by J. S. Cooper
“Well nothing has actually happened, so it’s not that exciting.” I laughed and then yawned. “Okay, I need to have some coffee and a shower before I come downstairs. No time to talk about my walk on the darkside.”
“I want to hear more and I want to see photos of these guys.” Cara walked towards my bedroom door. “Like do they look like creeps or are they really sexy?”
“Honestly I’m not sure. The guy I was chatting with, Jonas, had no photo.” I gave her a wry smile. “To be honest, I really had the hots for Dante. It’s a pity he was such a jerk.”
“Because he called you a bad mom?”
“Yeah, I mean, it’s not just that...” I sighed. “It’s hard to explain. Just something about him gets under my skin. Like I find so sexy and so alpha and yet, he infuriates me. I’ve never experienced anything like it before.”
“I think the problem is you find him so attractive that you’re not thinking straight. You do deserve some fun, Sadie.” She gave me a huge smile. “I mean, you’re my best friend and I love you, you know that! But I do feel like maybe, living here with me, has impacted your life. We both can’t be elderly grandmas before we hit our thirties. Now, I have three boys to think about, but you don’t kids and you know what, you need to do you. Whatever that means. I support you. Just be safe and careful and always let me know what you’re doing and I’ll be here for you. One of us needs to have some fun.”
“Oh Cara.” I walked over to her and gave her a huge hug. “You’re really the bestest, you know that right?”
“I know.” She nodded. “Now let me get down to the brats before Stephanie is here with baby Lisa.”
“Okay, I’ll be down in about half an hour. Is that okay?”
“That’s great.” She nodded. “I don’t have to leave for about another hour. So come down and we’ll get all the kids together for their fun trip out.”
“Ugh, don’t remind me.” I groaned. “This is going to be crazy.” I tried not to think about how much of a mess it was going to be going into the city with not one, not two, not three, but four kids on the train. It was something I wouldn’t have wished on my worst nightmare, but I knew I had to complete the project today and I knew that Cara wouldn’t have asked me if she hadn’t already tried every other avenue she could think of.
“Dylan, put that down.” I glared at him as he walked around with a hammer in his little hands. I had no idea where he had found it, but I certainly didn’t want him dropping it or hurting himself or anyone else. “Now.” I said in a sterner voice as he ignored me.
“Yes, Sadie.” He put the hammer down and I could see his small little eyes looking around the room for more trouble to get into.
“Go and get your brothers.” I said quickly, before he could come up with more mischief. “Tell them to get their coats. In fact, I’m going to make you my special helper today. Will you go and help them put their coats on?”
I could see him thinking as he looked at me and I held my breath, hoping he would agree.
“What will I get?”
“What?” I blinked at him. Was this little rascal trying to blackmail me?
“Will I get McDonalds if I am your helper, Sadie?” He gave me a beautiful smile and I just shook my head.
“Yeah, sure.” I said, McDonalds was a small price to pay as I held Lisa in my arms. She was a gorgeous little baby with a cute squishy face. I only hoped that she would continue to sleep and be quiet for the rest of the day. I knew that was highly unlikely, but one could surely hope. “Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.” I said out-loud and I saw Dylan’s jaw dropping as he grinned.
“You said a bad word.” He pointed at me.
“Dylan, I need you to call me mom, okay?” I said quickly, as I watched Dante walking up the driveway. “Go upstairs and tell your brothers that they need to call me mom as well.” What was Dante doing here? Didn’t I have enough going on today? I hurried to the hallway mirror and looked at my reflection to see how I looked. I stared at my reflection and sighed. I already looked like a hot mess. My hair was messy. I had no makeup on and I was wearing a boring plain navy sweatshirt with a pair of faded jeans. I was far from the glamorous Sadie, he’d seen the other night.
“What will I...” Dylan started and I cut him off.
“Anything you want.” I said quickly. “Go and grab your brothers, get their coats on and tell them we’re playing a game where you’re going to call me mom, okay?”
“Yes, mom.” He said with a grin and then ran to his brothers room. I knew that Cara was not going to be happy that I was further engaging her kids in a deception, but there was nothing I could do about it now. I hurried to the front door to open it before Dante rang the doorbell.
“What are you doing here?” I frowned at him as he walked up to the front door with a small smile on his way too handsome face.
“Nice to see you as well, Sadie.” He grinned and it was then that I noticed the bouquet of flowers in his hand. “These are for you. My way of apologizing for being a bit of an asshole the last couple of times we met.”
“A bit of an asshole? Really? Just a bit?” I shook my head at him, though I was pleasantly surprised that he had brought me flowers and was apologizing. Maybe he wasn’t such a bad egg after all. Maybe he had been thinking about me and our sexually charged night as well.
“Yeah, just a bit.” I can’t admit to more than that. He gave me a lopsided smile and my heart melted slightly. Maybe we had gotten off on the wrong foot. Maybe he deserved another chance. And then before I could continue that thought, Lisa started crying.
14
Dante
“Waaaa, waaaa.” A little baby in Sadie’s arms started crying and the smile on my face froze. I almost started laughing at the absurdity of the situation. Could this get any more insane?
“You have a baby as well?” I gazed at her, my eyes wide and my jaw wide open. I would have laughed if it wasn’t so crazy. “And it’s a red-head?” I stared at the babies face and the full head of bright red hair shone up at me like a traffic light. “So I’m guessing this one has a different father?” My voice was sarcastic, but I couldn’t stop myself. I knew it wasn’t my place to judge her, but this whole situation kept getting crazier and crazier. Who had she left the baby with when she’d gone on the date with me?
“Well, you know how it is.” She said, her face turning hard, a slight attitude in her voice. “And this one has a name.”
“What’s the name?” I said.
“Her name is Lisa, thank you very much.”
“Urr, you’re welcome.” I stared at the baby in her arms, still screaming, face red and saliva drooling down her face. She looked like an ugly prune, but I made sure to keep my mouth shut. I didn’t want to be rude towards her baby. “Do you need to do something to take care of her?”
“What?” She blinked up at me, as she gazed at me and then at the baby. “What do you mean?”
“Does she need to be changed or something?” I figured most babies cried because they had pooped themselves.
“Oh yeah, she most probably needs to be changed.” Sadie nodded, her eyes looking at the babies butt in what I thought was disgust. “Excuse me.” She said as she ran back inside the house. I followed inside and noted the slew of toys all over the ground. I watched as two of the boys I’d seen the other day came running down a hallway.
“Mom, mom, we’re ready for our McDonalds now.” The older looking of the two boys ran into what appeared to be the living room. “I want a burger and fries and a shake.”
“Dylan, not right now. I need to change Lisa.” Sadie looked at the little boy. “Can you get me the nappies?”
“What do I...” The little boy started and I saw Sadie give him a look. “Yes mom.” He ran back past me and stopped for a second. “I know you. You’re the man from the ice cream shop.”
“Well technically I was at the coffee shop.” I said and bent down to look him in the eye. “I’m a friend of your mom’s. My name is Dante.”
/> “I’m Dylan.” He said and as he grinned at me, I saw a small gap in his mouth where one of his front teeth was missing. “I’m the oldest.”
“Cool.” I said, not knowing what else to say.
“The nappies, Dylan.” Sadie said in a flustered voice and as I straightened and looked over at her, I realized that she looked like she hadn’t slept in a week. Her whole appearance was as messy as the house and a part of me felt sorry for her. I’m sure that even if she was a gold-digger, it must be hard to look after four kids by herself.
“Do you, err, need any help?” I asked as I walked over to her. She just shook her head as she wiped the babies ass. I averted my eyes from what she was doing. “So, I guess, maybe this wasn’t the best time to drop by?”
“I’m not even sure why you’re here.” She said lightly as Dylan ran back with a bag.
“Here you go.” He said and dropped it on the floor and ran over to the TV where two other boys were sitting.
“Thanks, Dylan, you’re a doll.” She said softly and then she reached into the bag and pulled out a new diaper. As she took care of the baby, I looked around the room properly. It was cosy and warm and very much a family room. There were photos of the boys all over the place and it was obvious that they were the loves of her life.
“What happened to their dad?” I asked softly as I looked back at her. “Forgive me if that’s a personal question.”
“He’s a deadbeat cheating asshole.” She made a face. “He’s a jerk.”
“I’m sorry.” What sort of man would just leave his woman and his three or four kids? To be fair, I didn’t know how many baby daddies, Sadie had. “Same dad for all of them?”
“Of course.” She said indignantly and I didn’t ask her about the little girl with the red hair. Maybe red hair was a recessive gene? I couldn’t really remember my biology that well.
“Sorry, I’ve just got a case of foot in mouth when I’m with you, I think. I’m not normally this rude.” I bowed to her slightly. “Please accept my most formal apologies.”
“Did you just bow to me?” She started giggling as she picked the baby back up. Thankfully, she had stopped crying. “You’re a goof.”
“I try to be.” I said as I walked over to her. “And well, I guess I should apologize for the other night as well.” I said, though I had enjoyed every moment of making her cry out in pleasure.
“Yeah,” She blushed. “I just don’t understand why...” Her voice trailed off as she looked at the kids. “You know.”
“Why I stopped?” I whispered and she nodded. “I didn’t have protection.” I said bluntly and it was the truth. I’d wanted to kick myself for my that the whole night.
“Oh.” She said and blushed. “I didn’t realize.”
I nearly made a comment about that seeming to be a habit with her, but I kept my mouth shut. I didn’t need her to actually slap me or ask me to leave. I was enjoying being around her. There was something about her that was warm and lovely and I didn’t understand why I was attracted to her.
“So what are you doing today?” I asked her stupidly, not even sure where I was going with my conversation. It looked like she had her hands full, she certainly didn’t have time to go on a lunch date with me and I really didn’t want to go on a date with a single mom. “Maybe we can go out to lunch?” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.
“With the kids too?” She looked as surprised as I felt.
“Sure.” I said smoothly, a devil must have come over me to have even have thought that. Run Dante run, a voice was screaming in my head. You do not want to get involved with a pretty hot tempered brunette with four kids. “Would you be interested?”
She just stared at me for a few seconds with an expression I didn’t recognize. “I actually can’t today. I have to take the kids with me to the museum. I have to check out some exhibits for work.” She let out a long sigh and I could see that she was stressed out.
“Forgive me for asking, but can’t you get a babysitter?” I looked at the three boys in front of the TV, the baby in her arms, the toys all over the floor, her disheveled appearance and wondered why she didn’t get some help. She obviously wasn’t able to balance everything very well.
“Babysitters cost money.” She said in low tone and I studied her face. She looked too young and and top innocent to have to deal with all of this. Once again I thought of the man who had left her like this. What an asshole he had to be.
“The kids dad doesn’t pay child support?”
“Child support? Psst.” She rolled her eyes. “He’s a loser. He doesn’t pay shit.”
“I’m sorry. You do know I work for a law firm right? We can have his wages garnished if you want?”
“What wages? That man lived off Cara for years and when he realized...” Her voice trailed off suddenly. “I mean, we both lived off Cara when she let us stay here and he never bothered getting a job.” She turned around suddenly. “Hey Dylan, get your brothers ready please?”
I looked over and noticed that neither Dylan nor his brothers budged an inch from staring at some weird colorful creatures on the TV Screen.
“Dylan, did you hear me?” She said again in a soft voice after a couple of minutes had passed. Yet again, Dylan didn’t listen to her.
“Dylan, did you hear your mom?” I walked into the living room and grabbed the remote control and pressed mute. “She’s talking to you.” The three little boys turned around and looked at me with accusing eyes. I could tell from the shock on their faces that they weren’t used to much discipline. This was why boys needed a father; but I kept my mouth shut, so that Sadie didn’t think I was a sexist pig as well. “Why don’t you guys get ready?” I said again, my voice kind, but firm. “I can help you today, if you want.” I said to Sadie. “Maybe I can join you at the museum?”
“You want to join us at the museum?” Sadie’s eyes were still wide with shock and I knew she was having a hard time comprehending what was going on. Even I was shocking myself with my words. Did I really want to spend the day with Sadie and her four kids; given everything that we had already gone through.
“It would be my pleasure.” I said. “I do feel quite bad about everything that has gone on before today and well, I’d like to get to know you better.”
“I’m not going to say no.” She said after a few seconds. “I could really do with the help today. We’re going to the MOMA and I think that it’s going to be kind of crazy.”
“The MOMA huh?” Even I knew that going to the MOMA with three young rambunctious boys and a crying baby didn’t seem like the most ideal activity.
“Yeah,” She nodded. “You can back out now, if you want to. I know it’s a lot.” Her face looked so sweet and sincere in that moment that I wondered how I’d ever thought she could be on the make.
“No, I’ll come. It’ll be fun.” And as one of the little boys ran up to me and stuck his sticky hand in mine, I wondered how much I would come to regret those words by the time the evening was over.
“Monday, Thursday, Sunday.” A deep masculine voice emanated throughout the room.
“Tuesday.” Dylan shouted as he ran towards me.
“Friday.” Brody ran behind him and also shouted.
“Saturday. Saturday. Saturday.” Dylan started screaming and I looked over to Sadie to see what she was going to do. However, Sadie was preoccupied writing notes in her pad as the kids played. I could see other patrons of the museum giving us looks and I gave everyone my best smile. I looked around the room and had to admit that I didn’t quite get the exhibit. There were about 100 different blank white boards hanging by wires from the ceiling and each board had a speaker stating the days of the week in a different order. I knew I wasn’t an artist and modern art was my least favorite, but this was ridiculous. I just didn’t know what the artist was trying to achieve and apparently the boys didn’t understand it either.
“Dante, can we get ice cream, please?” Dylan stopped in-front of me and gav
e me an endearing grin. His little face was cute, but I didn’t see any of Sadie in him. In fact, I didn’t see Sadie in any of the boys. I supposed that they must look like their dad. I wondered what their dad looked like and where he was. Did Sadie still love him? Did she miss him? She must have had a very serious relationship with him if they’d had so many kids together.
“Shouldn’t we ask your mom?” I smiled at Dylan, not wanting to say yes, if Sadie was against it.
“She’s at work. Can’t ask her now.” Dylan shook his head.
“Yeah, I guess is working.” I looked over at Sadie, who was now looking down at the baby in the pram. “Shall we go and take your sister and your brothers to the cafe and let your mom work some more?”
“What?” Dylan blinked at me.
“Is that okay?” It suddenly hit me that maybe he had just wanted it to be a one-on-one moment with me. I started to feel nervous that he was going to see me as a father figure. I knew I was panicking a bit prematurely, but I had no idea how young minds worked. How quickly would it take for him to become attached to me. “We’ll take your siblings and get ice cream.”
“Okay.” He nodded. “Brody.” He shouted. “Brandon. We’re going to get ice cream.”
“Yay.” The other two boys came running over to me quickly and it was then that I saw Sadie looking over at me with an inquisitive look on her face.
“Hey Sadie, is it okay if I take the boys for some ice-cream? I can take Lisa as well, if you want.” I offered, though I wasn’t really sure I wanted to take the baby as well. I knew absolutely nothing about babies.
“You’re sweet.” She said with a small laugh. “But I couldn’t do that to you. I’ll come with you. We all deserve a little break.”
“That sounds good to me.” I watched as she tucked her long dark locks behind her ears and once again I couldn’t help but compare her children’s features to her. They just looked so different. “So the kids father, I’m guessing he was a blond?” I asked casually as we made our way out of the room.