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I look over my shoulder at Stevie. “I’ll be right back in.”
Her eyes are wide, brows lifted, and she’s wearing a big smile, but she nods.
I take a deep breath the moment the two of us are outside. We walk over to the driver’s side of his truck and I slide my hands into my back pockets. “Look, I understand if last night doesn’t happen again.” I shake my head before looking up at him. “When we get close…It just seems like all logical thought flies out the window.”
He chuckles. “Yeah, I know the feeling. I’ve been thinking though…”
I bite my lip. “About?”
“You and me. We’re great together, you know? With Ava, it’s not like I can just jump into a relationship. But maybe…you and me, we can take this slow? Don’t put too much pressure on it and see where things go?”
I am surprised but pleased. “I’d like that.”
“Good.” He takes a step toward me and his hand moves up to cup my chin. He looks into my eyes and then slowly, he leans in, pressing his mouth to mine.
12
LINC
I feel conflicted as I back out of my parking space at the daycare. Part of me is happy that Emery and I have decided to take things slow, but part of me is annoyed and confused. How are we supposed to take things slow? There’s no going slow. Ava is already getting attached to her just seeing her at the daycare. If she starts seeing her too much around the house, I know she’ll only get closer. I want to explore things with Emery, but I also want to protect my daughter and I have no idea how to do both.
I get to the station and make my way inside. I have a seat at my desk and turn on my computer for the day. Tom just happens to be walking by with a cup of coffee and when he sees that I’ve made it in, he comes over and has a seat.
“Hey, what’s going on with you this morning?”
I shake my head, keeping my attention on the computer screen as it starts up.
“You seem lost in thought. Everything okay?”
I take a deep breath and run my hand through my hair as I give him my full attention. “You remember the woman I hooked up with in the city?”
He smirks and nods. “Hell yeah. She was fine.”
I roll my eyes. “In some fucked up turn of events, she’s my neighbor.”
His eyes double in size as he leans forward in his chair. “What?”
I nod. “Apparently, she’s friends with my neighbor and she just moved into her house the day we met. They went to the city to celebrate.”
“Oh… Okay. Wow. So?”
“There’s more.”
“There’s more?”
“She told me the night we met that she just graduated college, that she just accepted a position at a daycare center and she planned on working there while she saved up money to open her own center one day. Turns out?—”
“She works at the daycare you take Ava to?” He smiles.
I nod once again.
He laughs. “Oh man. Only this kind of thing could happen to you. I swear.” He shakes his head.
I nod and lean back. “I know.”
“So, what are you going to do?” he asks, sitting back and taking a sip of his coffee.
“I tried avoiding her as much as possible. I was rude and cold, wanting to give her the impression that I didn’t want anything to do with her. I even had my mom taking Ava to and from daycare so I didn’t have to see her. But Matt ended up getting sick last night and I got called in to cover his shift. Daycare was closed and my mom was out of town. I had no choice but to ask her to babysit.”
