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I launched into the story of how I became a manny, finding a new friend in Margie the longer we talked. And unless I was reading the room wrong—which I was pretty sure I wasn’t—I’d found a couple of allies in the silent campaign I was waging to win Kevin’s heart.
The couple stayed until Lexi was yawning, and it was time to put her to bed. We’d missed out on our evening TV viewing, but it had been a really fun night, and it did my heart good watching Kevin interact with his best friend. I’d missed my normal time with the father-daughter duo, but there was always tomorrow.
As Aunt Margie and Uncle George took turns hugging Lexi goodbye, Kevin leaned toward me and whispered, “I don’t suppose you’d like to watch a grown-up movie with me after I put Lexi to bed?”
Laughing, I asked, “A real honest-to-goodness grown-up movie? Not Trolls or Cars?”
He shuddered. “No, after subjecting you to an evening with George, I feel like I owe you some actual adult entertainment.”
“Hey,” George said, throwing an arm around Kevin’s shoulders. “I resemble that remark, but I agree. You two should change into comfy clothes and watch a movie. Alone. Together.” He waggled his eyebrows.
Kevin’s cheeks pinkened, but instead of sending him running and hiding like I thought it would, he elbowed his friend. “Get out of my house.” Then, to me, he said, “I’ll see you in a few.” When he retrieved his daughter, he kissed Margie goodnight on the cheek and disappeared upstairs.
Once his footsteps faded, George gazed at me with a speculative gleam in his eyes. “So?—”
“Nope.” Margie clapped her hand over his mouth, cutting him off. “They’re grown men. They don’t need your help.” Then she winked at me and marched her husband toward the front door. Before closing it, she turned back to me and mouthed, “Good luck.” Damn. Was I that obvious? Maybe so, but I had no time to dwell on that. I was going to take George’s suggestion and change my clothes.
By the time Kevin made it back down, I’d slid into my least revealing sleep pants—the ones I wore when I had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night—and a plain t-shirt. I’d also thrown a microwave bag of popcorn in, tossed it into a bowl, fancied it up with seasonings, and poured us both a root beer.
“You didn’t have to do that,” he said as he met me at the kitchen counter.
“I thought a snack would be nice. Plus, we usually have dessert while we watch our nightly movie.”
His gaze raked down my body, and I held in a shiver. He hooked a thumb over his shoulder, and I immediately worried I’d gone too far by getting into my pajamas. Not that I normally slept in anything but my boxers, but still. “I’m going to run back up and change, if you don’t mind.”
Relief coursed through me. He wasn’t going to ditch our plans and hide. “Sounds good. I’ll see what I can find for us to watch. Do you have any preferences for an adult movie?” I'd whispered adult like it was some kind of hidden desire, and chances were, for Kevin, it was. It hadn’t taken me long to realize that everything about Kevin’s life revolved around Lexi. In most ways, that was amazing, but he needed to do things for himself, too.
He tilted his head. “I’m not sure. I haven’t seen anything that didn’t have singing cartoon characters in years.” He huffed and pushed his hand back through his hair. “Pathetic, huh?”
“Not at all.” I gripped his bicep, resisting the urge to run my hand up and down his arm. “You’ve been a good dad.” I let him go and stepped back. “Anything you don’t like?”
He squinted. “I don’t really like blood and guts, and nothing bad happening to kids.” A shudder wracked his body. “I’d probably never let Lexi leave the house again.”
Wasn’t that the truth? “Okay, romantic comedy or action movie it is.”
He backed out toward the hallway. “I’m completely behind in the Marvel Universe.” Then he spun on his heel and headed back upstairs.
When he came back down, he went into the playroom first, so I called out in a whisper-yell, “In here.”
Coming into the other living room, he smiled when he saw his glass already sitting in the cupholder next to one of the recliner seats in the sectional and the throw blanket I’d put there. I sat in the one next to it with a blanket covering my legs and the big bowl of popcorn on the armrest between us. His smile grew when he saw the first Iron Man cued up and ready to go on the 65-inch TV screen.
He made a spectacular picture clad in black and green flannel pants with a green t-shirt and a big dopey grin on his face. “This is great.”
He sat down gingerly in the spot I’d set up for him. “I thought I’d put it on in here since this room doesn’t get used all that often.”
He shook his head. “No, this is perfect.” We were ten minutes into the movie when he whispered, “Thank you, CJ.”
This man. If only he knew how much he was the one doing me a favor. Taking care of him and Lexi by day and getting this precious alone time with him tonight after visiting with his friends… This was my dream right here. My mama always said patience was a virtue, and if the Wadsworths were the pot at the end of the rainbow, I’d wait as long as I needed to.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CJ
Today had been brutally rough with my Lexi-girl. George and Margie’s visit last night had thrown her completely off schedule, even though she didn’t get to bed much later than her usual time. I’d expected it, though. She didn’t get that normal relaxation at the end of the night with her father, and that had become important for them now that Kevin went into the office and had finally started running other errands he needed to do while Lexi and I hung out at home during the day.
I’d planned to go food shopping once she woke up from her afternoon nap, but I’d end up with a fight on my hands, and I didn’t really want to leave for Eddie’s or my parents’ house tomorrow on a bad note with Lexi. Clapping my hands together once—loudly—to be heard over the toddler tantrum happening in the middle of the kitchen floor, I said, “I don’t suppose you’d be interested in going to the play area at the mall.”
The little legs that had been kicking as she lay on the ground immediately stopped, and she turned her head, pressing her tear-streaked cheek into the tile. She blinked watery eyes up at me. “What?”
