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“I guess so… Does that make me a bad person?” he asked her.
She tossed her hands up. “I don’t think you’re bad, anymore.” She turned to me. “Can I get a tattoo?”
“You’re too little. When you grow up, maybe…”
Eli whined. I glanced down to see him staring up at me. As soon as he had my focus, he stopped fussing and smiled.
“All right, you little attention seeker.” I beamed at him.
“Does that mean Bubby wants one too when he grows up?” Lucy asked.
I snorted, going along with her. “Maybe.”
“He’s such a copycat,” Lucy said, clearly making up a crazy scenario in her head. Elijah laughed.
My cell phone, still in the living room, rang. I got up with Eli and went to answer it. When I saw Scott’s name displayed, I panicked. I thought about Elijah, and then remembered that he wasn’t Scott’s concern. Besides, we weren’t doing anything wrong. “Lucy. Come answer this. It’s your dad.” When she climbed down from her seat, I caught the frown on her lips. I’d forgotten about the party since she’d perked up since we came home. Her feet padded across the carpet and she took it from my hand.
I glimpsed over at Elijah to see him watching us. When Lucy began speaking, she headed to her room.
Elijah said, “You’re not with their father?” I shook my head and his shoulders seemed to relax. “I knew I never saw anyone when you guys—”
“Nope. It’s just us.”
“Out of choice or…”
“Yeah, some choice. I caught him cheating on me with my cousin.”
“That’s fucking shit,” he muttered, and I glanced over my shoulder to make sure Lucy wasn’t in the living room again.
“Yeah, but it’s fine.”
“It’s not.”
“Better to have found out, than to still be with him and not know what he was doing behind my back.” I shrugged as if the entire thing hadn’t broken me and my trust. Eli grabbed my shirt in his tiny hand and tugged at it.
Elijah nodded reluctantly. “That’s not what I meant. He’s a prick for doing that to his kids’ mom.” Elijah’s anger gave me pause and something fluttered in my stomach. “Were you married?”
“No.” But I thought I meant something to him. Despite the awkwardness of the conversation, I laughed. Now I was afraid Elijah might look down on me for being an unmarried mother. I was still working on not caring what others thought.
Lucy ventured out of her room with a slight frown on her lips as she brought the phone to me. “Dad says he’s coming over.”
I sighed. When Scott asked me earlier, I told him no. If Lucy wanted to go with her dad, I wouldn’t mind, but I hated when he tried to weasel his way back into my bed.
I wanted to ask her what was wrong, but wouldn’t do it in front of Elijah. The kitchen chair scraped the floor, and I glanced up at him. “I should go.”
That was probably a good idea with Scott coming. “Yeah… Happy birthday, by the way.”
A smile touched his lips. “Thanks.” He tilted his head. “I’m right next door if you need anything.” I didn’t know what made him say it, but I liked that he did. It was a nice feeling when someone unrelated said something like that.
“Okay.”
Elijah saw Lucy pouting. He bent down and messed with her hair. “I’ll look into those model cars.” He stood and gawked at Eli like he wanted to say something. Elijah’s gaze widened as he backed away, not saying anything to the baby in my arms.
Then he was out the door.
