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“I don’t accept that! This feeling in my gut can’t be wrong,chère.”
“Then I don’t know what you want me to do. Bo, we both knew this was going to be a one-time thing.”
“We are supposed to be together. I know it. You know it!”
“This isn’t the place to have this conversation.” I throw my chin in his kids’ direction as they approach us, and I move away from him, giving them a spot to stand between us.
“Dad, I forgot to pack my iPad,” JB says.
“Okay, go get it. But first I want you to meet Miss Cris. She’s a good friend of mine.” He looks to me and winks when they’re not looking, the seriousness from just a few seconds ago completely gone from his face. “Cris, this is my son Jake and my daughter Samantha.”
“My name’s not Samantha!” she rolls her eyes at him. “I’m Sammy, silly!”
“Oh right, Sammy,” he agrees with her, grabbing her by the waist and sending her into a fit of giggles as he tickles her.
“Nice to meet you,” I tell them. “And this is my daughter, Mia,” I say as my little girl comes running to me after seeing another child within close proximity.
“Hello, sweetness,” Bo says to her.
“Mia, do you remember Mr. Bo? He’s Mrs. Lydia’s baby,” I tell her.
“He’s kind of a big baby, Momma,” she whispers loudly into my ear.
“A big baby!” Bo roars with laughter and slaps his knee. Mia’s neck practically disappears as she snuggles into me and presses her face to my breast when Bo goes to poke her tummy. “She’s beautiful, just like her mother. Those eyes!” he whistles. “That there be trouble.”
“Just like her mother?” I ask mischievously, but then I remember myself. Too late. His eyes lock onto mine and the devil is in them as the look he gives me is unmistakable.
“I think her mother’s eyes are more than trouble, for me at least.”
I swallow hard and look down to Mia. “Say thank you, baby,” I tell her, though all it really does is make her hide further into me. “Your kids are gorgeous, too.”
They are really beautiful. Though they look nothing like Bo. Blond, ice blue eyes, fair skin. All their mother, I suppose. But what they did get was that up-to-no-good glint in their eyes, both of them. If nothing else gives them away as his kids, that would.
“Dad!” JB whines. “I need the truck key so I can get my iPad in my bag.”
Without a word Bo takes them out and throws the keys at his son, who catches them easily.
“I want to go, too!” Sammy screams when she sees her older brother leaving.
“JB!” Sammy cries. The boy huffs, but takes his sister by the hand and they head to their mother’s house across the street.
Bo turns his attention back to Mia, who watched him intently when she thought he wasn’t looking. She seems to find him as fascinating as I do. “So, sugar, how old are you? Let me guess, ten!”
Mia turns her face away, but then her little hand snakes out from between our chests and puts up four little fingers.
“What! Four? No way. You must be an older four, right?”
She laughs and finally turns to him, then shakes her head.
“Mia, do you want to see somethin’ really neat?”
Her big eyes light up as she sits up with interest. “Yes.”
Bo pulls out something from one of his pockets and hands it to her. “Do you know what this is?”
She inspects the silver instrument, picking at the old yellow tape on it. “What is it?” she asks him.
“Well, it’s called a harmonica. Now don’t peel that off,” he says to her when she continues to pry at the thing with her sharp fingernails. “I’ve had this here since I was about your age. My daddy gave it to me. On that tape are the different notes I wrote so that I could learn to play it.”
