Finally, Cash—keeping his head straight forward—turned his sights on me, but only for a fraction of a second. His nonchalance had really started to grate on my last nerve. “Like I said, Jade…you were sleeping.”
I balled my hands into fists, trying to contain my displeasure. He only meant to help, and I appreciated that, but I couldn’t ignore the frustration over the fact that her whole schedule was now turned upside down. “If she eats breakfast now, she won’t be hungry for lunch, which means her nap will be late.” I closed my eyes and counted back from ten, hoping I could rewind time to take back my ungrateful words.
“She already ate. I gave her a waffle.” His words snapped me out of my mental countdown.
“You made her a waffle?”
“Oh, shit. Was I supposed to heat it up first?” He finally whipped his entire head around to face me, brows quirked high, eyes round yet bright. “I just grabbed one out of the freezer and let her gnaw on it with her tiny little teeth. I wasn’t supposed to do that?”
We entered into a stare-off, me against him. I remained silent and frozen, unable to figure out if it was a joke, but he didn’t cave, which only made me more nervous of his sincerity. But right before I opened my mouth to question him—hoping my words didn’t come off sounding condescending—his lips split into a grin, and he returned his attention to the show.
“I followed the directions on the box.” His voice was almost monotone. Only the slightest hint of humor still lingered, even though his expression went blank. Then he peered at Aria out of the corner of his eyes and said, “Although, I think she needs a new diaper. I left that for you.”
I didn’t blame him for not wanting to change a child’s diaper, but I was also grateful he hadn’t. Stevie had done it a few times for me while I was running an errand and she watched her, but that was different. The thought of a male—any male—handling that made my skin crawl. But I didn’t have a clue how to express that without making it sound like I thought of him as a pedophile. So, rather than address it, I simply thanked him and began to pick Aria up.
The second my arm hooked beneath her bottom, the cold wetness caught my attention. I immediately set her on her feet and scrubbed my forearm against my shirt, desperate to rid myself of the feeling.
Cash chuckled beneath his breath, so softly I wouldn’t have known had I not glanced at him. It was obvious the action caused him pain, but he couldn’t stop the hilarity from rolling through him. “I told you she needed to be changed. Did you not believe me?”
“I guess I didn’t imagine it was that bad considering you let her sit on the couch.”
He flicked his chin to the now vacant cushion beside him, and once more, his lack of eye contact gnawed at my consciousness. “I put a towel down. She was fine.”
“And when would you have decided to wake me up to take care of it?”
“When she soaked through the towel. I figured I still had an hour or so before that happened.” His left shoulder lifted a few degrees in the most pathetic one-sided shrug I’d ever seen. “It can be washed. No big deal.”
I waited a few seconds to see if he’d look my way, and when he didn’t, I was left with no other choice but to leave the room. I grabbed the towel off the couch and took Aria’s hand in mine to lead her back to her room for a fresh diaper.
After cleaning her up and giving her a new outfit to change into, I took a moment to compose myself. I still couldn’t figure out why Cash refused to make eye contact. Surely, cartoons were not that riveting. I ran my fingers through my hair—well, I tried to. That’s when I realized I probably looked like Medusa and had scared him so badly he couldn’t look at me. Curly hair was nothing to play with first thing in the morning, and considering how fast I’d jumped out of bed and ran into the living room, I hadn’t thought twice about the rat’s nest on my head.
I took the elastic band off my wrist and tied my unruly locks back, piling it into the best topknot I could without heavy amounts of detangler and a brush. Leaving Aria with the task of dressing herself—she’d recently started to pitch a fit anytime I tried to help—I made my way back to the living room, taking a seat on the other sofa, but close enough to Cash.
He was still in the same position as when I’d left the room, feet on the edge of the table, ankles crossed, mug in hand…and eyes on the television. When I glanced to the side to see what he’d found so fascinating, I couldn’t help but laugh.
“I didn’t take you for the type to watch Barbie’s Dreamhouse.”
He took a sip of his coffee and said, “It was on, and Aria liked it.”
My jaw clenched, my teeth so close to grinding. It was odd because I wasn’t angry with him or his interest in the cartoon. Nor was I still jumpy over the situation I’d woken up to. My irritation was more spurred on by self-esteem than anything, which only further confused me. It wasn’t like I wanted him to stare at me or tell me I was pretty, but when someone took such effort to avoid looking at you, it stung.
“Did she wake you up this morning?” I tried again, hoping to engage him in conversation.
“Nah, I was up. Heard her crying and figured if you didn’t, it meant you still needed sleep.”
Well, at least I got more than two words out of him that time. Next step was to get him to take his focus off Barbie and actually participate in a discussion. I didn’t care what it was about, just as long as he didn’t act like I wasn’t in the same room—literally a foot away from him with only an end table and two armrests between us.
Just then, Aria skipped into the room, her shirt on backward, and climbed up next to Cash. Other than a hug in her room after her diaper change, she’d barely acknowledged my existence—seemed to be a theme with these two. I took a moment and observed them. Aria sat ramrod straight, not at all relaxing, which led me to believe she hadn’t allowed herself to feel fully comfortable around him yet. And I understood that. But considering she’d chosen to sit by him rather than me told me she wasn’t scared.
Cash leaned closer to her just enough to whisper, “She has a lot of clothes.” Aria’s face lit up with a giggle, but other than that, she didn’t say anything. As soon as Cash shifted to sit up straight again, his eyes closed and his lips tightened, and I knew immediately his side had bothered him.
“Are you in pain?” I asked, ready to do whatever he needed to make it better.
Blowing out the full breath he’d been holding, he blinked his eyes open…and set his gaze back on the cartoon. “Nothing I can’t handle.” Another short answer.