“Okay, fine. But hurry. I’d like to be back before lunch.” She grabbed Aria’s arm and said, “Sweetheart, you’re going to have to let him go so he can get dressed if you want him to come with us.” That was all it took to get Aria off me, her face so expressive with excitement.
I’d never understand how going shopping with her translated into such enthusiasm.
Fifteen minutes later, I was dressed with my hair combed and teeth brushed. Jade tried to put up a fight when I suggested moving Aria’s car seat to the Range Rover, but when I pointed out how much easier it would be to haul groceries in the trunk of my car versus hers, she caved.
“Why are you back so early?” Jade casually asked, while comparing prices of two different kinds of sandwich meats. She’d kept her distance all morning. No matter how many times I’d tried to engage her in conversation, she seemed too lost in her own thoughts to offer much more than distracted answers. Even now, she appeared more interested in the boxes and cans of food on the shelves than she did talking to me.
I leaned against the handrail of the cart with my elbows, bending down to Aria’s level, who sat in the kid seat. If Jade didn’t have any interest in asking more than a random question here and there—usually about a brand or price—at least I could count on the little tyke to entertain me. I wasn’t positive, but I believed my taking her to the beach had solidified our bond.
“There wasn’t much I could do with fractured ribs, so I went over paperwork for three days until they told me to go home.” I grabbed the package of string cheese off the hook that Aria had pointed out and tossed it into the cart when Jade wasn’t looking, earning me a toothy grin from the little girl.
Jade shopped and I pushed the cart behind her, entertaining Aria by grabbing junk off the shelves and adding it to the pile we had going behind her. All the while, Jade was none the wiser. Maybe if she’d paid us as much attention as she did the slices of American cheese, she’d realize we had far more in the buggy than she had on her last-minute list.
“And you couldn’t get home before two in the morning?” Again, she spoke while focusing on a label.
“I’m not a pilot, Jade. Nor do I have my own, personal jet. I can’t control when the flights leave and take off, and I don’t have any say in layovers.” My tone was clipped, sounding like I was annoyed with her interrogation. In truth, I was lying out of my ass, but she didn’t know any different.
“So who did your job when you were sitting at your desk?”
“The rest of the crew.”
“I thought you said you work in isolation.”
I made a face at Aria and made her giggle, not bothering to rush into an explanation when it felt as though she would question me if I told her the sky was blue. “That doesn’t mean I’m the only employee, Jade,” I deadpanned. “How’d your visit with Stevie go?”
“It was nice. We spent the afternoon on the beach.” That translated into Jade wearing a bathing suit, and I couldn’t help but conjure an image of what that would look like. Oddly enough, my imagination wasn’t centered around her breasts or ass. Instead, I wondered if she’d worn a one-or two-piece suit, which then led to a mental debate over what her stomach looked like.
I blamed it on staring at Aria. Normally, a woman’s stomach wasn’t even close to the top of the list as far as a female’s body was concerned. I was more of an ass man, but of course, I appreciated every curve of the female form. But knowing she’d carried life inside her, it made me ponder if there’d been any evidence left behind. And what was even stranger, was that I found it fascinating—the child whose eyes lit up when I grabbed a bag of cookies and tossed it into the cart had been created inside someone. Not just someone, but Jade. And that there was a possibility of seeing proof of that on her skin.
“She’s looking at bigger apartments next week.” That grabbed my attention. “She asked me to go looking at them with her.”
“Oh, yeah?” I wasn’t sure what to say.
My heart began to beat inside my throat at the idea of Jade leaving—and taking Aria with her. I had no claim over either of them. Jade and I weren’t romantically involved, and I liked it that way. Not to mention, Aria wasn’t my child. They’d lived in my house for less than two weeks, and I’d spent a total of two days with them there, but with the way I felt last night when Rhett had told me to leave and take a couple of extra days off, I couldn’t imagine leaving the job with no one to come home to. Without their presence, nothing would make me feel human and balance out the scale of good and evil.
“So…are you going to?” I could barely breathe while waiting for her answer.
She shrugged, grabbed a loaf of bread, and placed it gently on top of the stack of food. Clearly, she was distracted; otherwise, she would’ve noticed the box of Ding Dongs and container of yogurt—as well as the plethora of other crap I’d added along the way. “I don’t see why not. I just sit at the house all by myself anyway, so what’s the harm in driving over and spending the day with my best friend?”
I couldn’t object to her point, but I knew there was more to it, which was what I had the issue with. “Is this your way of opening the door to a discussion about you leaving? Stevie gets a bigger place, so now there’s room for you and Aria to stay without sleeping on the couch?”
Even with her back to me, I could read her. I didn’t need to see her expression. The way her feet faltered just enough to take an uneven step, coupled with the slight jerking motion in her shoulders, told me I was right. And no matter what she said, her fluctuating tone shined a light on the truth in her words. “I don’t know. We haven’t discussed it.”
“You mean you and I haven’t…or you and Stevie haven’t?”
“I’d say we’re discussing it now. But other than Stevie saying I’m always welcome, nothing else has been mentioned. No plans or even a conversation about making plans.” Again, her voice swung throughout her words, dipping low before lilting high like a roller coaster of deceit.
“Well, I disagree. I wouldn’t consider this a conversation about it at all. I’d call this you laying your cards out on the table so that when I come home and you’re gone, your shit absent from your rooms, you can say you told me about it.”
Jade stopped in the middle of the baby aisle. She turned on her heel so fast her dark curls whipped around like the wind had blown through the store and whirled around her. “If this is going to be an argument, can we hold off until we’re back at the house? That way, I can put Aria in the sandbox out back so she’s not subjected to your language.”
So, the only way to get Jade to show her balls was when it came to protecting her child. I couldn’t complain. That definitely should’ve been the time to grow a pair—for any parent—but it’d be a lie if I said I didn’t wish she’d learn how to defend herself, as well.