, each of us enjoying our pizza. I wanted to say something, anything to get her to open up to me, but she just seemed to stare around the place, not really knowing what to say or do.
“You still didn’t tell me why you decided to move back,” I said, hoping to draw her into conversation. Instead, it seemed to sour the mood. She wiped her hands on her napkin and checked her watch.
“I’m so sorry. I just realized how late it is. I have to run, Buddy.”
“Okay,” he shrugged, like any other kid, not really caring that she was leaving.
“Wait,” I said, standing as she did. “Maybe we could get together one night or something.”
“I’ll have to see how my schedule is,” she said distractedly, pulling out money from her purse.
“You don’t have to pay.”
“No, really, I’d like to leave the tip.”
She still wouldn’t look at me, and before I knew it, she was turning and heading out the door, leaving me standing there staring after her. Tossing down my napkin, I slid into the booth and watched out the window as she drove away.
Brody was practically jumping out of his skin as I walked him up the steps to Carly and Josh’s townhouse. He was so excited to see Carly again. When I rang the doorbell, Josh answered, a grin on his face when he looked down at Brody.
“Hey, little man,” he said, swinging him up into his arms.
I tried not to let it bother me. It wasn’t Josh’s fault. None of it was. I just had to keep telling myself that. Josh nodded at me, stepping aside to let me in. I walked in and closed the door behind me, nodding to Carly as she walked into the room.
“How are you feeling?” I asked.
She practically rolled her eyes at me. “Are you asking if I’ve had any more seizures?”
“I…” I looked at Josh, unsure where to go with this. He shook his head minutely, letting me know I shouldn’t go down that road.
“No, I just meant with the new baby…I know they can keep you up at night.”
“He sleeps all the time. Alessa, on the other hand, likes to wake me up in the middle of the night. And this one,” she nudged Josh, “never seems to hear her.”
“I’m a heavy sleeper,” he argued.
“Right.”
Not wanting to get involved in their marital spat, I moved on. “Well, I shouldn’t be too late tonight. Carter said he can cover the later half of the poker night.”
“It’s fine. The last time he just passed out on the couch.”
I knew she was right. The kid slept like the dead, so when he fell asleep, I could cart him home and he wouldn’t wake up once.
“Alright, well, I should get going.”
“Josh, you should go too,” she said quickly, turning her back to me.
“Uh…” Josh scratched the back of his neck. “You know, I was planning to stay home and help you out.”
“Yeah, but when was the last time you had a guys’ night?”
“Last Friday,” he retorted, not catching her obvious meaning.
She turned to him, hands on her hips. “What I was saying is that you should leave and let me have some alone time.”
“With kids,” he deadpanned.
“They’ll be playing, and then they’ll go to sleep. Go have fun.”
She kissed him on the cheek and practically shooed both of us out the door. Slamming the door as we stepped out, we both stood there awkwardly. When I took a step down, so did he. I sighed and turned to him.
“So, you’re going to town poker night?”
“I guess I don’t have a choice.”
“Should we…ride together?”
“That depends,” he raised his chin at me. “Are you going to arrest me later?”
“Why
do you ask?”
“Well, if you’re planning to, I’ll take my own vehicle so I have a getaway car.”
I huffed out a laugh and continued down the stairs. “No plans to arrest you yet, but the night is still young.”
We got in my car, the silence around us deafening. I still didn’t know what to say to Josh. Even with me finally admitting that I wanted him as a friend, things were still strained. But now that Brody was hanging out at their house, I had to find some way to bridge the gap between us.
“So, how is Carly really doing?”
“I think she’s doing good. She’s been back for several checkups, and each one turned out fine.”
“And the doctors still don’t have any idea why she had a seizure?”
“No, but they said as long as she’s on this medication, she has a pretty good chance of not having any more seizures.”
“Any talk of when she’ll get her license back?”
He laughed slightly, running his thumb over his lip. “The review is in a few more months.”
I nodded more to myself than to him. I sat there, trying to come up with something to say, but my mind was blank. Drumming my thumb on the steering wheel, I tried to come up with anything to say.
“You know,” Josh said, breaking the silence. “I don’t think I ever thanked you for what you did that day. You really stepped up for me and took over. I don’t think I would have gotten through that without you.”
“Sure you would have,” I tried to reassure him. “You’ve been in those situations before, right? I mean, you were on the run for years.”
“Yeah, but honestly, there weren’t many times that people were chasing us. We moved around a lot, but we were able to lay low most of the time.”
Shaking my head, I said what had always been on my mind. “I still don’t understand why you didn’t come to me. I could have helped you.”
“No one could have,” he mumbled as he stared out the window. “You didn’t hear them that night. They were going to keep tabs on everyone in my family. They were going to kill them.”
“You don’t know that they would have. You gave up seven years of your life instead of coming to me. Do you have any idea how many nights I stayed up looking for any sign of where you disappeared to? Your parents were devastated.”
Four Horsemen: A Small Town Romance (A Good Run Of Bad Luck Book 5) Page 8