I smiled at Marco’s mini-me. “Hi, Dylan.”
He shifted a little closer to his dad’s leg. “Hi,” he replied quietly and clutched a soft toy to his chest. On closer inspection I realized the toy was a miniature of Sulley from Pixar’s Monsters, Inc.
I swear I almost melted all over the floor. “Sulley is one of my favorites.” I gestured to the toy.
Dylan’s eyes widened slightly.
“Do you like Lightning McQueen too?” I referenced the hero of the Pixar movie Cars.
Dylan nodded.
“He loves Pixar movies.” Marco smiled softly. “You and he would get on great.”
I knew my smile was a little sad when I replied, “He’s fantastic. I think everything turned out the way it was supposed to for you, Marco.”
Determination etched his features. “It’s not all done turning itself out. Obviously.”
There wasn’t really a way to reply to that, but I didn’t have to. An attractive brunette had approached, grabbing my attention. She stopped beside Marco, touching his arm to get his attention too. “You’re not leaving just yet, are you, Marco?”
Marco stared at her a second and I knew him well enough to know he was distracted by the unspoken conversation between us, so it took him a while to process what she had asked. “Uh… I’m just picking Dylan up for my weekend with him. We have other plans today.”
The woman’s gaze flicked to me, and I could see the unhappy question in it. “Marco is one of the few single dads we see at the center. As you can imagine, he’s very popular.” The question suddenly became a back-off warning as she said to me, “I haven’t seen you here before. Which little rascal is yours?”
I wanted to vomit at her fakeness, her saccharine tone. “Oh, I don’t have a kid. I just come here to see if any of the single dads are looking for a ‘playdate.’” I gave Marco an exaggerated wink. “Marco’s a good playdate. One of the best.”
She looked aghast as Marco did a horrible job of choking back his laughter. “I… uh…” She looked at him and then back to me, consternation wrinkling her brow. “I, well, I’ll… uh… see you next time then, Marco.” She backed off, hurrying across the room toward a little girl.
Marco laughed. “Playdate?”
My eyes still on the brunette, I replied, “She wants a playdate with you.” I looked back at him, my gaze turning suspicious. The ugly heat of jealousy churned in my chest like heartburn. “Maybe she’s already had one.”
“Leah and Graham only moved to Morningside two months ago, and you and I were regular playdates then. Since we stopped, there haven’t been any other playdates for me.” He raised an eyebrow as he unconsciously reassured an increasingly restless Dylan with a squeeze of his hand. “But it’s good to know you’re jealous.”
“I’m not jealous.”
His grin was heated and knowing. It was a grin that reminded me of everything we’d had only a few short weeks ago.
I wrinkled my nose at him. “I have to get back to the girls.” My gaze moved to Dylan. “It was nice to meet you, Dylan. ’Bye.” I gave him a small wave.
“’Bye,” he answered with his serious little-boy expression.
Feeling emotional all over again, I whispered to Marco, “He has your eyes. He has your everything.”
The muscles in Marco’s jaw flexed, and I knew he was trying to hold himself back from saying something. To help him along, I gave them another small wave and walked away from them toward Liv and Joss.
The girls were silent as I took a seat with my back to Marco and his son.
“Is he gone?” I asked, staring doggedly ahead.
Liv looked over my shoulder. “Yeah. He just left with his beautiful little boy. Seriously? Those two together? Wow.”
“You’re crazy. You know that, right?” Joss said casually before taking a sip of a fresh cup of coffee.
“Why?”
“For giving up on a man who looks at you the way Marco does. I thought Braden could be all brooding and possessive with a single look, but Marco is in his own league.”
My heart skipped a beat, causing an unpleasant flutter in my throat. “What?”
Liv nodded her agreement. “Hannah, the look on his face when you were talking to Dylan… oh, my God, he couldn’t take his eyes off you.”
“It was hot,” Joss added. “Possessive. Hot.”
“Tender too. Sweet. Kind of adoring.” Liv sighed.
Joss smirked. “Best. Look. Ever.”
With my heart now banging away in my chest, I threw them both a dirty look and said determinedly, “You won’t deter me with talk of hot expressions. Marco and I are over.” Now if the rest of me could just get on board with that, life would be fantastic.
I didn’t know what to expect from Marco in his attempts to win me back. I guess I expected much of the same treatment as before – unexpected appearances in all the places where I spent my spare time.
A slow seduction.