AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Is that a baby?” he asked.
“No, it’s a polar bear,” I joked.
Tim looked alarmed.
“Tim, this is Leah, Gio’s kid.”
He scratched his head. “Gio has a kid?”
“Yeah, you must have seen her before. Tara’s been bringing her around to the restaurant since she was a week old.”
“Who’s Tara?”
Was this guy bullshitting me? Maybe he was high. His pupils did look a little dilated now that I could see him up close.
“Tara is Gio’s wife,” I answered, bracing myself for the next question.
Recognition clicked in his face. “Oh, right,” he said. He pointed through the cutout window in the brick wall that separated the kitchen from the dining room. “There she is.”
“Yes,” I said, slightly relieved that Tim was at least partially present.
I decided to send Tim back to Espo 1 for the day. He seemed happy enough to leave his stack of mixing bowls right where they were.
“What do you think?” I asked Leah a minute later as we walked around the Espo 2 kitchen. Meanwhile I could hear snippets of the conversation Melanie and Tara were having in the next room.
“I’m actually going out for once,” Melanie was saying. “When I’m not killing myself at work, I’ve become far too comfortable sitting on my couch in my flannels and talking to my cats. So tonight I’m trying something different.”
“Ooh, hot date?” Tara teased.
Melanie giggled. “Close enough. Braxton’s a former colleague.”
“Good for you,” Tara said. “Hold on, Gio’s texting me.”
Tara had her face in her phone when I stepped out of the kitchen, but Melanie looked my way. Maybe she was admiring Leah, because she stared for a long handful of seconds. Then she smiled and turned her head.
A few minutes later Tara announced that she had to get back to the East Valley for some kind of Mommy and Me playgroup. I gave Leah one more kiss on her plump little cheek and handed her over to her mother. Once they were gone, I noticed Melanie was watching me with a confused expression.
“What?” I said.
She grinned. “I just never saw that side of you before.”
“What side?”
“The one that lights up like a Christmas tree over a baby.”
“Only that baby.” I paused. “So you’ve got plans tonight?”
She looked surprised. “Yes. Rare, but it does happen. Why?”
“Just making conversation.” I picked up some scattered papers and pretended to study a supplies contract. The idea of Melanie out with some guy shouldn’t have gotten me all bent out of shape. She didn’t belong to me. Still, I kept trying to picture the kind of man who would attract Melanie. This Braxton character was probably some big shot executive who drove an eighty-thousand-dollar car and habitually manscaped all the visible parts of his body. I pictured him laughing with Melanie over a bottle of wine as his dick hardened in his designer suit. I kind of hated him a little.
“Dominic?” Melanie said. “Are you okay?”
Sure, I was fine. Some unknown douchebag named Braxton was going to be drooling over Melanie in a few hours. That was no reason for me to feel like growling like a rabid dog.
“Yeah,” I told her. “I just, ah, bit my tongue.”
She was still staring at me.
