“You guys know?” I shriek, walking into the room, putting my hands on my hips, and looking at all of them as they all roll their eyes at me. This last week has been me dodging them and their questions.
Every single time they walked in the room, I picked up the phone and pretended I was talking to clients. It did help I was also very busy this week seeing new clients. I managed to book four of the five I saw, so deflecting was easy. But I guess I wasn’t that good at deflecting.
“How can we not know?” Sofia crosses her hands on the papers in front of her. “I’m babysitting.”
“Who said it’s a date?” I fold my arms over my chest. “It could be the two of us going out to discuss co-parenting.”
“Is it?” Clarabella asks, her eyebrows going up. “How did he phrase it?”
“Well,” I start to say, trying to think of a lie, but I’m the worst when it comes to lying. I can’t do it to save my life. “He said, let’s get together to talk.” I avoid looking at everyone as I glance at the ceiling and around.
“Did he?” Shelby asks, and when I look at her, I see her folding her lips. “Is that what he said?”
“Well, more or less,” I finally stutter and Clarabella shakes her head.
“So he didn’t ask you to go on a date with him?” Presley accuses as she taps her pen on the desk.
“Ugh,” I say, throwing up my hands. “Yes, yes, he did.”
The four of them clap their hands together to cheer. “So are you going to wear sexy panties, in case?”
Yes! my head screams, but I shake my head from side to side. “In case what?”
“Oh, come on,” Clarabella chides, “you have to ask yourself if it is as good as you thought it was.”
“I might have, maybe,” I admit to them, “but I just can’t sleep with him.”
“Why not?” Shelby asks me, her eyebrows pinching together. “You are both single adults.”
“Yes, but it’s more complicated now.” I spit out the words I’ve been telling myself since last week when he kissed me.
“You sleep over at his house almost every night,” Sofia states, shocked. “Are you telling me that you sleep in separate beds?”
I gasp. “How do you know?” The words are a whisper. Ever since my place lost power, we have been spending quite a few nights there. The next night, we somehow still didn’t have electricity because a tree fell in the middle of the road and knocked down a pole, so I took his offer up to sleep at his place. Then when the power did come back on, the house was an oven. Even being in it for a couple of minutes, we had sweat pouring down our faces, so again we slept over. I even did my class there last night in the office, and when I finished, Avery was already asleep, so I caved to staying again. But tonight, I am going back to my place.
“We live around the block,” Sofia reminds me. “We went out on a date two days ago, got home after one, and your car was in his driveway.”
“I didn’t have power,” I defend quickly, “and he offered.”
“What else did he offer?” Clarabella winks at me.
“I’m leaving.” I turn around. “I’ll see you when I drop off Avery.”
“Don’t forget to shave!” Clarabella hollers before she laughs.
“And wear panties you are okay being ripped off you,” Presley adds, and I turn to look over my shoulder at her. “What? If you have been sleeping at his house all week long and haven’t given him anything, that man is walking a fine line and he’s about to snap so… Poof.” Her two hands come up in fists and then open. “Gone.” She is not wrong. The two of us have been playing this game of cat and mouse, and I, for one, am ready to snap. At this point, I don’t even know who is the cat and who is the mouse, but something has to give. It’s the little touches while we prepare dinner; it’s the kisses right before I go to bed. It’s the fact I know he’s sleeping so close to me. It’s him getting up in the morning and coming down without a shirt on, showing me at least one thing has changed since the last time.
His abs are so much more defined, which is saying something since he had an eight-pack the last time.
It’s the way he’s with Avery. It’s the way that he slides his hand into mine when we walk out the door, even just to go to the backyard. It’s the way that he’ll sit on the couch and watch mindless television with me just to sit next to me. It’s the way he set up his office, so I can study, and keeps Avery busy.
It’s everything that he’s done since he found out about her.
“Have a great weekend,” I mumble to them as I make my way over to my purse, grabbing it and leaving work.
“Be safe!” I hear Presley shout.
“Yeah, yeah,” I mutter as I make my way over to my car. I pick up Avery from daycare, who is going on and on about going to Sofia’s house. I should be happy that she is the friendliest kid I’ve ever met. She is so social and never once is shy about anything.
My phone rings the minute I walk into the house, and I look down and see it’s Stefano. “Hello,” I answer, my stomach feeling like I’m going to throw up from all the nerves.
“Hey.” His voice sends shivers up my body. “What time will you be over to drop off Avery?”
“Where are we going?” I ask him, and he just laughs.
“I told you it was a surprise.” He laughs again.
“Okay. What should I wear?” I ask him and his laughter stops.
“If I tell you nothing, what will you do?” His voice comes out so low that if he was in front of me, he would see my cheeks get all pink.
“I’ll be at Sofia’s at six,” I tell him, not answering his question. “Bye.” I hang up the phone and go over to my bedroom, opening up the closet.
“What screams I want to have sex with you, but I don’t want you to know I want to have sex with you?” I ask the hangers in front of me. I move one hanger at a time, contemplating what I’m working with. The only thing I have that is even remotely sexy is the light-green skirt I bought through one of those Instagram ads one night. I grab a white, silky, sleeveless, tank bodysuit that goes very low in the back.
I take a shower, making sure everything is cleaned up. I can hear them laughing in my head. “If I get into an accident and they have to cut off my clothes, do they want to see that? No.” I try to avoid looking at myself in the mirror because deep down inside, I know the reason I did that was just in case. I let my hair loose, using my hands to shake out the curls, and opt to just add some mascara to my lashes.
I slip on the tank body suit, clipping the two snaps together before I slide on the skirt. It is tight on my hips and goes down to my midcalf in the back, but the front is cut up to the middle of my thigh. My whole right leg is out, and when I walk, the other leg comes out, too.
“You’re pretty, Mommy,” Avery says when she comes into the bedroom.
“Thank you.” I smile at her before slipping into see-through, low chunky heels.
At five thirty, I grab Avery’s bag and my clutch purse I planned for tonight as we make it down to the car. I try not to second-guess every single thing as I drive over to Sofia’s.
I pull into the driveway and see Stefano is already there. I open the back door, and Avery jumps out as I grab her bag. She runs in ahead of me to the front door, ringing the bell and then looking over her shoulder at me.
The front door is pulled open by Sofia, who smiles down at Avery, and then looks at me and her
mouth hangs open as her eyes go big. “She came to play.” She puts her hands over her head and claps them.
“I want to play!” Avery yells, jumping up and down.
“Uncle Matty got you a present,” Sofia says as Avery runs into the house as if she’s here all the time.
“Well, well, well.” Sofia folds her arms over her chest. “Damn, girl, you.”