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Upstairs, a door slams shut.
“Ah, there it is.” I lower myself onto the chair she abandoned. “She’s going to slam that door off the hinges one day.”
Elena folds her hands on the table. “I’ll take her and her friend to the mall.”
“No. No way. I can’t ask you to do that.”
“You’re not asking. I’m offering.” She shrugs like it’s no big deal. “I have to get a couple of things for my best friend’s wedding next weekend anyway. I’ll walk around and do some shopping until they’re ready to leave.”
“You don’t need to do this.”
She nudges me with her elbow. “Come on. She deserves some teenage fun with her friends, and you deserve a night off from dad duty.”
I stare down at my hands in my lap. I do prefer the thought of an adult being with Noah while she’s out with her friend. And if Elena is going to the mall anyway…
“You really don’t mind?”
She shakes her head. “Not at all.”
“That’s very kind of you.”
Who would’ve thought we’d end up on friendly terms after the way things started?
One second, we’re at each other’s throats, and the next, she’s in my home, eating my food, helping my daughter.
Getting under my skin.
I lift my eyes to hers. “Your littlecelebration of knowledgeput a positive spin on this upcoming test. I never seem to have the right words to say to her.”
“I’m a teacher. That’s what I do.”
“You’re not like any of the teachers I’ve had.”
In more ways than one.
She smirks. “That’s because teachers were different in your generation. Did you get smacked around with a ruler?”
“That was my father’s generation. I’m notthatold.”
Her smirk turns into a full-blown grin, and it makes something tighten in my chest.
“How oldareyou, Elena?”
“Twenty-nine.”
Damn. Thirteen years apart sounds bad when you say it out loud.
I shake my head. “I guess that does make me old.”
“Oh, please. You’re hotter than any forty-two-year-old I’ve ever seen.” Her eyes widen as they snap up to mine. “I mean, shit, I shouldn’t have said that. I don’t know where that came from. I’m sorry. I just meant…well, you’re a handsome man and you probably know it. I’m sure women tell you that all the time. I didn’t mean to make things weird. We’re adults though, right? I should be able to tell you that you’re a DILF.” She puts her hands up as if to stop herself, yet she keeps going. “I totally didn’t mean that in a literal way. I’m not saying I want to, you know, but that’s what you’re called when you’re a hot dad, so I was just saying—” She cuts herself off and yells upstairs. “Noah, come down here please.”
I can barely make out any of her incoherent babbling, but I definitely don’t miss the part where she called me hot.
And I can’t pretend like that doesn’t affect me.
Noah’s feet pound on the stairs and then she skids into the kitchen.
Elena pops up out of her chair, almost knocking the thing over. “I’m going to drive you to the mall. You can get your coat and meet me outside.”
