Chapter 4
Blair
While Missy was on the phone with the hospital, I sat back on the floor to play with Sophia.
I had been half a parent to my three younger siblings, so I knew a thing or two about babies.
Hell, I was even having fun. All I had to do was stick out my tongue or throw my hat in the air and I was rewarded by a big drooly grin.
Missy came back into the room. “I was able to have the appointment over the phone, so that’s settled.
We’re here for the night.” She was fiddling with the ends of her hair.
It seemed to be a nervous habit she did often, and I hoped that the nerves had to do with the car and the surgery, and not with me. “We didn’t talk about payment?”
My eyebrows came together. “Payment?”
“For your work on the car. I can pay for the parts, of course, but how much do you charge to do the work?” She continued to fiddle and kept her gaze firmly on the floor.
I hated it. It seemed like her default was to expect people to rip her off.
Her lack of confidence caused a pain in the center of my chest.
I stood up and moved to stand in front of her. “I don’t think you can afford me.”
Her gaze shot to mine. Her eyes grew wide, and I could see the blood draining from her face.
I’d have to be more careful about my teasing.
This poor girl didn’t seem to understand the concept of a joke.
Teasing is how I flirt, but she didn’t seem to get the message. I’d have to make my interest clearer.
“I’m kidding, Missy.” Her shoulders relaxed, and she let out a breath.
“So, what is the damage then?”
“Have dinner with me.”
Her head cocked to the side. “Dinner?”
“Dinner.” I took a small step toward her, and she banded her arms over her stomach.
The ache in my chest deepened. Someone somewhere had made this girl so self-conscious that she couldn’t understand that someone would want to spend time with her, get to know her, and enjoy her company.
So I went on. “I like hanging out with you guys. Sophia is the only one who laughs at my jokes, and I like talking to you. Why don’t we order a pizza or something, and I can give you a hand with tiny trouble over there. ”
Missy looked over my shoulder at her daughter, busily chewing on her hand on the floor, and adoration flashed across her features. When she turned back to me, her fingers went back to her hair. “Okay. Dinner sounds good.”
I let out a breath and flashed her a smile I had no hope of holding back.
There was no chance of me playing cool and aloof.
I was smitten. I was aching to know more about her.
I wanted to hear her laugh. I wanted to see the flush in her cheeks when she caught me watching her.
I wanted to be the one to help her out of this mess.
I couldn’t make sense of it, since I had just gotten my life back.
But when she had nowhere to turn, I wanted her to turn to me and know that things were going to be okay. And right now, that meant pizza.
There were only so many places that delivered food in a town this size, and I didn’t really want to leave her to go pick something up, so I pulled up the menu of my favorite delivery place on my phone and handed it to her.
She was tentative in the way she reached for it, but quickly got to scrolling. “This sounds good.” She handed my phone back to me.
A salad. She’d had a horribly stressful day, not to mention having created an entire human less than a year before, and she wanted a salad.
“If I order this, I won’t be able to show my face in this town again. Don’t you like pizza?” I was only half teasing now.
She shrugged. “It’s not that I don’t like it; it’s that I like it too much.” She patted her stomach. “Baby weight doesn’t lose itself.”
I frowned. I hated that answer. Missy was a beautiful woman: dark hair, piercing blue eyes, and a pert little nose.
Her petite figure had a hint of curves in all the right places.
Not that I could entirely tell. She wore a dress that billowed out around her, which I now realized was intended to hide whatever flaws she thought she had.
It wasn’t my place, or anyone else’s, to tell her what to eat, but I couldn’t say nothing.
“I’ll order whatever you want, and I know you didn’t ask for my opinion, but I’m going to give it to you anyway.
Beautiful comes in all shapes and sizes, and you, Missy, are beautiful. ”
She bit the edge of her lip as a flush of pink came to her cheeks. “Why are you being so nice to me?”
Her question caught me by surprise. Shouldn’t nice be the default setting for everyone?
“I’m being nice to you because that’s how everyone should be treated,” I told her. “But if you’re asking me if I’ve developed a crush on you, the answer is yes.”