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Chris grabs my hands. “Am I your boyfriend?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. Um…do you want to be my boyfriend?” I giggle nervously.
“Absolutely I do, baby.”
I know I’m smiling like a lunatic, but I don’t care. I’m so fucking happy right now. Madison squeaks and that has us both turning and looking at her. She smiles and flaps her clutched hands.
“Chris Anderson? Oh my god.” A blonde with huge boobs in a tiny black dress runs up to the table. “It is you.” She wraps her arms around him, practically shoving her boobs in his face.
It takes him a second to register what is happening and then gently pushes her away. “Hey, Lyla. How are you?” He seems really uncomfortable.
“Oh, I’m so great. I…Oh, whose baby is that?” She waves her red nails at our daughter.
“She’s ours. This is my girlfriend, Haddie Carmichael. She’s Joe’s sister.” The woman barely spares me a glance.
Thankfully our waiter comes with our food and finally that terrible woman walks away. “Wow,” I say as I shake my head. “You had a thing with her, didn’t you?” I take a deep breath. “Sorry, I don’t have the right to ask.”
He grabs my hands. “You do have the right, and unfortunately, I have slept with her. I wish I could say I was innocent, but I wasn’t.”
I shake my head. “You don’t owe me an explanation. This is a small town…sort of, and it’s bound to happen. Chloe still deals with it with Joe. Hell, my dad and uncles all still deal with it.”
We dig into our tacos, he got the chicken and I got the smoked brisket. He hands me one of his tacos and I give him one of mine. The tacos are so good, I’m inhaling every single bite. “I’m sorry, but these are so freaking good.”
“They’re the best I’ve ever had.” He looks at Madison. “Sorry, baby girl, but you’re missing out.”
Our daughter smiles up at her daddy and my heart melts the way it always does. “Da, da, bah.”
I love hearing her say “da” but I am jealous that she hasn’t said “ma” yet. I know da is easier, but I’m the one who carried her, shouldn’t ma be her first word?
“I love when she says it,” Chris says, smiling down at her. He turns and smiles at me. How can I be jealous when he is so happy? “She’ll say Mama soon, I know it.”
Once we’re finished, we head toward the front and I don’t miss the girl from earlier staring at us and then types something on her phone. My stomach turns a bit and I wonder how much this is going to happen.
Also what if his old crowd tries to pull back into that lifestyle?
“Haddie.” Chris is looking at me with concern all over his face. “Hey, you okay?”
Shit, I school my features. “Yeah, I’m okay. Sorry, I just spaced out.” I smile up at him. He grabs my hand and pulls me to him, kissing me softly on the lips.
We head outside and make our way back to the apartment. As soon as we pull into the parking lot, we both stiffen up because Joe is sitting at the top of the stairs. “Shit, why is he here?” I say quietly.
“Maybe this is good thing.” Chris grabs my hand. “Come on. You’ve got this.”
I climb out and then meet him in front of the truck. Again, he grabs my hand and carries our daughter with the other. I want Joe to see us together, united. He stands as we get close and smiles at Madison, grabbing her foot and giving it a little shake.
Joe doesn’t look at me, but he does look at Chris. “Can we talk a bit?”
Chris has a hopeful twinkle in his eyes, but it makes me nervous for him. I have no clue what my brother is going to say and I can’t read him.
“Yeah, sure. Let me just help get Madison settled and I’ll come out.” Chris grabs the key I gave him and opens the door for us. He sets the carrier down and gets her out of it, kissing her cheek before handing her to me. “I’ll be back soon.”
Joe’s standing in the doorway, but I don’t care. I push up on my toes and kiss Chris softly on the lips. “We’ll be here waiting.”
They disappear outside, the door shutting softly behind them. “I hope this is a good talk,” I say to my daughter, snuggling her close.
Ten minutes have gone by and he hasn’t come back in yet, but I haven’t heard any fighting. In that time, I’ve changed Madison’s diaper and put her in her jammies. Now we’re snuggling on the sofa, watching Trailer Park Boys on Netflix.
Maybe it’s taking so long because they’re patching things up and they’re catching up on their lives. I smile because that has to be it. Joe is doing the right thing and mending fences. “Your uncle is finally going to stop being a poophead.” I stand her up on my thighs and she loves it—she bounces up and down.
