AllFreeNovel
Share Us
One random trip to the grocery store.
One crying baby.
One hot-as-sin single daddy.
And,poof, I found myself with a new home, a new job, a paycheck I couldn’t even wrap my head around without giggling hysterically, a baby I’d quickly grown to love as if he were my very own, and a man I was so head-over-heels in love with it made my heart hurt.
I wasn’t bad-off to begin with.
Maybe I hadn’t loved my job.
Maybe I’d loathed my crappy, way-too-expensive little apartment.
Maybe I’d resented my parents for forcing me to major in business instead of early childhood education.
But I’d been lucky to have a family, a home, a job, and an education.
I knew that.
And moving from fairly well-off to over-the-top well-off was almost too much to comprehend.
Taking the job with Hayden and Jack had been a leap of faith, but it had turned out better than I’d ever imagined.
Jack, Hayden, and I moved fairly swiftly through our initial adjustments and growing pains, and we were soon enjoying breakfast, lunch, and dinner together each day.
Hayden worked his schedule around our walks to the park and playtime, doing the majority of his work during nap time and the hours Jack and I spent watching educational videos—Hayden and I had agreed to three fifteen-minute videos a day—playing with toys, and doingschool. Clearly, at only fifteen months, Jack wasn’t ready for full-on instruction, but he adored reading, counting, naming colors, finding shapes, and matching animals with the sounds they made. The water and sand table were also a huge favorite.
Jack and I kept our learning and play in his playroom and bedroom while Hayden worked. When Hayden took breaks, we’d walk to the park or play in the backyard depending on the time of day.
As Jack got older, our schedules would need to adjust, but for the time being, we had a perfect little set-up.
While I adored our time together as a little group of three, I spent most of my days looking forward to the time I got to spend with Hayden in the evenings.
Was it only because I worried I’d never get to have him that I found myself so obsessed with Hayden? Or was the attraction I had to him truly as real and deep as it seemed?
How would it look if I made a move on my boss? Desperate? Money-grubbing? Pathetic?
Would it put us in an awkward position where one of us felt the need to distance ourself from the situation?
Or would one word from me light the fire I swore was burning between us?
I’d dated enough to know the never-ending warm tingle and all-encompassing draw I felt around Hayden wasnotthe norm when it came to my past relationships.
I wanted to shout from the rooftops how much I adored my boys. I wanted to belong to Hayden, wanted Jack to call me Mommy, wanted to build a family and a future.
But I also didn’t want to mess up a good thing.
Didn’t want to lose the perfect job.
Didn’t want to lose my boys.
Do you want to watch Hayden take the free time he has now to start dating?
That thought was like a fist to my solar plexus.
I couldn’t imagine the pain of watching Hayden date someone who wasn’t me.
He’d suggested I should just let the guy I was interested in know.
