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Jake slung the crushed egg into the sink. "Not this time, Dutch. Not this time."
EVA SETTHE sock-it-to-me cake on the counter of Clint and Murphy Cochran's kitchen before taking out the disposable plates from the cabinet. No longer living with feminine influence meant the two men existed on frozen dinners, disposable dishes, and a housekeeper who came weekly. So Eva dropped by occasionally and brought them something homemade... from PattyAnn's.
"Coffee, Eva?" Clint asked, rolling into the kitchen and arching an eyebrow.
"Sure."
"Can I have coffee, too, Eva?" Charlie asked.
"Absolutely not. It will stunt your growth." She found a knife and started slicing the cake.
"Jake said it would put hair on my chest," Charlie said.
"He would," she said, wishing to hell the subject of Jake hadn't been broached. She'd barely survived the last shift with him, especially when she'd snuck out to get some water to take her birth control pill with and found Jake leaning against the counter clad only in his pajama pants, drinking milk out of the carton. In the light of day, Jake was a man to contend with, but in the low light of the kitchen with his sculpted bare chest in sharp relief, he was exquisite. From the tips of his feet to the strong column of his throat moving as he snuck the milk, he was a study in masculine grace. Eva had backed up, unwilling to create intimacy with him again. Mostly because she wasn't so sure she could have kept her panties on this time. Considering the way Dutch snored, she was certain they wouldn't have had to worry about an audience.
So she'd dry-swallowed her pill, washing it down with a scoop of water from the bathroom faucet. When she came out, Jake was back in bed.
The next day she and Jake had pretended everything was normal, and once she was off her shift, she had plenty to keep her busy with Charlie.
The following day had sped by, and Eva found that being a mother to a near seven-year-old boy was a tough job. It was a struggle to get homework completed, because Charlie was behind in his reading, and the new math program made no sense to her whatsoever. He still had nightmares and wet the bed almost every night, and getting him to eat whole grain bread was akin to asking him to eat dirt. And then there were the socks. Unmatched socks littered her floor. She'd already started a lost sock basket.
"Jake said you went out with Jamison. What's up with that?" Clint asked, scooping coffee into the paper filter.
"Nothing. Just a few dates."
"Hmm," Clint said.
"What?"
''Nothing. I guess I don't see you two together."
"We're not together. We went out two times, and he hasn't been blowing up my phone for a repeat.” She slid a plate toward her little brother, who had parked himself at the bar, tapping on her phone, absorbed in some game Wyatt had showed him how to play.
"Yeah, so I guess that means you're dating again? I wondered when you would, you know, after Chase broke it off."
Eva frowned. ''Actually, Chase didn't break anything off. We both agreed it wasn't working. You can only feign interest for so long. And dating is a relative term. I live in Magnolia Bend. Not a huge dating pool, as you well know."
Clint pulled out the mugs from the lower shelves. The kitchen had been designed to meet the needs of a disabled person. "Yeah, truer words never spoken. In fact, it's been a while since I had to pretend any kind of interest."
"What about the girl you met online?"
"We're just friends."
"Oh, I thought y'all were more for some reason. Didn't you talk about going to visit her in Montana at some point?"
"Eh." He shrugged, rolling across the kitchen to fetch creamer.
Eva laughed. "I'm guessing that means you're no longer interested?"
"You guess right," he said.
"Can we go now?" Charlie asked, looking up.
''No. We just got here, and you're being rude." Eva gave her brother a sharp look.
"But you said we'd go get the stuff for my party this weekend. Wyatt and his brother can both come. Can we have chocolate chip ice cream with my cake? I want a Ninja Turtle cake, okay?"
"Charlie, I'm visiting with my friend."
