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I send off a quick reply to confirm for tomorrow night and let her know tonight is out of the question. It’s trickier now that Noah’s here some nights. He hasn’t spent the whole night but it’s cutting it close to finding an excuse for him to leave early or not come over at all. I exhale and put my phone under my pillow and lay back down facing him.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” I smile and kiss him. “It was a reminder text about something I had to do with Axel for school. I wrote it down in my reminders and set an alert for it.”
“Okay.” He kisses me back. “I have to go finish painting, I left the can open.”
He sits up and I sit up with him. “I’ll help. It’ll be done faster.” And it’ll keep me from feeling like a big fat lying jerk to this great guy, doing all of these things for me.
Why is he so perfect? And why the hell couldn’t he have been anything but a cop?
Fifteen
NOAH
“You’re in here again?”
“Aunt Rachel, I’m getting a vibe here, and it's not good. I thought you would love to see me more.” I turn around with a box of lightbulbs in my hand, in front of the aisle by the store entrance.
“Of course I would, but this is the most I’ve ever seen you in here. I would be extremely flattered if I thought for one minute you were just coming in here to see me, but I doubt it.” She turns her head not in the least bit subtle, looking at where Lexi is talking to a customer in the back of the store. A customer who looks exactly like my father.
“What’s Dad doing here?” I watch him put back a box of something and laugh when Lexi hands him another one in a different color.
“Hey, don’t worry. He isn’t going to run off with her. She’s just helping out a potential father-in-law.”
“What!” My head turns back to her. “Where did that come from?”
“Oh, please. Who do you think you’re fooling? You think because I don’t have a badge I can’t put one and one together? You’re in here way too much to shop, see me, or your brother, whose shift already ended.”
“I’ve been doing a lot of home improvement lately.”
“Right. Whose home? And don’t lie to me. You should have finished helping her with her porch weeks ago. I know you’re spending all your time with Lexi.”
“What makes you think that?” My brows raise, tapping the box of bulbs against my leg.
“Let’s see…” She cocks her head back, tapping the corner of her lips with her index finger. “She came in here with paint on her elbow and fingernails. The same shade you picked up the evening before. She was also humming that song you always sing. And she can’t stop smiling.”
“Really, how much smiling? More than usual—before she met me?”
She smiles, nodding her head. “Yes. I’m happy if you two are going out and having fun. I think she needs it. But I hope you know what you’re doing with her.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean she has a lot of responsibility, raising those boys by herself. She’s not your usual twenty-year-old.”
“Trust me, I know.” I tell her how great I think Lexi is and how well we get along. When we talk everything clicks, and we’re on the same page. Her brothers are a hilarious handful but they are good kids dealing the best they can with less-than-optimal circumstances and a mother who’s, from what I know, an uninvolved opportunist. I see how hard she’s trying to keep it all together for them and I want to help her in any way I can. If that means taking them out for the day and just letting them be carefree kids, and seeing her laugh and smile, enjoying herself with her friends without worrying about all the things she has to do and she is responsible for, then count me all the way in because she’s amazing.
“Wow, take it easy there. You sound like a man halfway to the altar already.” She chuckles, patting me on the chest.
I laugh. “Well…who knows. She could be the one.”
“Then I don’t think there is a better time than right now to maybe introduce your dad to her.”
“Aunt Rach.”
“What?” She shrugs innocently. “They’re already on their way over here.” She waves her fingers at me quickly, walking away past them saying, “Lexi, he looks happy with his marked-down purchase. Thank you for showing him where it was.”
“No problem.” Lexi smiles brightly at her and my father.
