Erin wrapped me in another enormous hug and whispered in my ear, “You’re an angel, Laney.” I guess it wasn’t such a silly idea after all.
On the front walkway Bailey stopped me. “Sorry if that whole Kia thing made you uncomfortable. I was so focused on annoying Nate I didn’t really think about making it weird for you. Honestly, that girl has had the biggest lady boner for Nate for so long I’m actually relieved I brought her here tonight. Hopefully she’ll leave me alone about it now that she sees he’s officially taken,” she said.
I had no response. Luckily, she seemed to not need one as she waved and jogged to her car.
Nate walked the rest of us to the Jeep. He opened the passenger door for Rocco and me. Before he closed it, he leaned down toward me. “Text me so I know you got home safe.”
All signs indicated Laney Monroe had just gotten herself a boyfriend.
Eek!
Chapter Thirteen
It’s a Gray Area
NATE
Nate: So what night is best for you this week?
Laney: For what?
Nate: For our second date?
Laney: When did I agree to our first date?
Nate: It was implied. You had dinner with my parents and a psychotic person. I really should count that as two dates.
Laney: Ha.
Nate: Just so you know, Gavin is available to babysit on Wed or Thurs.
Laney: You’re involving my brother in this? That’s extortion—you’re his boss.
Nate: It’s a gray area. How about Wednesday? I’ll cook for you. Don’t worry, I didn’t learn from my mom.
Nate: I’m getting gray hair over here waiting.
Laney: Wednesday. I can be ready at 6:30.
Nate: I’ll pick you up. Later, Laney.
Laney sure knew how to get under my skin. Not to be cocky, but I knew she was into me, so I couldn’t figure out the reluctance on her part. I’d never had to work so hard to get a girl to date me, and there had never been a girl I was so eager to date before. She did things to me I couldn’t explain. I must have replayed our two kisses in my head a hundred times, many of those times occurring in the shower with my hand in full participation, I am not ashamed to say. I also found myself thinking of her at the oddest times—like when I went to the grocery store and saw some chocolate chip cookies, it reminded me of the ones she’d made (and the kiss involved). Or when I picked up some supplies at Home Depot, I bought a flashlight because I’d noticed Laney didn’t seem to have one. This girl was firmly rooted in my head.
Maybe the reluctance on her part was because of Rocco—I suppose that made sense. I’d never dated a single mom before, and it was bound to be more complicated. I confess I don’t know the first thing about kids, but I like them well enough. I’d just never had the chance to spend a lot of time with them. Rocco seemed like a cool little guy—maybe a bit shy and kind of unpredictable but that was okay. It was becoming clear that being a single mom was no picnic, but Laney seemed to be doing a stellar job from my inexperienced viewpoint. Rocco was well-behaved and everybody seemed to love him.
Hell, I was beginning to think maybe my mom had the right idea about pairing my dad up with the kid. They’d been having their own little club meeting at the dinner table last night. Truth be told, I was a bit jealous. Huh, that was unexpected. I wanted Rocco to prefer me to my dad—maybe that was a bit juvenile but there it was. I made a mental note to look up some G-rated jokes on the internet.
But I’d gotten a yes from Laney for Wednesday and I was determined to win her over. Crap, now I had to impress her with my cooking, which I may have oversold a touch. Since spaghetti is just about the only thing I can cook, it looked like we’d be having Italian.
On Tuesday I got a call about another hiccup with a project out on the east side of town, so I spent most of the morning there. Bailey and I had met with Doug yesterday and, just as my mother predicted, he was eager to step up and help us out with some of this troubleshooting, paperwork, and scheduling. Today’s debacle sealed the deal in my mind, and I was determined to call Doug in on this new issue and have him take it over. This new resolve had me grinning on my walk to my truck this afternoon. That’s when my phone rang. Laney. My grin turned into a full-out smile and I believe I may have started to swagger.
“Hey, Beautiful, what’s up?”
“Nate, thank God.” She sounded harried.
“What’s wrong?” I felt my stomach drop.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to panic but I’m in a bit of a bind and I didn’t know who else to call.”
My breathing returned to normal. “I’m glad you called me. What can I do?”
“I’m completely stuck here at work. We have a deadline that there is no way we can meet if we don’t all stay late. Rocco’s daycare closes at 6:15, Fiona is out of town, and Gavin’s not answering his phone. It’s already almost 5:00 and I have nobody to pick him up. Can you please, please, please pick him up for me and stay with him until I can get ahold of Gavin? Or can you somehow find Gavin and have him pick Rocco up? Anything!” She was sounding panicked again.
“Calm down. I got it. I’m done here so there’s no reason to involve Gavin. I can swing by and pick up the squirt. Where’s the school?”
She released a huge sigh. “Thank you, Nate. Thank you so much. I’ll have to call the school and authorize you to pick him up first, but that won’t take long. He usually expects me at about 5:15 so do you think you can go soon?”
I told her it was no problem and got the information I needed from her, including the spot where she hides the spare key to her house—on the top of the door jamb, if you can believe that. That particular hiding spot would be changing tonight.
Now that I knew she was feeling better and all was well, I thought a little bit of ribbing was in order. “I have to say I’m a bit surprised you called me, Laney. We’re not even dating or anything.”
“Shut your face, Sparky.”
I drove up to Cornerstone Daycare around the same time as every other parent in town, it seemed. I showed my I.D. to the woman in the front office as Laney had instructed, and I found Rocco’s classroom right where she said it would be. At least the teacher had told him to expect me instead of his mom or I’d be more apprehensive than I already was. It wasn’t like the kid and I were super tight yet.
When I walked in the room there was a guy about my age directing his kid to get his belongings from the lockers across the room. “Tucker, grab your stuff—we’ve got to go!” The kid was wearing a bright pink shirt with the collar popped and dark blue shorts with—were those fucking flamingos? I looked back to the guy, expecting to find the mortified look any man whose kid was dressed like that should be wearing, but no, nothing. This guy’s wife must either have his balls in a vice or be a champion at blowjobs.
I looked around for Rocco, confident that whatever he’d be wearing would be cool because, let’s face it, his mom was awesome. I wasn’t disappointed. Rocco sat at a table building a giant Lego skyscraper and wearing a t-shirt that said “Support Our Troops” and had a Stormtrooper on it. Classic. I also noticed he seemed to be humming to himself and his nose was doing that twitching thing again.
“Yo, Rocco!” I called so he’d know I was here. Before he could acknowledge me, the pink-shirted kid approached him.
The pussy-whipped dad motioned to the Lego table. “Is he yours?”
For some reason I didn’t want to think about too much, I replied, “Yup.”
The guy crossed his arms and nodded. “It’s really great that he’s in school with all the other kids … you know.”
What. The. Fuck.
“No, I don’t know. Please enlighten me.” My voice grated and my body turned to stone.
He could not have looked more uncomfortable if a dozen Playboy bunnies had been pointing at his dick and laughing. “Just, you know, he’s got some issues, right?”
And just then, out of the corner of my eye I saw the little flamingo bastard swing his hand and knock over Rocco’s skyscraper.
We were done here. I used what I like to think of as my Bruce Banner pre-Hulk voice and laid into the prick with the perfect level of quiet power. “The only issue he has is that he’s at a school with a bunch of stuck up assholes like you and your kid. Tell your kid if he ever messes with Rocco again I’ll be giving my kid free reign to punch him in the nuts. And while you’re at it, try growing a set of balls yourself and tell your wife to shop where they sell boy’s clothes.”
I stalked over to where Rocco sat dejectedly staring at his ruined masterpiece. “Hey, kid. Wanna get out of here and get some ice cream?”
His watery eyes came to mine and he twitched his nose. Then he nodded and took my hand.
One stop at SweetFrog (By the way, what ever happened to DQ?) and another at Home Depot and we were headed back to Laney’s. Rocco remained pretty quiet, but I’d gotten a few smiles out of him and we’d exchanged a couple jokes. His were clearly made up and made zero sense but I laughed anyway. I’m no idiot.
I retrieved the “hidden” key, and after unlocking the door I placed the key inside the fake rock I’d purchased at Home Depot and set it in an inconspicuous place by the side door. I thought I would see if Rocco wanted to throw a ball around or play something outside, so I went in search of outdoor toys. The coat closet by the door seemed to be the best place to start looking; however, when I opened it an avalanche of purses, coats, shoes, and, oddly, unopened mail spilled around my feet. Hmm. What to do now? Since I didn’t spot any sporting equipment, I decided to shove everything back in and pretend I’d never been there. It appeared Laney didn’t mind a bit of clutter, to put it nicely. After that I thought it best to enlist Rocco’s help, and we located a soccer ball in his bedroom.
I was no soccer player and it was safe to say Rocco was even less of one, but we still had a good time kicking the ball around the yard. We made up our own game, the rules of which he changed every time he started losing. I didn’t care one bit. The kid and I were having fun. Rocco ran to the big tree in their backyard, declaring himself the victor, and I finally lay on the ground in submission. I stayed there for a minute looking up into the branches of the tree, and then Rocco came over and lay down right next to me. I put my hands behind my head and noticed him mimic my movements. It may have been the single most adorable thing I’d ever seen, and I felt a tug in my chest. Then a thought occurred to me.