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I groanedat the state of my bed. Clothing was strewn everywhere. Why was I stressing about what to wear to a freaking aquarium? Of course, it was because Mark was coming with us. What was happening to me? Twice in one week I wanted to do more than throw my hair up into a ponytail and swipe some Chap Stick over my lips. As much as I didn’t want to believe I wanted to pursue something with him, my internal voice called me a clucking liar.
Hearing Tristan’s voice calling for me, I realized my time was up. I settled on jeans, a sweatshirt and—you guessed it—my hair up in a ponytail. Scowling at my roots, I realized it was about time to do a touch-up. Deciding I was done fighting the inevitable, I swiped on my peppermint Chap Stick. Nothing said sexy more than minty, non-chapped lips.
It wasn’t as though Mark had ever given me the slightest indication he was interested in anything. True, he’d been kind and friendly, but most likely he was just being nice. I thought back to his innocuous statement that he seldom had weekend plans unless he was traveling.
Mark might have asked if we wanted company today simply because he was lonely. I knew that companion myself all too well. But the difference in our lives was grinning at me twenty minutes later from his high chair while he gobbled down Cheerios. At least I had Tristan.
Tristan, who made a mess of Cheerios everywhere. Times like these I wished we’d gotten a dog. I could use someone cleaning up the dropped food on the floor. I’d thought briefly about it, but with Rob’s short temper and extreme mood swings, I didn’t think I could take on the responsibility. It would mean one more soul over which I’d have to keep a watchful eye.
The knock came, and I opened the door to a clean-shaven Mark. All thoughts about my ex-husband flew out of my head. God, was he handsome. And holy shizzles, did he smell good. It took everything in my being to keep from burying my nose in his shirt and sniffing him thoroughly. I opted to err on the side of non-crazy-town and resisted the urge to climb him like a spider monkey in heat.
“Hey,” he said.
Thankfully, my automatic response kicked in. “Hey.” Oh, yeah, I’m sure he could hardly contain himself from responding to the sexual confidence exhibited by my verbal prowess. I rolled my eyes internally and let him in.
“Did you eat breakfast?”
“No, not yet. But Tristan is finishing up. I’ll pack some snacks and his sippy cup; then we’ll be ready to go.”
“We could grab bacon sandwiches at this place about fifteen minutes from here if you like.”
“Sure. Sounds good.” I finished packing my backpack with all of the essentials in case of diaper changes, blowouts, meltdowns, hunger, thirst, and first aid. “Um, we’ll have to take my SUV because of the car seat.”
“No problem. If you want me to drive, I can. But I’m also a good passenger.”
His laid-back attitude was refreshing, especially since my ex had been overly irritable about every little thing. “Since you know the way, it would be great if you drove.”
After getting Tristan settled in the back, securely strapped into his car seat, we visited a drive-thru for breakfast and took off toward Mystic. Turned out once I got past the whole embarrassing-Mark-with-every-little-thing-that-came-out-of-my-mouth, he wasn’t as painfully shy as I’d first assumed. In fact, there was an adorable sarcastic side to him which both surprised me and made me laugh throughout the day.
The aquarium was a hit, and afterwards we got a Mystic pizza to go, something we took to a park where we found a bench. We all sighed with the flavor and oozy cheese, and Mark held up his soda to clink it toward mine. “Cheers to your first proper introduction to Connecticut.”
“I appreciate you taking the time today. Did you grow up here?”
He shook his head. “No. I grew up in Vermont. For undergrad, I moved to Boston. That’s where I met Brian and Josh. After that, I moved up here for law school.”
“And decided you loved it enough to stay?”
Something sad passed over his expression before he nodded. “Pretty much.”
“You have a house?”
“Yeah. It’s about ten minutes from the apartment building. Speaking of which, what’s happening with your house? Is anyone looking after it?”
I shook my head. “Not really. Alarm is set and the locks were changed a couple months ago. With Rob being in jail now, I’m not sure if the divorce proceedings will be delayed. Unfortunately, I can’t sell the house until we agree on the division of assets.”
Mark’s expression was sympathetic. “Did he have the arraignment?”
“Yep. Pleaded not guilty, which isn’t surprising. Now I guess it goes to trial. In the meantime, the judge did remand him to custody, so at least he remains locked up. Unless they can raise the twenty-five thousand for bail.”
“Are his parents still bothering you for it?”
“No, not since I changed my number, but Brian said they came by the office asking for me. They seem to forget I filed for divorce. Not only that, but he has a twenty-one-year-old girlfriend now. Why don’t they bother her for the money?”
“I’m sorry.” His eyes held a sincerity that left no doubt he meant it.
I made quick work of wiping Tristan’s hands once he was done with his pizza and then held out his sippy cup. “No. I am, for once again airing my dirty laundry.”
