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“Hey, baby. Did you drop your train?” I walked over to where he stood and focused on the toy he’d dropped out of the pen and onto the floor. “Here you go. Do you want to watch Thomas on TV?”
He clapped his hands together. “Yes.”
I picked him up, put him on the couch, and started his favorite DVD of all time, one with Thomas the Train. That should buy me at least twenty minutes to get the groceries put away and start on food prep.
Turning toward Mark, I expressed my appreciation. “Thanks again for the help with the groceries. Any interest in dinner tonight?”
From the panicked look on his face, he probably thought I was hitting on him like I had the night before.
So I clarified. “Sasha and Brian are coming over later. I sent a text to Haylee and Josh to invite them, too. In case you were contemplating a restraining order about now regarding my invitation.”
That earned me a small smile. “I wasn’t. In fact, I was hoping you weren’t angry with me over last night.”
I’d started to unload the contents of the bags, but stopped to quirk my head to the side, completely confused. “Why on earth would I be upset with you? I was the one who firehosed you like a drunken tsunami with embarrassing information that Would. Not. Stop.”
He smiled fully. Wowsers, it was not making his hot factor any easier to ignore. And now I was staring at his hands again. Dammit. I really needed to get some batteries for my vibrator. Thankfully, I’d thought to pack it.
“I should’ve worked harder to stop you.”
I shook my head. “Believe me. There was no stopping the Mack truck that needed to get all of that shit off my chest.” Great. I was another dollar in. There was no way I was going to count the internal curse words, or I’d be broke.
Crossing over to the stool where I’d plunked down my purse, I took out of it the single plus the twenty which should cover last night’s curse words. Then I walked back over to the refrigerator where I reached up and stuffed the bills into an empty animal crackers tub on top.
“What’s the money for?” he asked, appearing curious.
“It’s for the swear jar. It’s only a matter of time before Tristan starts imitating all my words, and I can tell you now, I don’t want to be the mom of the two-year-old who introduces the word fuck to all the other toddlers in the daycare class.” Groaning at yet another slip, I crossed back over to my purse, pulled out another dollar bill, and put it up with the others.
“Uh, right. Yeah, that wouldn’t be good. What will you do with money?”
“Take him to Disneyworld. I like the irony of me saying fuck a lot funding a trip to the happiest place on earth. Plus, that way I don’t begrudge putting the money in.” And now another dollar. Crap. I was out of cash, so I started a tab on a sticky pad on the counter.
“Right. I should probably go.”
He looked as though he was on the verge of backing out of the room slowly, like he was in a cage with a wild, unpredictable, foul-mouthed animal.
I had to bite down on a giggle at the thought, else he spook. “See ya around, then. Thanks again for the help.”
“Sure. Anytime.” But his gaze honed in on the bags of cheese I was taking out, followed by some avocados. “What are you making, by the way?”
“Beef and chicken enchiladas. Are you sure you won’t come for dinner? It won’t be for another four hours, so you have time if you have some work to get done first.”
He was about to answer when Haylee came to the still-open door. “Hey, Juliette. Oh, hi, Mark.” She glanced between us curiously, causing him to look even more awkward.
“I was leaving. Nice seeing you again, Juliette. Take care, Haylee.”
“Wait. Are you coming for dinner?” Haylee stopped him steps before his clean getaway. Her eyes flicked to mine. “That’s okay, isn’t it?”
“Of course. I just invited him.”
“Oh, well, in that case, you’re joining us, right?” Haylee asked him.
Mark, meet the spot she was putting you on. While I was more of an observer of someone put on the spot than a rescuer, after considering last night and the fact I’d already put the guy through a full therapy session, I gave him an out.
“It’s all right. He has to work, but maybe a raincheck for another time.”
He appeared relieved, but it was short-lived because Haylee sighed. “Okay, but Abby would sure love to see her Uncle Mark. She lights up when you hold her.”
Oh, boy. Baby guilt. Home girl didn’t mess around.
