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Trust me, I’ve learned that lesson the hard way. After I moved out of my parents’ house, I had no idea how to use a kitchen. I ate pizza rolls, frozen taquitos, Froot Loops, and Ramen noodles for a month. My pants didn’t fit after that. But I couldn’t afford to buy new ones, so I just squeezed myself into them and lived off of grilled chicken and raw vegetables until I finally figured out how to cook semi-decently. It was a very miserable time of my life. A lot of bland food, over-seasoned meats, and burnt vegetables.
I throw daggers at Seth and his almost-perfect physique with my eyes before turning to go back to the kitchen. Lily and I make all of the pizzas and place them in the oven. I don’t tell Seth, but I let Lily make one of his. If he’s going to eat like a child, then he can have a good ol’ helping of toddler hands on his food.
Our pizzas are done in ten minutes, and then we all sit around the coffee table with a princess movie on the TV to eat them. I try to take Riley from Seth so his arms can have a break—not that they actually need it. With those muscles, he could probably hold her all day and night without breaking a sweat. But she clings to him like a koala. Riley has always loved me. I’m feeling a little betrayed that she has forgotten all about me just because some gorgeous man with a friendly face has walked into the room.
Every time Seth brings his pizza up to his mouth, Riley’s pudgy hand reaches up to try to swipe the food away from him. He leans away from her every time he takes a bite, and she screeches out in protest. I scarf my food down in record time so I can take Riley to the kitchen to feed her some of her baby food. I look at the jar Tess left out for me and hold it up for Riley to see.
I get her all situated in her highchair and bib and pop the lid off the jar. It smells sweet, and I poke my finger into the mushy concoction and give it a little taste. It’s not bad, actually. I scoop some onto the little spoon and put some into her mouth. She immediately pushes the food out with her tongue and whines. I scoop it off her chin and try to put it back into her mouth, but she whips her head to the side. I redirect the spoon, and she turns her head away again. After a minute of playing cat and mouse, I manage to get the food into her mouth, and she gags and starts wailing like I’ve poisoned her and she’s going to perish any moment now.
Tess promised me that she’s made it easy for me. This is supposedly Riley’s favorite: sweet potato and apple. The scene in front of me would suggest otherwise. I snap a picture on my phone to show Tess later. Seth walks into the kitchen, shaking his head at me.
“You need the magic touch,” he says with a cocky grin on his face, like he’s suddenly become some kind of baby whisperer in the last few hours.
“And what is the magic touch, exactly?” I ask. I wait patiently for him to give me some ridiculous explanation.
He raises an eyebrow and says, “Me!” Taking the baby food out of my hands, he urges me out of the chair. I stand aside and watch as he sits down and shoves a bite of food into Riley’s mouth. He has a triumphant grin on his face…until she starts screaming and spits food all over his face and chest. He’s covered in orange puree. My heart soars with giddiness. I throw my head back and laugh. Nothing could have been more perfect.
“Okay, I forfeit,” he says as he wipes a glob of sweet potato from his cheek. He sets the jar down on the tray of the highchair. I move forward to try to pick it up, but I’m too late. Riley swipes an angry hand at it, and it crashes to the floor, spilling baby food and shards of glass everywhere.
This has been the longest night of babysitting. Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong. So many tears have been shed tonight that I think the girls are going to flood the house. I wanted to put the girls down to bed early just so I could hear myself think, but as soon as Lily asked for another movie and showed Seth her puppy-dog eyes and pouty lip, he caved.
I’ve finally gotten her to bed, and I walk down the hall back to the living room, looking forward to eating a gargantuan bowl of ice cream and watching a grown-up TV show that has nothing to do with animated princesses.
I turn the corner and stop in my tracks. Seth is still sitting in the rocking chair with a sleeping Riley in his arms. He smiles down at her and bends down to place a kiss on her forehead. My heart can’t take it. It’s too much. I didn’t think I could possibly love Seth Miller any more than I already did, but he keeps showing me more sides to him and proving me wrong.
He looks up at me and smiles the most adorable, goofy smile at me. My heart literally aches in my chest. I’m in so much trouble, because there’s no coming back from this kind of love.
